By Jordan Hansen | [email protected]
The college basketball season will be here in a little under three weeks, and with that exciting thought squarely in the minds of the sports staff at The Daily Iowan, the third 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.
Michigan State
Are the Spartans the best team in the Big Ten?
It’s a topic up for at least a bit of debate as Tom Izzo’s squad returns (and in two major ways, joins) with what has potential to be a roster that’s among the best in the country. An incoming freshman class filled with talent joins a roster featuring senior shooting guard Eron Harris.
There’s plenty of playing time to go around, as well, with the departure of large amounts of talent to the NBA and other professional leagues last season. They did, however, leave behind a bitter first-round exit in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Izzo has a few demons to exorcise. A 9-point loss as a No. 2 seed to 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee State is going to haunt him for a long time. The team was a dark-horse candidate for the national title and had a deep, veteran core.
He’ll now have to develop incomers Miles Bridges, Joshua Langford, and Nick Ward. All of them are expected to contribute right away. There’s a whole bunch of players in the mix and a number of different lineups will likely be tested during the early going.
But back to the original question. The USA Today Preseason coaches poll has the Spartans ranked No. 9, the highest of all Big Ten teams. But as we’ve (mostly) learned, the polls mean pretty much nothing unless a Kentucky Super Team is involved.
On a basic level, it just means the national perception is that yes, once again, Izzo has enough to pull together a team to be taken seriously in March. That speaks a lot to the perception people have of him.
Minnesota
Richard Pitino’s seat is starting to get a little warm.
The Gophers went a horrific 2-16 in the Big Ten last season, which is not at all what fans expected. There wasn’t a whole lot of growth, and the offense seemed stagnate at different points.
He faces a huge test in getting a fairly small group of players to improve drastically this season. They do get Amir Coffey, who is the son of former Minnesota star Richard Coffey.
The younger Coffey was the 32nd-ranked freshman in the country and was a huge get for Pitino. There’s pretty much no chance he doesn’t start this season in the first-team lineup.
Minnesota could absolutely use Coffey transforming into a productive player — Pitino’s time in Minneapolis might depend on the 6-7 forward’s development.
Follow @JordyHansen for Iowa basketball news, updates, and analysis.