By Blake Dowson
The college basketball season is roughly four weeks away, and with that exciting thought squarely in the minds of the sports staff at The Daily Iowan, the second edition of the Big Ten men’s basketball previews is here.
Each team in the conference will be examined — who returns, whom the team lost, and what to expect.
The order in which the teams are analyzed are simply alphabetical, excluding Iowa, which will be at the end of the preview.
Maryland (2015-16 record: 27-9, 12-6 Big Ten record)
The Terrapins were part of a very small, elite group of teams last season in regards to talent on their roster.
The starting lineup of Melo Trimble, Robert Carter, Diamond Stone, Jake Layman, and Rasheed Sulaimon was one of the best in college basketball in regards to pure talent.
However, the projected lineup for this upcoming season may make Maryland fans tremble (wait for it) considering Trimble is the only one left.
Carter, Stone, Layman, and Sulaimon were all double-digit scorers for the Terrapins, so the cupboard is pretty bare.
But Trimble is good enough to carry this team until that young roster gets its feet wet. He is one of the best point guards in the game, and he passed up an NBA paycheck to go back to College Park.
Head coach Mark Turgeon has a pair of Top-100 recruits coming in this year with Kevin Huerter and Anthony Cowan.
Huerter, No. 49 in the ESPN rankings, is a 6-5 shooting guard and one of the better shooters in the class from distance. He also has the smarts to run some of the offense when Trimble is getting a breather.
Cowan, the No. 62 player in ESPN’s rankings, is a 5-11 point guard who likes to get to the paint and facilitate. His play is much the same mold as Trimble, and Cowan has the potential to become a big-time contributor this year in a backup role. He might even allow Trimble to play off the ball a bit, which would be a nice wrinkle for the Terrapins.
Maryland won’t be tested much until Big Ten play, with games against Georgetown and Pittsburgh the only eye-popping matchups on the schedule right now.
Michigan (2015-16 record: 23-13, 10-8 Big Ten record)
The Wolverines were caught by bad luck last season, when their star guard Caris LeVert went down with an injury that cost him most of his senior season. LeVert, who came to Michigan in the same class as Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., was quietly one of the best players in the Big Ten, and his presence was sorely missed.
However, the Wolverines were still a good basketball team without him.
Derrick Walton Jr. turned into one of the better game managers in the conference, Zak Irvin turned out to be a great 3-point shooter, Ricky Doyle proved to be a physical post presence, and Aubrey Dawkins showed he could score the ball.
The good news for Michigan is that both Walton and Irvin are back for another go. The bad news is that both Dawkins and Doyle decided to transfer — Dawkins to play for his father, Johnny, at Central Florida, and Doyle to Florida Gulf-Coast.
So Michigan will lean heavily on guards Walton and Irvin, as well as ESPN 100 freshman guard Xavier Simpson, a 6-0 point guard out of Ohio.
Mark Donnal is the only post player with much experience returning for head coach Jon Beilein, as he started 25 games last season.
Beilein did pull in 7-footer Jon Teske in his recruiting class, who at 245 pounds is a load in the post. He should step into a backup role right away.