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Eye On College Basketball
BIG TEN PREVIEW: Michigan, Illinois, UCLA are Purdue’s top contenders; preseason predictions for every team + awards
01:13:29
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign Gary Parish welcome back to the CBS Sports I own College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. If you watch it on YouTube, you know what to do to that. Like button shouts to Brandon Davies. And if you haven't yet, subscribe to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel. I sure would have appreciate it if you did that while you're here. Let's get into it. Today we are continuing our previews of some of college basketball's best conferences. We're going to be doing these over the next few weeks. Always a fun exercise. Last week, me and Kyle Boone, strong jaw, we knocked out the Atlantic Coast Conference while Norlander was was out gallivanting with his wife. Today we are turning our attention to the Big Ten where Matt Painters, Purdue Boilermakers project as the preseason favorite. They were earlier today named number one in the preseason Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time in school history. So Norlander, let's start with Purdue, as you know, has not won a national championship since 2000. But I can tell you, being around Matt Painter and Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman Wren last week at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Illinois, just in the shadows of of Chicago, I can tell you that there's a quiet confidence about them. No bold predictions, they didn't guarantee anything, but they seem to know they are good enough to end this streak. And talking to them, being around them, you get the sense that they believe they're going to end this streak. My question for you, Matt P. Has coached five Big Ten regular season champions, among them a team that two years ago played in the national title game. He's had great teams. Are you comfortable insisting with your reputation on the line that this will be Matt Painter's greatest team ever?
- [02:02]
B
Oh boy. Welcome back to the show. By the way, I think we are a Big Ten podcast now.
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A
This is like.
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B
This is like the 17th straight episode with Big Ten content. Don't worry fans of other teams and conferences, it's all coming. This was all.
- [02:16]
A
No, it's not. It's not all coming. When your conference decides to give CBS a billion dollars, then we'll start talking about them again. Till then, it's Big Ten, Big Ten, Big Ten. You'll have to get your SEC stuff some somewhere else.
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B
It's Big Ten GP right here, right now, all the time. Painter's best team, by the way, Ken Palm wise was 20, 24, 34 and 5. That team finished third at Kenpan, made the national title game and lost to UConn. Will this team be better than that one, I'll actually say no. But it doesn't mean that they can't be the national champion. And as we come to you live here on YouTube, on the on the interwebs here on a Monday afternoon, AP poll has come out. Preseason AP Top 25 Purdue is the preseason number one team for the first time in program history. This is not in accordance with the preseason predictives and the algorithms and the computers and all that good stuff. Where Houston is the number one team perch there, Purdue sitting either at, you know, two or three, depending on your metric of choice. But the humans decided to go with Purdue at 1. Might as well just if you're watching now and you're unaware the AP poll has been released within the past hour, the official order of the top 10 is Purdue at 1, Houston at 2, Florida at 3, UConn at 4, St. John's at 5, Duke at 6, Michigan at 7, BYU at 8, Kentucky at 9 and Texas Tech at 10. That's the preseason AP top 25. I did expect Purdue to be the preseason number one team primarily because Purdue brings back the projected national player of the year and Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman Ren, who received All American consideration last season as well. No other program does that. And considering Painter's reputation, that stuff, the players they brought in in the portal, all of it put together, I actually thought that Purdue was gonna was gonna edge Houston. The preseason poll. That's exactly what happened. I think this team is going to be one of Painter's three best. I have decided where I'm going to put it in my preseason top 101. I will not reveal that on this show, but it will either be 1, 2 or it'll be 1, 2 or 3. You'll have to wait until later in October to find out where I placed.
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A
Oh, I can't wait.
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B
But I do, I do believe them. Being preseason number one is not only it was a bit predictable and I and I think that this team will be at worst, at worst the third best team that Painters had. And Painters had some really, really nice teams in recent history alone. Season to go, sweet 16, four seed title game and one seed. Prior to that, prior to that, a one seed. Obviously when they got bounced by the fairly Dickinson squad there and even before that 3C4 seed. He's had any number of really good squads. But this is going to be one of the best for sure.
- [04:50]
A
I had a, you know, you, you said something there that reminded me of something Matt said last week when I was talking to him at Big Ten media day. You mentioned that you don't think or you would just bet that against this being Purdue's best team under Matt Painter. But that doesn't mean they, they can't win the national championship. Obviously both of those things could be true. And Matt sort of touched on this. He, he said he didn't use the word regret, but he said, like looking back to last season once they had lost Zach Edie to, you know, graduation in, in the NBA draft and Daniel Jacobson went down with an injury that he kind of stopped talking about the Final Four, like verbalizing it with his team because again, I'm paraphrasing here, but he seemed to think like we, our margins were too thin and we had lost too much and I didn't think, you know, we were going to be able to be the best team in the country. But the thing he explained, he kind of forgot is that you can win a national championship without having to be the best team in the country. You, there might be, let's say four teams better than you, but you never play any of them because they get knocked out here or there. So he said he wishes that he would have talked about it more, talked about it more, instead of just let it be a thing that was hanging there after a trip to the Final Four and seemed to suggest he's not going to make that mistake again. They're very comfortable talking about national championship aspirations. They're not hiding from it, they're not guaranteeing it, but they're not hiding from it. And they think they're going to be the best team in the country. They didn't say that. But, but you, you get that being around them. They're very confident in a not cocky or arrogant way, but just in a, in a, in a very confident and self assured way. It's time for a trivia time. There have been 24 national champions since the Big Ten last produced one. How many different conferences do they come from?
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B
Good trivia time. How many did you say you dropped out a little bit? 24.
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A
24. Because Michigan State wanted in 2000. And we've had 24 tournaments since then. We didn't get one in 2020. Dumbest pandemic of our lifetime.
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B
I'm just gonna go rap. Just. This is totally off top of my head. I'll say six and I know the pack 12 slash pack 10 isn't one of them. So six is my guess.
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A
The answer is five. It is the ACC, the Big east, the SEC, the Big 12, and the American because one of Yukon comes out of the American. But if you go on current conference affiliation, then I think it goes down to just four ACC, Big East, SEC and Big 12. It's the AC, the ACCC has eight of the past 24 and the Big east has eight of the past 24. The SEC has four. The Big 12 has three. The American has one. Incredibly, Yukon has five. UConn has won five since the last time Michigan State since the last time the Big Ten won one, UConn has won five, Duke has won three, Florida's one three, North Carolina's one three, Kansas and Villanova have won two each. As I mentioned in a column I wrote last week, this isn't all on Purdue shoulders to snap this streak. Trust me when I tell you Tom Izzo thinks it's his responsibility to get it done and is actually frustrated that he hasn't gotten it done since 2000. But there are four different teams in the top nine. @bartorvic.com from the Big Ten, it is Purdue, Michigan, Illinois and UCLA. So the Big Ten doesn't just have a shot here to end the streak with Purdue. There are multiple teams, perhaps four or five different ones, that could maybe, you know, cut nets in Indianapolis. You know, when we get to the Final Four in April.
- [08:28]
B
Yeah, AP poll related since we're going with the breaking news, so to speak, there in The AP top 25 preseason Michigan is at seven after Purdue at one. Obviously UCLA is 12, Illinois is 17, Michigan State's 22 and Wisconsin is 24. The Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 all represented with six schools apiece. So 18 of the 25 there. Oregon just missed making the preseason top 25 in the Associated Presses poll. And then USC, Washington and Iowa all received multiple votes. Let's run through the preseason top five storylines. Obviously Purdue number one. You touched on that largely. But for me it's Will Braden Smith match the hype and be the national Player of the Year by the time we get to April? And related to all that, does Purdue separate from the rest of the league as well? Like, is Purdue as a preseason number one officially? From the AP's perspective, is it going to be a school that is on a tier to itself in the league? Before I get to storylines two through five, send it right back to you real quick. I know we're likely to vote Braden Smith preseason National Player of the Year, although we technically I have not filled out my ballot. I haven't made that decision once and for all, but I think it's safe to say that he will be the preseason national player of the year. So I'm not going to ask you if you think he'll be that because you're probably going to vote that. But do you think it's a 2 parter GP1? Do you think by the time we get to the start of the tournament that Braden Smith will be widely respected as one of the best players in the sport and not face some of the maybe skepticism that he's had? And do you think Purdue does put itself on a tier above picker team? Michigan, ucla, Illinois, going down the list within the, within the conference?
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A
I don't think there's any doubt he's going to be respected as one of the best players in the sport. He's kind have been that already for three years, certainly for the last two.
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B
Well yes and no. I mean he didn't even get an invite to the Chris Paul point guard camp like a year and a half ago. And Painter has been vocal about how stupid that decision was. So he has faced some skepticism as his career has gone along, which is part of why I asked the question.
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A
But I think that is mostly rooted to people were skeptical at the time and perhaps still are for obvious reasons that he's an actual NBA prospect. You know, he, he is, I will tell you this, sitting down with him last week, or more accurately standing up with him last week, it is striking how small he is. Like he is, he is very small. And the way Painter put it was like there aren't many people his size in the NBA, but there are like 10. But keep in mind it's only like 10. And to be one of those, you have to be really special at some very specific things. And as Matt pointed out, all of the things that make people his size stick in the NBA, he has those things, he's got them. It's not like we're matching him height, weight and then looking at the players in the NBA that are that height weight and then saying yeah, but he doesn't do this, he doesn't do that, he does the things that they do so he has a chance. But I do think if you were looking for the reason two years ago why they didn't invite him, it's because he's very little and probably not on NBA radars too much. Then he did get an invitation this past off season and, and I think he's established at this point as one of the best college basketball players in the country, if not the best. That's a long way to get to this. I would make him the favorite. He will get my vote. If you're asking if I expect him to be the favorite heading into the conference tournaments, I would say yes. But if you asked me take him or the field, I would take the field. I would take the field because this does kind of remind me of. Was it the Cassius Winston year?
- [12:04]
B
Cassius Winston had a. Had a lot going into that season. Just a reminder to our audience, if you didn't listen to the off season, we did a can of coaches. Braden Smith set the record for the most representation who's going to be the best player in the sport this season. He received 51 of the vote from the coaches. We pulled nearly 100 coaches. Cassius Winston was the previous record holder. Again, we didn't ask the ed one back to back. So it's kind of an asterisk there. To your Cassius Winston point though. Cassius Winston was the previous record holder. He had half the vote the year we did it with him.
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A
And it felt, it felt like, like that was a situation I have to go back and look at it to remind myself. And I didn't because I didn't think of it until just now. But like that felt like we just took best returning player on best perceived team and said this is the player of the year and it is possible that gets. Braden gets caught up in that. But I, I would still, I would still take him over any other individual player as my favorite to be national player of the year. But if you told me right now I could have him or the entire field to bance a Peterson boozer topping, Linda Bork, everybody, I would take the field over him. But he's, he's my pick right now. Yeah.
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B
Keep in mind Braden Smith has a chance to beat Bobby Hurley's all time assist record. He's just going to have a lot of statistical stuff attached to him within the perspective of that program, that conference and nationally there's going to be a lot there. I'll run down the other storylines and then you pick out which ones you want to vamp on after that. Number two, Brad Underwood's Baltic gambit. The align I or 17 in the AP poll. Six again. By the way, since you last heard the pod, Ken Palm's rankings have come out as well. Six at Ken Palm. I thought I was going to be higher on Illinois than anyone. Spoiler alert. I'm not. Ken Palm has me beat. I will not have the Illinois, the Illinois fighting alliance high six. But I will have them in the preseason top 10. Small spoiler for you There he's got players on the roster from Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and of course, Saginaw, Michigan. I'm interested to see what Illinois can do when it's got all of this potential. Underwood has had a really good run here of developing quality teams, has made a Final Four, obviously made the Elite Eight and got run out of the building against UConn a couple years ago. But what he's built there, roster wise, it's very interesting to me. So I think that's the big storyline. Number three.
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A
Let's just stop. Let's stop and take a moment.
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B
Sure, sure.
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A
Yeah, sure. Because I, I think we can, we can, we can bounce around each of these.
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B
Okay.
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A
Of the, of the 15 on camera conversations I had at Big Ten media day last week, the one with Brad Underwood was, was among my favorite. We talked specifically about recruiting, about going to Eastern Europe. You know, I said, how deliberate was that? And he was like, very deliberate. And then we got into a conversation just about recruiting European players against American players. And he, he believes that they're better prepared to make immediate impacts coming from Europe than they are America. And you're just getting a different prospect, you're getting a different player, you're getting a different attitude, personality. And that conversation sort of evolved into one about, is it, does it come down to, is it as simple as the way we're developing basketball players in America? Not only have they caught us, they passed us, they're just doing it better than we are. Because the top five players in the world right now, if you just go by ESPN's top 100 players in the NBA, the top five, none of them were born in America. None of them.
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B
And now if you went to top 50, is it. How many are. You know, I know you don't know, but I understand the point. Yeah, there's something to this, but I think it sometimes gets overstated just how good the talent is stateside. And it's, you know, the Bandsa, Peterson, Boozer, they're all from the states, they're all the overwhelming favorite to go number one in the draft and to be the best freshman in the sport. So there's a little of this, a little. That's.
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A
Sure. But if asked you who's the best player in the world right now, you would not name an American. And when you got to your first American, you'd be like, really? Who is it, by the way? It's probably Anthony Edwards. Okay, well, who is great? I mean, he's obviously individually incredible and he has been to back to back Western Conference finals. I don't mean to discount what he's accomplished, but like, you know, it might really be Anthony Edwards. The best player in the world is either Giannis or Jokic or Luca or Wimby.
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B
Probably Anthony, because it's. I can't put Stephan LeBron there. I mean, honestly, Durant there anymore.
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A
Honestly, it might be Steph. Like in this moment, just if you're trying to win a game today, it might.
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B
Yeah. He's what, 37?
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A
Yeah, that's my point.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Anyway, so anyway, we got into a conversation because I'm seeing this now with. First up, I reference this all the time. I read a piece, I don't know if it was the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal, but it was one of those these big, you know, brands many years ago, I want to say, about the way they developed soccer players in Belgium maybe. And it was just really interesting to me because it is the total opposite of the way we do everything in America. Like, they basically find kids who are a little taller, a little faster at a very early age, and then they take them to an academy and they practice and train all the time. They do not play games. Like at the age of six, they might never play a game. At the age of seven, they might never. And I'm exaggerating and oversimplifying, but it's just small group training, working together. And then as they get older, it's like, train every day, maybe play once a week. I'm watching this with my kids. Like my son is, you know, playing baseball at, you know, at a, you know, competitive level, whatever stupid term people use. And we might practice on a Monday and a Wednesday and then play six games on a weekend. We, we, I guarantee you on a week to week basis, we'll play three or four times more than we practice. And that, I think it's even more true, dramatically true in basketball. For every grassroots basketball game that's played all over the country, there's like a quarter of a practice, maybe less than that. So we are in this country, whether it's baseball, soccer, I think basketball as well. I know basketball as well. At the youth level, we are playing a lot more than we're practicing. And in other countries in Europe specifically, they practice a lot more than they play. So they'd skill develop a lot better. And that is showing up at every level of basketball now. And Brad Underwood seems to be the Big Ten's biggest subscriber to it. But, but certainly not the only one.
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B
Gonna be one of the biggest stories in the sport this season. If Illinois can be top three in the in the Big Ten, and just the import of talent that he's bringing over, if this model, he's not the first one to do it. There's, you know, Randy Bennett's been doing this with the other side of the ocean on the other side of the planet for a while, but this particular way that he's going about it, again, he's not the only one. But Illinois is particularly notable because, you know, he's got like four or five players on his roster that are from the greater Baltic region or have those origins.
- [18:57]
A
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- [20:06]
B
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- [20:08]
A
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- [20:24]
B
Storyline 3 which first year coach makes the biggest impact? We got Ben McCollum at Iowa, Nico Medved in Minnesota, Darren DeFries in Indiana and Buzz Williams at Maryland. McCollum is expected to have the most impact. He won our Canada Coaches poll. You see the representation by Iowa and receiving votes in the preseason AP poll. Iowa received more than the other three programs of first year coaches. I will note Buzz Williams is by far the most experienced Division 1 head coach of the four guys in new spots in the Big Ten. But De Vries has done some really good stuff obviously as a head coach there. Nico Medved from Furman to Drake before DeVries and then obviously at Colorado State. So honestly I could see any of these four one it I know McCollum is the pick but I I truly would not be surprised if any of these four wound up having the best first year of and specifically with within that group. So we'll kind of wait and see on that. But you know it's 18 school league and you got some some notable new names there and I'm interested to see how those guys work.
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A
GP on paper I think Buzz will have the best team of the first year coaches but to answer the question specifically who has the biggest impact I might go Ben McCollum there just because he always has the biggest impact. I mean coaches told us they think he's the best hire. They told us he's among the best X's and O's coach and he's won four national championships at the D2 level and then took D2 players and won an MVC title. Now he's going to take some of those players and I won't be surprised if he outperforms what he's expected to do in the big ten. So buzz probably best team but McCollum perhaps biggest impact.
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B
New faces, new places we'll go to Storyline number four which high end transfer winds up being the best this season? Axel Lindenberg was ranked number one by our team at CBS Sports in our in our portal ran back in the spring. Bennett Search was number three. Donovan Dent at ucla. Sturts obviously is at Iowa. Dent at ucla was number four. Tucker DeVries was on the back end of the top 20. But Tucker DeVries prior to his injury was one of the best mid major players in the country. Or will it be someone else? You know Sturtz is going to have this ball hands search will probably have the ball in his hands more than anyone. Although Dent's obviously going to be a a ball dominant guard. He's a dynamo who can fly. Cronus never had a player like him before. I'm super interested to see that. Londonborg I've mentioned this on the pod, but if you're just getting back into preseason mode, welcome back. Great to have you. Cooper Flag and Yaxel Londonborg were the only players in the country last season to lead their team in all five major statistical categories and his inclusion to Michigan's roster is why the Wolverines are considered by some to give, you know, Purdue a genuine push to be to be a contender and win the Big Ten. DeVries opted to sit out the majority of last season after an injury and a surgery. How does he make his, his move there? And there's others to watch, by the way, amongst transfers, you know, 18 team, league, the state of the sport, there's a lot of them. I'll give you a few more just to keep an eye on. Chad Baker Mazara and Rodney Ricer at usc, Wesley Yates at Washington, Mares Johnson also at Michigan, Oscar Clough at Purdue, Asana Mervisich, Illinois, Lamar Wilkerson at Indiana, and there's even more down the way. So this is going to be a league that's, that's determined in part by how impactful the transfers are. Yeah, Braden Smith could be the best player in the, in the conference and that wouldn't surprise us. And some other guys are still here. I look at Bruce Thornton in Ohio State, I think he's a fun dark horse to beat the conference player of the year. But I think it's fair to say that for the majority of teams that make the NCAA tournament and where they get placed and how good their seating is, GP it's going to be impacted or for either end of it, good or bad, by these super expensive players that went for premium prices in March, April and early May and how they affect winning or don't, you know, come the back half of the season.
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A
Yeah, great transfers in this league. Like you mentioned, Yaxel at Michigan, considered the number one transfer according to 247 Sports, but you know, wasn't even the best player in his league last season. And the player of the year in his league last season is also a transfer, P.J. hagerty from Memphis to Kansas State. So obviously Jackson will be playing for the more or at least not obviously, but it appears on paper he'll be playing for the more high profile team this season. But the, the guy I might go with and we'll expand on it later. I'm not predicting this, but it's not crazy. Braden Smith, preseason national player of the year, could end up by the end of it. I'm not predicting this, but like Donovan Ditz, the reigning Mountain West Conference player of the year and plays the same position like you know, it, it, it. Yeah, that could turn into a thing, you know, the two best point guards in the country, certainly two of the reigning players of the year in the country happen to play the same position in the same league now. So that's going to be fun.
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B
It's going to be a lot of fun. Real good star power. We're going to give out our preseason predictions and awards at the end of the show storyline number five we'll protect a break it's the lack of a hot seat which is refreshing 18 school league I mean I would argue that the only coach that I think is under something of a hot seat is probably Paykel at Rutgers and that's only if like if Rutgers finishes in the bottom three of the conference after the just the flame out last season even though Pikel's done some stuff that hadn't been done in a long time at that university like maybe. But my biggest takeaway is that it is refreshing to have a league this big not be weighed down heading into a season by 3, 4, 5 coaching situations where quite clearly if the coach doesn't make the installable tournament, he'll lose his that said, I will set the over let's do this right now. I will set the over under on coaching changes in this league by next spring. I'll set it at 2.5 because although Dana Altman and Tom Izzo have given no indication they have any plans of retiring, you know, next spring, we we look around we see what the sport is. It just that wouldn't surprise me and there is other things like again to parrot. GP I'm not predicting this but if you told me things went super sideways at UCLA and they were like the 11th team in the in the conference and Cronin was just like I'm done. That wouldn't shock me. If Ohio State really really bad would they opt to pull the ripcord on Jake Diebler in year two? What if Wisconsin's badly underperforms and doesn't make the tournament? I'm not predicting these things. I'm just saying at some point like there's just it's such a big league, there's so much unpredictability attached and now you see what the apples and oranges but you see what Penn State was willing to do with its football coach before we even get to midway through October and the Big Ten allegedly getting closer to taking all of this outside money to help help increase its cash flow and help universities if they need to get out of some tighter financial spots. I'll say the over under is 2.5 coaching changes. GP you going over under job swaps in this league by you know, call it the start of next season.
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A
It's hard to take the under because like somebody's going to finish 18th right and it's probably somebody who hasn't been very good lately. And, and that's not necessarily true. I'm just saying let me rephrase Somebody who hasn't been very good lately is going to finish at or near the bottom of this league. And that can get difficult for them with Pikel specifically. I just think everything that happened to him last year is like the worst thing that can happen to you. It's one thing to have a bad team, it's another thing to have a bad team when your boosters and whoever else needed to step up, like, stepped up and bought you the players that were supposed to make you good. Because it makes it real difficult for people to enthusiastically throw money at your program again. And so that's just going to be a tough thing to dig out of. I think probably Steven even knows that on some level he's a very good basketball coach and has done some, you know, really good things at Rutgers. But that last season is a hard thing to, to overcome. There's always going to be one that you just can't even see coming. Keep in mind, like, James Franklin had a preseason like top three team.
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B
Crazy.
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A
I mean it is absolutely.
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B
What would be more surprising would if Purdue was like not a tournament team or Penn State. Now just, just off the top of my head just thought of it. I, I feel like, I feel like the Penn State thing is more surprising even if Purdue was not good. But basketball's a different animal than football. But it's insane that like, I think three preseason top five teams were unranked heading into last week in college football. So just keep that in mind when we're setting the table and doing all this hype. Like, yeah, it, it's hard to see, but it happens every year, man. Surprises around the corner. But I think, I still think Penn State being what it is and losing in back to back weeks is 20 point favorites, which I don't think has happened in the modern era. I still think that is even more surprising than if you told me that Purdue was like the 11th team in the Big Ten and didn't make the tournament. I can't, it's hard for me to foresee that. But I still even think that Penn State's current situation is more shocking than the alternative.
- [29:16]
A
Yeah. And I think these things can be connected. Once you're going to be willing to, you know, spend. What is the number on it? 40 something million dollars?
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B
49 million. I think it was get rid of James Franklin.
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A
Like it is true that some of these Big Ten schools will do that in the spirit of protecting or saving their football program, but it makes it much harder to do it in basketball. And they're telling you what they care about when it comes to revenue sharing. Like some of the best basketball programs in the country are having to fight their athletic directors for money because they're, they care so much about football. And so are those same athletic directors going to be willing to pay $20 million to watch a basketball coach go away? Like, they, they're focused over here right now. So I think that could save somebody a job. Like, yeah, they would like to get rid of me, but they don't want to pay. You know, they, they need to save the money for the football program and in the football coach and they just bought out a football coach and blah, blah, blah. So I, I guess I'll go under. But that's such a.
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B
You're going under. I guess I'm gonna go over. I can't. I just, I'm going over. I'll say three.
- [30:23]
A
I, I could see just one from a bad team that you, you could see coming and then one out of nowhere. But it is like you just run through it. Matt Painter's not in trouble. Dusty May's not in trouble. I don't think Mick Cronin's in trouble.
- [30:40]
B
It's not. And I don't think that he's switching jobs. But if, like, but if, but I'm just saying it gets weird. Like if UCLA was the 10th team and went on this weird four game losing streak and Cronin has another super viral press conference situation at the end of the year, he's like, you know what? F that, like it just wouldn't stun me. I'm not, I'm putting it in like 5% category, but stuff like that across the sport, like one or we get one or two of those and that's how the numbers add up.
- [31:03]
A
Right. Like I think before Chris Mack was gone in the middle of the season, it would have been hard to see that.
- [31:07]
B
Correct.
- [31:08]
A
So you could have something like that, but it would take something crazy like that. But like UCLA has pulled the trigger quickly before Michigan State. We don't need to talk about Oregon. It's only a retirement thing. And Dana has said a million times he's not retiring. And they just got a five star commitment of, you know, last week or week, two weeks ago. I don't think Brad's in any trouble at Illinois.
- [31:29]
B
No.
- [31:29]
A
Yeah, I don't think Greg's in any.
- [31:32]
B
But like, what if Nebraska finishes last in the league?
- [31:34]
A
That's the one. That's the one where you'd have to look at it. Fred is, is going into year seven. He's made one NCAA tournament, but they've won zero tournament games in school history, by the way. Zero NCAA tournament.
- [31:45]
B
Only high major without an NCAA tournament win.
- [31:47]
A
Yep. Right. So that would be the one. Like if Nebraska finish 17th. Yeah, that might get dicey. But spoiler alert, I've got Nebraska in the NCAA tournament.
- [31:58]
B
Oh, I think that's a good tease here because we are 30 minutes before getting to our standings there. So GP and I are going to compare contrast. I don't know his order, he doesn't know my order. We're going to run down our projected standings and what teams are going to make the tournament, give our awards, all of that. But first, it is well overdue. It is time. Not a cut me off word from our partners. Let's go. Let's have this break. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom 60th and never miss.
- [32:37]
A
A message, meme or milestone.
- [32:38]
B
All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone.
- [32:44]
A
Learn more@WhatsApp.com Carolina basketball isn't just a program, it's a legacy. I'm John Henson and we'll be the host of Tar Heel247, a UNC basketball Podcast for fans who bleed Carolina blue. Each week I'll be joined by players, coaches and insiders for real unfiltered conversations is about the team, the tradition, maybe some funny stories and everything in between. No filters, no fluff, just hoop talk to Tar Heel Way. Subscribe now to Tar Heel247@ UNC Basketball Podcast or wherever you get your podcast at. We will have a good time. Let's get ready to go. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast. Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Right, Norlander, let's talk through the Big Ten. We're going to do it from the bottom to the top.
- [33:56]
B
I was thinking top to the bottom. Top of the bottom. Sounds good to me. Okay, I don't.
- [34:02]
A
This is getting. I think the phrasing might be off a little bit here.
- [34:04]
B
Oh, you started it. I don't know what to tell you.
- [34:08]
A
All right. However you want to do it. You know what? I'm going to leave it up to you.
- [34:12]
B
Let's go.
- [34:12]
A
Let's go top to bottom here. And I'm going to leave it up to you.
- [34:16]
B
Let's go top to bottom. Now, I know Nada has prepared graphics with yours and mine, so let's toss up mine first. And this is the top 10. Okay. So this is my top. GP has not seen this ahead of time. These are my Projected order top 10. I'm going to read it, obviously, for people that are listening and not watching on YouTube. I've got Purdue at 1, Michigan at 2, Illinois at 3, UCLA at 4, Michigan State at 5, Oregon at 6, Iowa at 7, Wisconsin at 8, Ohio State at 9, and Indiana at 10. So I've got a few thoughts on a few of these programs. But gp, you take it away and you tell me your. Your response and reaction before Nada throws up your top 10 prediction on the screen.
- [35:01]
A
Well, we're exactly right. One and two. Not exactly right, necessarily. We'll see.
- [35:05]
B
We are.
- [35:05]
A
No, let's go. We're exactly the same at 1 and 2. I do think it should be Purdue, Michigan, in that order. I've got UCLA at 3, so you're a little lower on the Bruins than I am, but, like, nothing crazy there. I've got Illinois at 6, you've got Illinois at 3. I gu. There's a gap there, but I've got Illinois in my top. I know they're in the top 25 and 1. They might be in the top 20 of the top 25 and 1. So I can't be too different from you even if you know you're at three and I'm at six within this league, Indiana is the one that I. I obvious one, I think, well, Iowa, you've got higher than me, buddy. I thought I believed in Ben McCollum. You believe in it more than I do.
- [35:45]
B
I do. I'll get to there in a second. I've got Iowa finishing seventh in the league. Yeah.
- [35:48]
A
So I've got Iowa 13th. And so that's a. That's probably our biggest gap. And then you got Indiana 10th, I've got Indiana 14th. So that means in my top 10, I've got to bring up.
- [36:01]
B
There's GP's top 10. There you go.
- [36:03]
A
Yeah. So I'm going to have a few different teams than you, but I started with Purdue and Michigan. Then I go UCLA at 3, Michigan State at 4, Oregon at 5. Although there's an injury there that we just found out about. Jackson Shelstad is going to be out. I think it's four to six weeks is the official report. But Dana, I sat down with Dana last week and he was like, it's gonna be six. You know, it's gonna be closer to the six than the four. And it would be one thing in a different era, but in this one, like, you know, they're in the players era tournament and they, their first Big Ten games in early December.
- [36:38]
B
Right.
- [36:38]
A
So once upon a time, it's like, oh, he'll be back in the, you know, he'd be back. He'll be back in six weeks. He'll be back for conference play. Well, now it's not, you know, it's not guaranteed he's not going to miss something important. And so that, that could ding them up a little bit, make things a little harder. I think the way Dana put it, he said, it's not going to hurt Jackson, but it's going to hurt us. So he's like, he'll be fine when he gets back, but we might not be fine until he gets back. He didn't say that, but he did say this. It'll hurt. It'll hurt us more than it hurts Jackson. This injury, I wouldn't change the order of things based on that, but it is something to note in a Big Ten preview. I've got Illinois at 6. I like the team. I've got Wisconsin at 7. Had a really good conversation with Greg Guard last week as well. Ohio State at 8, Maryland at 9, and then Washington at 10. And if you allowed me to take it one more, I would have Nebraska at 11. We mentioned hot seat stuff. I don't think Jake is any trouble at Ohio State, but you did frame it in a way. Whereas if this were a disaster, you could maybe see them saying, did we get caught up in the interim thing? And, and, and higher off of a small sample size. You could, you could, you could see that. But I, I'm not envisioning that. I think Ohio State's going to be an NCAA tournament team. I think Jake Dubler is going to, gonna, you know, be there for year three.
- [37:56]
B
Not if you can keep this on the screen. I'll actually, we'll, we'll merge the two ideas here. So we'll, I'll read through GPS 11 through 18, then I'll give a couple thoughts on teams at the bottom and then we'll loop back around to teams at the top here. So GP 18 Penn State 17 Rutgers 16 Minnesota 15 Northwestern 14 Indiana 13 Iowa 12 USC. 11 Nebraska GP I've got Rutgers last. You've got them 17. You Penn State and Rutgers for us are flipped. We both have Minnesota at 16, we both have Northwestern at 15. I've got Washington down at 14. We'll get to them in a second. And then I've got Nebraska followed by maryland and then USC is my 11th team there. I want to give each school a little bit of love here. So Rut, listen, 18 school, league. Someone's got to finish at the bottom. This is always the bigger these conferences get, the tougher it gets every year to just, you know, you got to resolve this. You have to put them in an order. So yeah, we've got Rutgers and Penn State at the, at the bottom of the league here. Rutgers brings back no one that scored more than six points a game transfer wise they've got, you know, Bayfall 2 and 2 and change at Kansas State. Tariq Francis was a 19 point a game guy at NJIT. Like we'll see they've got a guy who averaged 10 points at George Washington season. We'll see. It's just there's a lot of unknown there with Rutgers. Penn State, they bring back Freddie Dillon nine points a game. Dominic Stewart bringing a couple of transfers. They're just the roster wise it doesn't pop so is what it is. We'll see if we can wind up being wrong about that. Minnesota, Nico Medved starts anew. They've got a variety of mid major transfers. Nico Medved's done a good job, but I think it's fair to put him at 16. Obviously he's my mortal enemy. And then Northwestern's the one where we both have them at 15. But Nick Martinelli's back, Jordan Clayton's back. They bring in Screen from Holy Cross who's actually like a quality. Him and Jaden Reed are like they were quality transfers. For the Northwestern level, it's Chris Collins does a really good job. He received votes for our best X and O coach. I don't know if you got any. I think I got two for him. If you told me Northwestern finished ninth despite the roster, I'd believe you because he's done more with less than just about anyone in this league overall. And then I'll draft off of GP stuff here. Indiana at 14. So he's got Indiana 14. I've got Indiana at 10. Lamar Wilkerson is the transfer from Sam Houston State, Whoever's better than 20 a game last year, a lot's expected from him. A loss expected from Tucker Devries. Obviously a lot is expected from Reed Bailey, 18 and change at Davidson last season they brought in a ton of guys who did a lot of really good scoring. Trent Sisley's a freshman four star kind of guy. I just don't know. Devries has been a really good coach. I don't fault you at all for Indiana at 14. I think basically once you get to 10 down to 15, I think it where it becomes a bowl of jambalaya like Minnesota, Rutgers, Penn State. I think that'll whatever order you want, 16 to 18. That all makes sense. There's but I just opted with Devries, his coaching track record I guess to put him there. I am interested to see how he does in year one in a high pressure place. The circumstances of him getting the Indiana job are obviously we noted in the spring but those are intriguing as well. I don't want to hog the mic before we continue on with some thoughts on USC and Iowa. Just any other thoughts on the, on the teams I've touched on here?
- [41:01]
A
Well, some of this will just come down to like how, how good is Tucker like he's obviously been a great college basketball player but at a different level at the sport. I think he would have been good at West Virginia last consistently had he finished the season and been healthy. But you know, either because he couldn't or strategically his season ended early. But he told me last week because I sat down with him as well, that this is the as good as he's felt in a while and the first time he's felt fully healthy in, in years. He's had three different shoulder surgeries, two on one, one on the other. Like both shoulders have you know, been cut on. Like that's pretty wild. But he said he feels great and if he is great then I would expect Indiana would have a chance to outperform where I have them and finish in a, in a place closer to where you you slotted.
- [41:52]
B
How about how wild is it just to be talking about Indiana as a top three team in football going into a season like just call it projected in the bottom half of the, of the league in basketball and, and in this particular moment the situations are accurate. It is reality and the fan base broadly speaking is just you know know they're comfortable with it. You know it's just, it is, it is crazy to I equate it, I equate Indiana being a true national championship contender in football, it would basically be as if Northwestern was a once. Like if Northwestern turned into Purdue or Oregon State being a true national champ. It's just, it's unthinkable. It's what we have in football.
- [42:32]
A
Yeah. Like if Penn State became the, the best Big Ten basketball team, you know, just after hiring a coach like two years in.
- [42:41]
B
Yeah.
- [42:42]
A
And like the Indiana football coach, Kurt Signetti, like, he might just, he might be as good as he says he is. I know, you know, he. There are you like uniquely gifted coaching talents who can just take something. And like we saw it at the collegiate level with Brad Stevens and like Ben McCollum might be that. Oh, by the way, Kurt Signetti, just like Ben McCollum, D2 background. You know, sometimes these guys, do. They play around down there and for whatever reason, it took them a minute to get the opportunity, get the chance and, but, but they can actually do it anywhere. There are certain coaches in the history of college basketball where you could put them anywhere and they would have done what they did. Like John Calipari's career started at UMass and culminated with a Final Four. I genuinely believe this. John could have been hired at any school in the Atlantic 10 or better and he'd have done the same thing. He could have done that anywhere. He could have done that. East Carolina, Tulane, you name it. He would have put it anywhere. There's people like that. Rick Patino and Signetti seems to be like that. And you know, in basketball in the Big Ten, like Ben McCollum might be that.
- [43:49]
B
Yeah, we'll see. I'll get to McCollum in a second because he's in my top 10. But let's just touch on Nebraska and USC. USC, Elijah Arenas, he's got a knee injury. They aren't even evaluating whether he's going to play for them this season until January. So we wait and see on that. Terrence Williams is the only guy back. I've got USC at 11. I mean, they've got. I mentioned Rodney Rice, Chad Baker, Mazara. Those are impact players. Jacob Kofi from Virginia, they just got Sacramento State, Dartmouth, Utah, unc, Asheville. It's, it's a wide variety. I think USC is the hardest team to peg in the entire conference. And that's an 18 team conference with a lot of teams that are hard to peg. To me, USC was the toughest. If you told me they were as good at 6 or as low as 14, I'd believe any of those outcomes. For me, they're the toughest one. And Then Nebraska. Connor Segent's back. Rink Mass is going to return after a year from injury. Just kind of got to see it. They're just kind of in the mix there, so to speak. Overall, nada. Can we throw up my 1 to 10 here and we'll touch on a few teams here. Purdue, we're good. We'll go. We'll reverse this now. But we don't need to talk about Purdue. We talked about them plenty. Michigan, we did not give a summer shoot around episode two. I know you talked to Dusty there but just a real quick reset set on the Wolverines. Rodigale junior's back, Will Cheddar's back, Namari Burnett's back. All, all key players there. And then London Bork who we mentioned. Elliot Cadot comes over by way of North Carolina. Mares Johnson by way of Illinois. Adai Mara who I think has a chance to. I think there will be a. There's a chance that in the course of the season we might have a three or four game stretch where it's not Londonborg that's doing all the work and making stuff out, it's Mara. I think he's got a real chance to pop there. And then Trey McKenna's the freshman to know, four star, borderline five star kind of guy, top 25 player. He's going to get some real run there. Before we go to the rest of the teams, just we've both got Michigan at number two. I think Michigan and Illinois are both good enough and have the rosters to actually usurp Purdue. Purdue is going to be my pick but it's well within reason that either of those could do it. What did Dusty. I didn't listen to the, the interview. You don't need to parrot what you said but just briefly for our listeners if they didn't listen vibe off of Dusty May heading into year two when he knows he's got a team that's going to be peg preseason top 10 and an expectation level that he's never really had before other than at FAU under entirely different circumstances just two years ago.
- [46:03]
A
Well, you know they were very quick in the transfer portal and also deliberate. It wasn't like it didn't feel like and I certainly got this impression from it. They were sitting around waiting to see who might be available. Like they, they knew what they wanted to do and you know, he mentioned making Yaxel a priority because they played against him. Like he saw it up close and that's happening more and more in college basketball. I'd Be curious like do you hear that from coaches a lot? I've heard it from coaches.
- [46:30]
B
I've heard it. Yeah. We had a mailbag question I think about this. It's not like you know the overwhelming amount of players are on new teams like putting it. But you do see it does help. It does. Like there are certain. And Dusty he was in the American so they faced him. That's what he was referring to with the Axel. But yes, I've gotten a little bit that. Not a ton but I've heard it here and there.
- [46:47]
A
Yeah.
- [46:47]
B
So.
- [46:48]
A
And then mentioned that whether it was at fau, even the Final four team or last year at Michigan with the Big Ten tournament championship team. They had really good players but not a lot of lob threats, not a lot of above the rim stuff. And they have added that to the roster this season which will allow them to play in a little different way. And so you know, a little bit like the Purdue guys. He didn't make any bold predictions, didn't guarantee any anything but you can tell he likes his team and, and you know he's settled in there. You know he, he very much is carrying himself around like he's the. A very comfortable and stabilized and on the verge of big things. Michigan football basketball coach. He's. Yeah, he's. He's. It looks like they, they made the right hire and he made the right choice and this is a. It looks like a really good marriage.
- [47:39]
B
It really does. That looks like a really good team. As long as the alchemy is there, the chemistry in the locker room. As long as those guys gel, man, I really like that team. Illinois I have basically on the same tier as Michigan. You bring back Thomas laws of usage. Kylan Boswell's back. Ben Humberk House is back. Ty Rogers is, is returning here and then they bring in Andre Stokovic, Big Z, obviously we mentioned that and even like Brandon Lee, a four star recruit. We'll see if he can get some burn there. We talked a little bit about Illinois earlier in the show but I do like what Underwood has and you know, every year preseason top 101 teams, I take a little bit of a shot on some and sell a little bit on others, but I'm, I'm gonna buy on Illinois. I've got UCLA at 4. Donovan Dent is the name that everyone's been talking about. But don't forget that Tyler Billido who had some good moments last season, he's back. Eric Daly's back, Sky Clark is back. They, they bring back enough Here that I. If you want to say the tier one in Big Ten is Purdue, Michigan, Illinois, ucla, whatever order, that'd be fine. If you want to say produce on its own tier and then put Illinois, ucla, Michigan, whatever tier, I think that's fine. I think there is a line there going into the season overall, but I'm, I'm super excited on Dent and to see how he mixes in there. We'll talk more about him before we get to the end of the show. I've got Sparty at 5 and they got Cohen car back, Jackson, Kohler, Jeremy Fear, super tough, Carson Cooper. They just bring back enough and then names in the portal. You're not going to know unless you're a diehard. Like, like a guy named Trey Fort out of Stamford. They got a guy from fau, Caleb Glenn, they've got a guy from Miami Divine, Ugo Chukwu average five a game, we'll see. But it's Izzo and there's still some like key pieces of return off a really good team. A season ago I was not going to allow myself, regardless of all the other roster situations in the league to pick Michigan State worse than fifth and so I got him at fifth before I keep going, here's the floor for you to talk on anything you want with Sparty.
- [49:33]
A
I sat down with Tom last week and I had a, you know, a really fun conversation with him. He just seems like he's in a good place now. 70 years old. I, I think if you would have asked me a few years ago, do I think Tom's gonna get to 70, I'd have been like, I don't know, the sport's changing so much and he seems really frustrated and I could just see him saying to hell with it. But he obviously hasn't and I think he has struggled. I know you've talked to him both publicly and privately over the years. I think he struggled with sort of some of the changes in the sport. But when I talked to him last week, he, he seemed at peace with everything. Like listen, you know, this isn't the way I would design the sport if it was up to me. I don't love all the transferring. I think we're losing something with kid bouncing around non stop. You know, he had just earlier this offseason had what they call a grind week in East Lansing where they bring back like former players and they have more than 60 come back and spend a few days like working with each other, working with the current team and he is fearful that you'll lose some of that in basketball with people just transferring. You'll lose a connection to a place as a player. And he doesn't love that. That. Frankly, I don't love that either.
- [50:55]
B
Yeah. It's undeniably true.
- [50:57]
A
Yeah, I'm. I'm for player movement.
- [50:59]
B
Yeah. That's. That's the trade off. You just got to be willing to trade that off.
- [51:02]
A
Yep. But. But I am willing. I am willing to trade it off. But I admit it is a trade off. You're never, you know, I'm never arguing with somebody who says, but GP we're losing. So I underst. I agree with you. I agree with you. It's a trade off I'm willing to make, but it is an undeniable trade off. And Tom has lamented that. But when I talked to him last week, he'd sort of settled into a place where, like, listen, I'm going to run my program the way I run my program, and I'm going to try to have the same family type of thing that I've had forever. And, you know, if. If it works for me, great. You know, if it only happens here, that's unfortunate. But I can't worry about. It sounded like a man getting to a point where he says, I can't worry about the entire world anymore. I'm going to worry about Michigan State's basketball program. I'm going to run it to the.
- [51:53]
B
That's exactly what it is. Yes.
- [51:54]
A
And that's where. That's where he's gotten. And I thought that was interesting.
- [51:58]
B
I've got Oregon at 6. Nate Biddles also back. Shell Stad, you mentioned right hand out to start the season. We'll see when he returns. Yeah, I'm a big shell Stad guy, so I'm interested to watch and see how that develops. Kwame Evans is back as well. TK Simpkins from Elon name you might not know, but he put up 16 a game. Stewart previously seen Ohio State. He is now in Eugene. So we'll see how that works out there. I put him at 6. I debated as high as 6 or as low as 9 with Oregon. But Altman sometimes often finds a way to get to get into the top third of the league. I've got Iowa at seven. So let's talk. Let's talk Hawkeyes before we wrap on. On Bucky and. And the Buckeyes. I am going to buy the idea that Bennett Sturtz is going to be one of the three best point guards in the country. He averaged 19 a game. @ Drake last season. It's not just in watching him. It was, you know, I probably watched. If I'm being honest, I probably watched Drake a total of maybe five games last season. Overall, maybe six games. But what I saw, I loved. And then hearing feedback from coaches about him over the summer, I'm just gonna go in on it. And that combined with, okay, I'm gonna give. I'm going to give him a column. The benefit of the doubt here because his track record coaching has been outstanding and he ran over the Valley a season ago. Now I'm not expecting him to go into the Big Ten and you know, be one of the five best teams, but this is a. I, I'm definitely. This is a. This is a big swing. You will find Iowa somewhere placed inside my top 30 of my top 101 when that gets released later on this month. But it all revolves around Sturts and the idea that he's an NBA point guard. Similar in some ways. In some ways similar to Smith, but. But they do have different kind of games there. But I've talked to a few NBA people that think he's got the skill set that he will crack in and make a roster in the league. So a lot of it's based on his skill, how much everything runs through him. And the McCollum. It's not yet had a bad season. Now when he does, if it's year one, okay, then we could reassess. But admittedly this is a swing. I understand that. But I also like to have a little fun. Why the hell not? Hawkeyes at number seven.
- [54:03]
A
Seven for me. Wild point guard league. Because if you think so many point guards, three. I'm assuming you would rank Braden Smith at one. And you got to have Donovan Dent pretty high.
- [54:13]
B
There's a chance. And not saying it'll happen. There is a chance. The Big Ten has the three best point guards in the country.
- [54:18]
A
Right. You know, I just. Somebody else will scoot in there. Yeah, but. But they're going to have three of the best. And Sturge, I don't really have any doubts about him. But at some point you do reach a place where you gotta get the players, right?
- [54:33]
B
Yes.
- [54:34]
A
Or.
- [54:34]
B
Or else a lot of Drake guys that are transferring up. So we'll see if. We'll see if like. We'll see if like Drake 2.0 can actually play at this level big time. So it's fair. It's fair to sell on that. By the way, I'm just taking a swing, that's all.
- [54:46]
A
I'm so so it was funny. I talked to Ben last week, and this was the first time I'd ever sat down and talked to him, and he was terrific. And I said, how did you know that you could take the D2 guys to Drake and win with them? How did you know they were good enough to. To transition up? And he smiled and, you know, he said, I didn't. I. I wasn't sure if they were talented enough.
- [55:08]
B
Well, now that I hear that.
- [55:14]
A
I love that answer. Because that's an honest answer.
- [55:16]
B
Yes.
- [55:16]
A
The other question, I asked a bunch of coaches last week, and I love. Because most of them answered it this way, even the guys who've been doing it for a long time, the guys who are, you would think, are very sure of themselves.
- [55:26]
B
I don't know.
- [55:26]
A
I. I would. Yes. I love that. I love that answer. It's just like, I don't think people say it enough.
- [55:32]
B
Yeah.
- [55:32]
A
In a world where everybody thinks they know every goddamn thing.
- [55:36]
B
Let me reiterate for this podcast, Paris, when it comes to those logo, I don't know. Let me declare it now.
- [55:42]
A
I like it when people say, I don't know. It's much easy. It's much better than listening to somebody just lie to you.
- [55:48]
B
Yeah.
- [55:49]
A
So it was like, okay, like. Like, once upon a time, you. You ran your program. You. You recruited high school players since their sophomore year. You got to know them, you know their families, you enrolled them, you developed them, you used them over years. Now more people are going into the transfer portal. Do you have a sense yet for the. The right balance, the recipe? And, like, almost to a man, they were like, not really. You know? I know what. I know what. I know what we're doing. I can tell you what we're doing. But do I know it's right? No, I'm not real sure. I think about this stuff every day. So I like it when people are like, no, I'm not real sure. We'll see. And Ben was like, I didn't know. I did not know if they would be good enough. But when he got them there, it was like, okay, look at this. We never lose. And so now we get. Now we're doing the whole thing. Perhaps not as dramatically or maybe so, because maybe you could argue it's a bigger jump from D. It's a bigger jump break to the Big Ten than it is from D2 to Drake. Right. But we're kind of doing it again. Like, I don't have any doubt Bennett Sturts is good enough. I don't have any doubt. Ben McCollum is good enough, but it's going to take more than that.
- [56:52]
B
We'll see last two teams, then we'll get to our, our, our awards. I got Wisconsin at 8 and Ohio State at 9. Wisconsin brings back John Blackwell who Wisconsin fans don't underrate. But John Blackwell could be a first team all big. There's so much talent in the league. But if you told me Blackwell broke through was a first email Big Ten guy, I wouldn't be surprised. Greg Guard has a way of getting it done. So I've got Bucky at 8. They bring in Nick Boyd from San Diego State. I think that is a very good fit overall with, with scheme, with staff, with Boyd who was previously at fau has made a Final Four. I like that there. Bucky at 8. Why not? And then Ohio State at 9. So Bruce Thornton returns and I mentioned this at some point, I think in the off season his statistical profile and actually what he does, I think he's one of the. I try not to overuse this phrase because I do think it gets overused in sports in general. I think Bruce Thornton is truly among the most underrated players in all of college basketball and he's going to be playing alongside again Devin Royal, John Mobley, who if he becomes one of the best three point shooters in the country, which he can. I'm going to have Ohio State too low. If they can hit portal wise, no big names that you're going to know. There's a guy from Wright State coming in whoever's 19 a game. They got a guy from Santa Clara coming in whoever 12 and change a game. But they bring back enough where I'll tell you this, you're an Ohio State fan, you should be expecting to be top half of the league in that technicality. But I've got them at nine. That's top half in an 18 team league. And so I've got the Buckeyes there. Before we do our words, remind me real quick, where do you have Ohio State in the pecking order?
- [58:23]
A
I've got Ohio State eighth and so that's top half of the league and in the NCAA tournament.
- [58:29]
B
Yeah, they, they should be in the NCAA tournament. Well now let's get to that. Let's get to this. So every year preseason conference previews, I set the over under on teams in the tournament. I'm gonna set this and then we'll close with our, our awards. I'm gonna set the Big Ten by the way. I don't. Did you, did you look at this in Any of your prep. I had forgotten this. I'm gonna set it at 9.5. But last year, the Big Ten had eight.
- [58:53]
A
Eight, right. Yeah.
- [58:54]
B
And not only did it have eight, here were the seeds. Sparty two, Bucky three, Terps four. Michigan five, Purdue four, Illinois six, Oregon five, UCLA seven. So they didn't. Eight, nine, 10, 11.
- [59:11]
A
They didn't get down by the bubble.
- [59:13]
B
Nothing. Just a very. You don't often see that. Usually there's one, at least one team that squeaks in as a 10 or 11. That wasn't the case. It was. It was top half. Now, understandably, Indiana was. Was right there and didn't get in. And, you know, Nebraska wasn't close, but it was a 21 win team and all that stuff. But it was refreshing. Everything as we're prepping for this, I was like, damn. It was just. They were all clustered and they were safely in. And then that was that. I'm sitting at 9.5. Over.
- [59:41]
A
Under. I'm going over. I'm sailing over.
- [59:45]
B
You're sailing over. Okay. So for our audio listeners in particular as well, what teams are going to the tournament?
- [59:53]
A
Purdue, Michigan, ucla, Michigan State, Oregon, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Maryland, Washington and Nebraska. I'm cutting it off at 11. Eleven Big Ten schools are going to the 2026 North Carolina tournament.
- [60:13]
B
Maryland, Washington. In Nebraska. I've got Maryland at 12, Nebraska 13, Washington 14. I don't have any of them going, actually. I don't think we talked Washington.
- [60:23]
A
That's because you're a hater. That's because you're a hater.
- [60:26]
B
They don't have the ASM Player of the year. Sorry, Washington didn't mean snubby like that. They don't have the ASM player there who transferred in. Average 20 points a game. He's out until mid January at the earliest. They did bring in Desmond Claude, Wesley Yates. They got J.J. mandicate, who was actually a freshman, that I think could really emerge as one of the better point guards in this league if he stays with Washington for the next two or three years. Zoom. Diallo's back. Danish prickles. Done a really good job. I'm just. I got to pick an order and I got to. If I'm going to buy on some teams, if I'm going to buy on an Iowa, I got to sell on someone. I'm selling on. On Washington. I'm going to take the under and go at nine. I will say nine. My nine are Purdue. No Purdue. What the hell? I'll give you seeds, too. I'll say Purdue is a 1. I'll say Michigan is a 1. I'll say Illinois is a 2. I'll say UCLA is a 4. I'll say Michigan State is a 5. I'll say Oregon. I'll say Oregon's a 7, Iowa's a 9, Wisconsin's a 9, and Ohio State goes to Dayton. And. And so they're an 11. So, yeah, those. And I have Indiana narrowly missing Indiana, one of the first two or three teams out.
- [61:43]
A
So I'm going eight Big Ten teams, and one of them has to go to the first four. You will never be welcome in Rosemont, Illinois, again because. Okay, you'll never.
- [61:51]
B
I got. I got. I got the. I can go to Chicago whenever the hell I want. I got my sweetness hoodie on the Bears play tonight. Please.
- [61:58]
A
Okay, I have a good time in Rosemont.
- [62:02]
B
It's a good little spot there.
- [62:03]
A
It's a good little spot. There's like a Brazilian steakhouse right next to the hotel. Right next to. I just. I just have. I just go to the Brazilian steakhouse every day. Every day I was in Rosemont, I go to the Brazilian steakhouse.
- [62:13]
B
Cool story, Hansel. Let's wrap it up with the predictions. Player of the year, freshman of the year, and transfer of the year here, by the way, if you're not watching, Paris has been holding. He's been holding his microphone the entire show like an old timey radio host because the stand is broken.
- [62:29]
A
TSA broke my stand again. I can't prove it to you. I can't prove it to you, but I can say. I can say two facts out loud. Here's one fact. When I packed my microphone to go to Rosemont, Illinois, it was attached all together. That's a fact. When I got to my hotel and.
- [62:48]
B
Wrote like five times, by the way.
- [62:50]
A
So I think they're doing it. I think they're breaking my. On purpose. I don't know what I did to them. I know they're under a lot of stress and they're working without pay. Government shut down. I got all that. This is not my fault, all right? I did not shut the government down. I got nothing to do with any of this stuff you're watching on tv. All right? All I do is rank basketball teams. I don't shut down government. I don't deport people. I don't do any of that. None of this is on me, all right? So why are you tearing up my stuff? I think they're targeting me.
- [63:31]
B
If you want a vision of the targeted man in this country.
- [63:36]
A
I think. I think I am the face of being targeted in America. If I am the face of being targeted in America right now, the TSA is coming for me. And don't. Don't let me accidentally leave a bottle of Advil in there, because they're going to dump that out. Oh, I can't tell you how many Advil bottles I've had dumped out. Just. Just dump them in the bag. They're just like, oh, hey, Everybody, gather around. GP's got 200 tablets. This will be foreign.
- [64:02]
B
Why the hell are you even packing that much medicine to begin with?
- [64:05]
A
I don't know how late the night's gonna get sometimes, you know? Sometimes you don't know how late the night's gonna get.
- [64:11]
B
You just went to Europe and we packed one bottle and didn't even open it. You're coming with an entire medicine cabinet when you're going to Rosemont, Illinois, for a day and a half?
- [64:20]
A
I don't know if you've ever been to the Brazilian steakhouse, but those nights can. Those nights can get long.
- [64:27]
B
By the way, if anyone I know, the last time I did Iceland, I said, if you want wrecks, I can send them out. And I did. And some people, actually, I heard from, people that went to Iceland and loved the wrecks, went to Paris and Amsterdam, shouts to CBS gmail.com or find me on Social, if you want any. If you want any tips on anything. I can. I can make that happen. GP gave me a tip on a dinner, which was tremendous. The most expensive dinner of the entire trip. And it wasn't close. And it wasn't. It was not even close.
- [64:55]
A
My wife. I told you, it's my wife's favorite restaurant. I think we've been there twice.
- [64:59]
B
The Duchess in Amsterdam, if anyone's curious. A wonderful dinner, amazing vibe, wonderful service. And I was ready. I was. It was fine. But the check came. It was almost double any other dinner we paid the entire trip.
- [65:11]
A
Yeah, my wife tends to like those types of dinners the best.
- [65:16]
B
Oh, man. Oh, man. Walk to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Not to the top. You go to the second floor. That was by steps. That was incredible.
- [65:26]
A
I've done that. I've been to the Eiffel Tower.
- [65:28]
B
We can wrap soon here. But I will say that I'd never been to Paris. You get to where the first of all, it was a sunny day, and then it starts raining out of nowhere, and it was as if these guys rappelled down from the trees with umbrellas and Ponchos in here. I did not see any of these guys. And they go, 20, 20. I was like, where were you? And so then I get into. I get into a bargaining session because I hear one of these guys trying to sell a poncho for $5, okay?
- [65:56]
A
And.
- [65:57]
B
And he's all of 10ft from me. He comes around. I was going to have two for me and my wife. He goes, $20. I was like, you just said five for him. He goes, no, 20. I was like, I'm not doing. He's like, 10. I'm like, I don't know. It seems like the sky is getting ready to clear. He goes, 10. I'm like, do I want to do this? I buy the poncho. It stops raining three minutes later. I was furious. I was furious.
- [66:16]
A
Well, at least you got to knock poncho out of the deal.
- [66:18]
B
I refused to get rid of it. I told my wife. I was like, we're bringing this back with us to the States. I am using this damn poncho at one point, but the walk up the Eiffel Tower, that's just. It's insane that the human race built that in the 1800s and it's still as it was when it was built, and just massively impressive structure. Just incredible, incredible stuff there. One other thing that I'm sure you can identify with, like, I'd go to the. I just would go to certain spots to just get food that was recommended. And thankfully, I was going to spots that were not. That have not been ruined by Instagram and TikTok. Like when we were in Amsterdam, first of all, they're just French fries. But there's this one place in Amsterdam that apparently has been TikTok out. There were 50 people in line waiting to get fries with mayo and cheese on top of it, which is utterly disgusting. And then, you know, two days later, we're on this tour and our tour guide was like, the Dutch would never stand in line more than three people deep to eat anything ever. Like, this is the height of stupidity here. So it's just, it's. It happens all over our world. Like, something gets hot on TikTok and people talk about it. And then, you know, I live not that far from New Haven. Like the places that I used to go and get pizza and it wouldn't take that long. Now it's a 45. It's an hour and 45 minute wait, old man rant. But. But I saw that in multiple spots in Paris and Amsterdam as well, where this. It's just been taken Over. In fact, so much to the point where we did the canal cruise in Amsterdam, we had this awesome like 25 year old guy, born and raised in Amsterdam and he has family that owns this small spot and he's like, I'm going to give you this place. I'm telling you, I've gone there since I was a kid. You're going to love this apple pie. He was right, it was an incredible piece. But he's like, you cannot say what it, where it is, you cannot review it on Google, you cannot post on social media. And so I, I won't. And I didn't. But sure enough, when we got there, two blocks away is the place that's been tick tock out a million reviews on Google Reviews. The lines out the door. Meanwhile, we go in, go up to the second. It was just, it was just awesome. So to that point, yeah, that's. They don't, they don't. I don't know, it's just, it's just kind of a bummer, that's all.
- [68:17]
A
We have one of those. There's a hole in the wall barbecue shop in Memphis that I've noticed if. Because it got really tick tocked and Instagrammed and all that. And I noticed at some point recently if I go in there, like if I do my show and then go in there because it's not far from my studio on a Friday afternoon. Like the past three times I've happened to be in there on a Friday afternoon when Ole Miss has a home game on that Saturday. I can see the opposing fans in this place and it's pretty clear what they're doing. They're flying into Memphis, they're tick tocking figuring out where to go to get barbecued and then they're driving down to Oxford for the weekend. And I like the past three times I've seen like whatever it is, Arkansas fans or you know, you name it, but they're there. Arkansas wouldn't fit because most of those people would be flying. But you drive them. But you get the point.
- [69:08]
B
I do get the point. If anyone watching or listening has seen John Wick 4. There's a very awesome, amazing fight scene where he's fighting up the steps and that's in. I didn't know this was in the north. I didn't know until we actually got there. And thankfully this isn't a place that, I mean It's John Wilson Wick 4. So it's not like this super, super duper famous movie. But that was kind of cool to like Walk up these, all these steps up to the, the one part of the hill in Paris. I recommend going to Montmartre and doing that if you have not. And by the way, bikers in Paris and Amsterdam do not f around in the slightest at all. It was, it was awesome to bike around both those spots. But you do have to pick your spots there because it's. They're going to work, they're going home, they're going to eat that. They're not just, they're not just biking like, ooh, that's the Eiffel Tower. And whatever. It's. It was a, it was a big culture shock.
- [69:55]
A
I think what you're trying to say is if you want to bike in Paris and increase the likelihood that you will die, you can do that. It's available.
- [70:02]
B
You can. All right, predictions. Let's get out of here. Talk about a digression. All right. Player of the year, Freshman in the air, Transfer of the year. Obviously we're going to be in agreement on this. Braden Smith is our preseason pick. You can make cases for other players. Oh, look at that. With the graphic and everything. Here are mine. Okay, so I'll do mine first and then gp so I'm to going Braden Smith, but I do think there's a healthy percentage. Someone else in this league can win it. Trey McKinney is the freshman of the year at Michigan. I think he'll get plenty of playing time and be the most impactful first year player in the league. That's not a transfer. And then the transfer of the year, I'm gonna go Donovan Dent in a very competitive category. I think Dent is going to be a stud, if not a first team all American, a second team all American this season and guide UCLA to a really strong season. And so, so not an easy pick. But I go Braden, Trey and Donovan GP you're next. What do you got?
- [70:53]
A
Obviously, Braden Smith's going to be your preseason Big Ten player of the year. I went Donovan Dent as my Big Ten transfer of the year, the one place we're different, Big Ten freshman of the year. And I did check just to make sure he is listed as a freshman, but he is listed as a freshman. International prospect Omer Meyer from Israel now at Purdue. I believe he is only going to have maybe two years of eligibility. Is that right?
- [71:18]
B
That's correct.
- [71:18]
A
Yeah. But he is technically listed as a freshman. That makes him eligible to be freshman of the year. I think he's going to be terrific.
- [71:26]
B
I think that's, I think that's a show.
- [71:28]
A
Let's go. Let's get out of here. We got postseason baseball starting soon.
- [71:32]
B
We got the Bears against the Commander starting soon. The Cubbies, they took it to five. I actually really appreciated them even, because I there's no, there's no checking in on the Cubs overseas. That was not a thing. It was, it was check the score after the fact, see if they, they, they won or they didn't. But I'll take five against the Brewers. That was, that was nice to see. At least they made it to the lds. I'll take that. And yes, double two games of baseball and two games of football tonight. So should be an awesome, awesome Monday night. And we have more conference previews coming later this week, but I'm not going to spoil it for you. You're going to have to learn when we go live on YouTube Thursday or wait for it to hit your feed.
- [72:09]
A
Shouts to Devin Down E. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to Terry T. Eagle. He's a legend. Huck Larnell thank you guys for once again watching and listening to the I Own College Basketball Podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. You subscribe to podcast, Apple, Spotify. There's more of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. So please do that and we'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care. You can be anything. Saramount Podcasts.
- [73:14]
B
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