Carton gives Ohio State an immediate playmaking guard that can step in and start from the moment he arrives at the Schottenstein Center.
Man what good is your agent if he allows you to play at the combine and finish dead last in everything
^^^I think they easily make the top 3, with MSU and UofM, with the dichotomy of coaching/organic talent v.s. returning, experienced talent
Was recently talking about Nebraska with another Big Ten writer. Iâm very high on them but was asked this question: what did Nebraska do to get better this year over last year? Seems like they should be a very similar team, just not sure they did anything to take the next step other than age a year.
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Another reason coaching is a tipping factor, coachingâ>player development. But when you have good players that still showed room for improvement (Palmer, Roby), and they get more experience, thereâs at least an increased chance that they improve. I think everyone wouldâve been high on PSU, if Carr returned. Not because they were going to be a newly improved team, but because itâs easy to imagine the core of Carr, Stephens, Watson, and Reeves improving.
Guessing who will improve, other than looking at whoâs coaching them at practice, is kind of the the foolâs errand. Sometimes itâs easy: C. Edwards seemed like an easy pick, even if most people undersold the magnitude of improvement; and C. Matthews also an easy pick that basically was true. Then thereâs Langford, who many thought would greatly improve but didnt. And Im struggling to think of a trendy 'break out candidate" who definitely did not break out.
As we all know, they wouldâve made the tournament if they played a better set of teams at home. This year they donât get Michigan or Indiana at home.
My point being they may be near the top of the standings again but it wonât matter if this team canât figure out how to win on the road. Improvement be damned.
Age a year is a big deal
I do not trust Tim Miles until he gives me a reason to.
Is it though? So often we see semi-experienced solid but not great teams take a step back when they return just about everything but donât make many changes.
Northwestern last year is a great example of this or Michigan in 2010.
One difference is that those NW/UM teams experienced their programsâ first bit of success in a long time, and the players and coaches didnât handle it well - the whole âhunterâ vs âhuntedâ analogy that Beilein likes to use. In a way, missing the tourney last year might be a blessing in disguise for Nebraska if it keeps the players motivated this offseason.
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Agree completely with this analogy. An established program (UM, MSU, Bo Ryan Wisconsin, Purdue) I think aging a year is a big deal and leads to increased development. Like the examples you cited (I would add recent Minnesota as well) just aging a year with no previous success to build off of doesnât mean as much.
I like Tim Miles and what he has done at Nebraska and would like to think he can get the job done there. But this will be a really interesting case because they have some really talented pieces but can they put it all together? With their schedule last year, it could be possible they are somewhat overrated based off of last year (I could be wrong, but I think NW had the same weak schedule during their âbreakoutâ year)
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um who is that
a former top 50 recruit who transferred from MSST
Schnider Herard. Had not heard of him. But would have been the best name in the B1G. Who holds that spot now?
Bruno Fernando
Vic Law
Geo Baker
Dupree McBrayer
Kobe King
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