Thanks ! Best overall day Iāve had in two or three weeks. The lines were talking to me today my friend.
Just tossing this out here as the season comes to an end.
All B10 First team: Winston, Simpson, Juwan Morgan, Haap, Fernando
I realize Iām putting two point guards and 2 centers, but those four are the four best players in the conference in my mind. Canāt see a way around it.
2nd: Cowan, Edwards, Murphy, Cook, Teske
3rd (I had a hard time here): Dosunmu, McQuaid, Brazdeikis, Cline, Wesson
MVP is Winston. That seems rather obvious.
Defense: Simpson, McQuaid, Reaves, Matthews, Happ (Happ/Teske is really a coinflip, but I felt like too much of a homer putting 3 Wolverines here)
Coach: Painter. I canāt figure out how this Purdue team is anywhere near this good.
Sixth manā¦who knowsā¦Haarms?
I know there is a ton of hate here on Edwards, and I get it. But he carries 37% of the load on the 7th best offense in the country - heās gotta be doing something right within the context of playing good team offense, and his severely declined efficiency is clearly a result of that Harden-esque usage. I draw a major line between him and Lamar Stevens (who I omitted), who is inefficient towards the cause of a very bad team offense.
I realize my third team doesnāt exactly have a point guard - the three best are obviously jammed in my first two teams. But I just couldnāt bring myself to reward James Palmer or anyone on the Huskers. Similarly, if you wanted to say Derek Pardon instead of Kaleb Wesson, I could support that, but again - NW is so bad.
FWIW, my first team would be Winston, Simpson, Fernando, Stevens and Murphy. Happ canāt score if he is more than 8 feet from the rim and sits at the end of games because he canāt make free throws. Edwards self inflicted usage at the expense of his team speaks for itself.
I have no problem putting X, Charles and Teske on the all defensive first team.
Painter, only if they beat NW.
If Jordan Murphy gets on First Team over Ethan Happ it would be a felony.
Happ is his teamās leading scorer, defender, and passer. I have a hard time leaving him off, FTās be damned.
On Edwards, he still not that inefficient - his true shooting is 53% (55% is about average) - Stevens is under 50%. Edwards looks like a ball hog, but I think heās being asked to play like this, otherwise Iād assume he wouldnāt be 4th in minutes in the league. Again - heās overwhelmingly the largest cog in the leagueās 2nd best offense - itās likely that his massive usage allows guys like Cline and Haarms to be so wildly efficient.
Yeah, I donāt get the rancor toward Edwards, though some of his struggles are epic. Seems like kind of a happy-go-lucky kid to my old behind. Very even player. Painter has to condone it, andāinterestinglyāwith results.
I donāt quite get how Purdue wins, either. Itās not that there isnāt talent there, but the whole exceeds the sum of the very clunky-seeming parts. Testament to Painter.
Edwards is pretty much the only guy who can create his own shot so heās gonna be forced to take a lot of difficult end of shot clock shots. The problem is that he takes a lot of those shots with 20 seconds left on the shot clock.
Edwards TS% in conference play is 48.9%.
I still have no idea how this Northwestern team sucks so bad. I hope they can put it together today so Andy Katz has to book ass to Michigan with that trophy. 
So what do you think Painterās private view of his player might be? And how does he talk to him? Seems to have the green light. . .
Donāt worry, he wonāt.
1st team: Cassius Winston, Carsen Edwards, Jordan Murphy, Bruno Fernando, Ethan Happ
2nd team: Zavier Simpson, Charles Matthews, Jordan Poole, John Teske, Iggy Brazdekis
He obviously has the green light, you gotta take the good with the bad with a player like Edwards. I assume he wishes Edwards would show a little more patience at times and do a better job of setting up his teammates/taking care of the ball.
Which is flat to Stevens. And again, he is doing it within the context of the 7th best offense in basketball. Itās hard to claim heās hurting the team.
I just think itās hard to argue that the guy swallowing a 37% usage on the 7th best offense in college basketball doesnāt deserve credit for the offenseās quality. Thatās almost impossible.
It seems to me that his game allows guys like Cline, Haarms, and Eifert to not step a centimeter outside of their lane.
Personally, I have a feeling Edwards is playing how Painter wants him to play, broadly.
I donāt think Stevens belongs anywhere near first team all conference, and Iām not arguing Edwards is hurting the team. Honestly I think part of his inefficiency is just bad luck, even more so that his poor shot selection. There is obviously a range, both up and down, from a shooters true talent level that he will shoot over the course of a season. I think Edwards is pretty much at the low end of that range this year.
That said, he still does contribute to his mediocre efficiency by forcing too many difficult shots early in the shot clock. Itās like Beilein says, the good thing is that can get any shot he wants, but the bad thing is that he can get any shot he wants. Itās obviously not an egregious amount, their overall teams offensive efficiency reflects that. The good outweighs the bad by a long shot, but there is still some bad and room for improvement.
How many of the big ten seedings are still left to be decided today?
All of them besides 1-3, 6, and 13-14.
MSU, Purdue, Michigan are 1-3, Iowa 6, and Nebraska/Northwestern at 13/14.
I think Penn State, Illinois, and Rutgers are all in contention for the 11 seed that will potentially be relevant to our quarterfinal game.
So Michigan plays either 11. Illinois, 14. Northwestern, or 6. Iowa.
Feel like there is a good chance that Michigan is playing the 11 or 14 seed on Friday.
Personally, I think Michigan gets to Sunday fairly easily, but need Matthews back to win it.