Yeah, we need the mediocre teams to make a massive step forward because most of the top teams from this past year are going to take significant steps back.
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My hot take is that Michigan will be a significantly better team next season than they were this year and it might not be close. Probably wonât result in another national title appearance but you never know. I think next yearâs team is a dominant one from the start of the non-con season and the Big Ten favorite from start to finish.
I expect Simpson to take a huge jump at PG and be able to create more offense for himself off the dribble.
I think Poole will be an upgrade at SG and be an early entry possibility.
I expect Matthews to take a big jump both as a shooter and a More prolific ball screen creator.
I expect Livers to be much closer to pre-injury Livers and itâs very possible he could have an even larger breakout.
Iggy and Johns will be killers from day one. We wonât have any backup PG issues with an improved Brooks and DeJulius. As long as Poole isnât a giant black hole, the defense should be even better in year 2 with all these guys back. My only question mark is shot creation but Poole and Iggy could be special in that area and Matthews has potential to get there as well.
I think this is a top 10 team all year without Moe returning and on the off chance he doesâŚitâs going to be a special special year.
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I would agree weâll be better at the start of the year.
If weâre actually a better team by March, thatâs really something. Could happen. But itâs asking a lot.
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The deep runs take so much luck. This year we got a bunch of it. We were an insanely good team for the last 2 months (big ten tournament run was absolutely dominant after Iowa) but Iâd argue the team played 1 good game in the NCAA tournament, 2 average ones and 3 bad ones. We really shot so poorly itâs remarkable they achieved what they did despite that.
I donât think itâs hard to envision being a better team by the NCAA tournament next year, even if the run doesnât result in a banner.
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Another late surprise. Isnât that about a dozen guys just from the Big Ten?
I think the better question would be what good Big Ten players arenât at least testing the waters?
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Jordan Poole 
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Be careful what you say! 
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Are Winston, Cowan Jr. and Jordan Murphy the only all conf. Players who havenât put their name in the draft yet?
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Solid pickup for Rutgers, although Young wonât do much to combat the Scarlet Knightsâ lack of shooting ability. OTOH, his ORtg of 103.2 wouldâve been third-best this past season.
Young is a shooter. I know his percentages arenât great, but a guy who takes >50% of his shots from 3 should help them there IMO.
I can see what youâre saying and I guess getting him away from Shaka Smart should help. I watched a fair amount of Texas games and their half-court offense basically consisted of passing it around the perimeter or in to Bamba, and if he didnât have a shot then it went back out and someone hoisted a shot clock jumper.
Not sure Pikiell is much better of an offensive coach than Smart though. They ârunâ some incredibly bad sets lol.
Regarding Young, Iâm just not sure whoâs going to be setting up his shots at Rutgers. Texas had two >20% assist rate guys to feed him, right now Rutgersâ highest returning guy was at 16.8%. Then 10.8%. Obviously there could be a good freshman coming in for 2019 or guys could improve, but it seems kinda like a move where itâs hard to say itâs a better fit with similar playing time probably available at much better programs.
I think my biggest takeaway here is that Smart allowed a 22% shooter to take over 100 threes in Youngâs freshman year and a 26% guy take almost 150.
Yeah, I had originally included a sentence about Rutgers not being the place that shooters go to excel but removed it because I felt like it wasnât being completely fair to Pikiell since he was operating mostly with Eddie Jordanâs leftovers his first two seasons. But on the whole, yes, I agree that Rutgersâ offense sets have been pretty bad thus far. Pikiell does have two decent three-point shooters returning in Baker (37%) and Thiam (38%) so I guess weâll see what year three can bring.
Romeo Langford expected to pick IU tonight. Would be a huge get for Archie Miller, should have a significant impact on the conference race.
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IU fans are PUMPED that theyâll have a shot to finish 4th in the B10.
His high school coach compared him to Oscar Robertson and Abraham Lincoln in the same speech
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