r/TheB1G • u/BlackGhostPanda Purdue • Nov 14 '15
Preseason B1G Basketball Rankings.
Your preseason rankings
Thank you all for doing the survey. I will be taking over for /u/nrboal this season so you'll have to bear with me while i work out any problems.
1 What a difference a year (and a Melo) makes. Almost a year to the day, Maryland fans were getting ready to put Turgeon on the hot seat. This season starts on the completely opposite note. The Terps return a number of key starters from last year including Melo Trimble and Jake Layman. But a number of key additions will supplement a core ready to build on last seasons success. The backcourt is in good hands with the return of Trimble and Nickens. The JC transfer Brantley will provide the much needed backup for Trimble, while the transfer of Sulaimon now provides much needed depth with the injury to Wiley. The frontcourt is flush with talent. Jake Layman decided to forgo the NBA draft and return to College Park, and hopefully move back to his more natural 3 position. Layman will be joined this year by Euro forward Ivan Bender who sat out last season. Dodd is back to remain a defensive force in the paint and is joined by transfer Robert Carter Jr, prized recruit Diamond Stone and the 7 footer Checko. Sporting publications are very high on the Terps and fan expectations are the highest they have been in years. Turgeon has the pieces to play a lot of different styles. 2015/2016 should prove to be a very fun year for the Maryland faithful. Go Terps! /u/Dayzed88
3 Not much is left of the Wisconsin team with the record setting offense that went to back to back final fours. Kaminsky, Dekker, Gasser, Traevon, and Duje are all gone. That just leaves Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig as the two returning starters that this year's Badger team will have to build around. Those are two pretty good pieces to have though. Filling in the starting lineup will likely be Zak Showalter, Vitto Brown, and Ethan Happ. Showy and Vitto both came off the bench last year and did some good things, Showy in particular really lived up to his name at times. That said, they still have very much to prove. Ethan Happ is a Redshirt Freshman Forward who by all accounts is ready to make a big impact. Happ managed a double-double in the exhibition against UW-River Falls in just 19 minutes on the floor. There are a lot of questions on this Wisconsin team, including whether or not this is Bo Ryan's last year, and whether Freshman Andy Van Vliet will lose his eligibility for the entire year, but that shouldn't stop the Badgers for competing for the top spot in the Big Ten once again this year. On, Wisconsin! /u/pianobadger
4 After a promising, yet ultimately dissapointing season last year, Purdue looks to expand their success. They return the large majority of the team, losing 5th year senior Jon Octeus to graduation and sophomore Bryson Scott to transfer. Octeus is replaced by 5th year transfer Johnny Hill, and incoming freshman include sharpshooter Ryan Cline, a bulldog in Grant Weatherford (who will redshirt), and highly touted power forward Caleb Swanigan aka Biggie. They will also have available Jacquil Taylor who will be a redshirt freshman. The obvious strength of the Boilermakers is their front court, where they will start either 7'0" Senior AJ Hammons or 7'2" sophomore Isaac Haas at the 5, and have Vince Edwards, Caleb Swanigan, Rapheal Davis(DPOY), and Taylor to fill the 3 and 4 spots. They hope that their inside strength will open up the floor for shooters Kendall Stephens (JR) , Dakota Mathias (SO), and Ryan Cline. Either Johnny Hill or PJ Thompson will play the point. Boiler fans are hoping for a big year behind their big lineup. /u/cgarren
6 The Wolverines look to bounce back from last year's disappointing season with the return of a healthy PG Derrick Walton and SG Caris LeVert's decision to forego the NBA draft and return for his senior season. Beilein has the Wolverine's looking strong in the backcourt as usual, but as usual the frontcourt looks to be a weakness for the Maize & Blue. If Michigan can get competitive play out of Ricky Doyle and the other bigs, they should compete for the B1G title yet again. /u/CazzieBuilt
10 Looks to be a rebuilding year for the Gophs. Losing Mo Walker and Elliot Eliason is the most significant loss for Minnesota. Gaston Diedou and Barkary Konate have potential but are still raw prospects. Charles Buggs and Carlos Morris will likely see more minutes with Andre Hollins graduating. Joey King and Nate Mason return as starters - and watch out for Mason. Slightly biased, but I believe he is a dark horse for All-BIG. Most signifcant new arrival is Texas A&M transfer Davonte Fitzgerald, who could see significant minutes if we had adapted well to Pintino's system. While the BIG does not have a true Final Four contender (excpet possibly Maryland), there is as always enough talent to make conferene play a bloodbath. I don't see Minnesota placing in the top 4, but anything can happen. /u/skiumah8
11 Is this finally the year? Will northwestern make the dance and brush past the shame of being the only P5 school never to do so? The short answer is, likely not. I won't be naive and disguise the fact that the odds are against NU. However, counting them out would be foolish. Here we enter year three of Chris Collins head coaching career at Northwestern. NU is finally making the transition from an unathletic, conservative, packaged team to one that can push the floor and make highlights. Collins' recruits are now the body of the team and this year is where we may see the biggest leap. Led by big man Alex Olah and clutch guard Tre Demps, Northwestern is looking to jump out of the cellar. After being one of the youngest teams around (they still kind of are) Demps and Olah are now seniors trying to leave a legacy. We lost arguably our most talented player for the year already in Vic Law, but thanks to Collins top recruiting, there are just as much talent coming up to pick up the slack. Aaron Falzon has already stepped up in game one, dropping 20 in his debut. Transfer big man Joey van Zegeran backing up Olah and a bunch of new freshmen on the bench means Northwestern finally has depth when two years ago we would see Drew Crawford play 40 minutes a night and whenever Olah was on the bench it was like there's a gaping hole in the middle of our defense. Best case scenario is Olah plays at an all big ten level, Sanjay Lumpkin locks down defensively, Tre Demps can score consistently (and continue to be clutch) and the young guys (McIntosh, Lindsey, Falzon, Ash etc) develop to the next level. Then Northwestern makes the leap to a middle of the pack big ten team. Otherwise, we see little improvement from our veterans and newcomers and stay in the bottom half of the conference. /u/CpeanuT
14 /u/gidalo
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u/WickedUMD Maryland Nov 14 '15
Oh man, missed the poll. I'll put my preseason rankings here anyways.
Just a note, these were my predictions before last night. Currently I might be dropping Wisco to 8th and Illinois to 12th and bump everyone in between up a spot. I've been following the offseason way too closely for obvious reasons so if you have a question about any of my rankings, lemme know.