Sure, with first team All Americans each year (and the national POTY two years ago). They also started 7-5 two years ago and 7-7 last year and won a bunch of games once they were completely out of contention so it’s not like when Michigan finished 4th or 5th or whatever it was in 2013 despite being one basket away from a title. I totally agree with you about IU, I just can’t fathom landing on Iowa as the team to win it. You have to assume Kris Murray will be just as good as Keegan AND the rest of the team around him will be as good if not better. That’s quite a leap.
Kris probably won’t be Keegan (but the rest of the Big Ten is not as good as last year IMO). I do think he’s a top five player in the league – that’s a starting point.
They did win 12 of their final 14 Big Ten games last year including the BTT though. It’s not like they weren’t relevant at the top of the league.
I also think the supporting cast has some potential. Perkins is a pretty obvious breakout guy (especially with Toussaint and Bohannon out of the picture). Patrick had a really good year last year. Sandfort should be an offensive weapon. I wouldn’t pick them to win it, but I think I picked them too low on my ballot.
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I mean positions in basketball aren’t as rigid as football. And you’d rather have guys like Edey, TJD and Omoruyi miss the first team just so you can add Chucky Hepburn? That makes no sense. Those guys are way better than Chucky.
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I do think it’s probably a football thing and that’s why people complain about it. I just don’t see any reason that All League teams should be anything other than the best five players in the league. Basketball isn’t football.
You picked them just right on your ballot, you gotta account for the Francon factor!
Is there a bigger drop-off at any position from Harrar to whatever Penn State is doing at the 5 this season? I like Minnesota over them and wouldn’t be surprised if Nebraska or Northwestern does it too.
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I guess I’m just surprised Battle isn’t 1st team. Well deserving based on position and production especially over Cliff who is just a 4th best big in the conference.
I’m going with Illinois as my pick. Have to figure out how their pieces work together but I think they have more pieces than anyone else.
Lots to chew on with this as usual. The best part of the whole thing is when you pointed out that the IU and UofI writers didn’t pick their respective teams to win it but everyone else did. That is the best way to capture the fact that this conference will be really unpredictable and probably pretty bad this year.
I don’t think Iowa is a true contender either and it is hard not to buy into the funny conspiracy that Fran limited Kris’s minutes just so he could keep him a year. But…if there ever were a year when a team like Iowa could at least tie for a share of the title it is this year. Wide open league, no true top-tier teams, no one else looks good defensively either…could be one of those 3-way tie seasons.
As for the all-B10 teams, I’m not a fan of this format either but I get it. We just shouldn’t call it a “first team” and should rebrand it as “all-pro” or something more creative that I can’t think of right now. This is a “who are the best players” or “who would you take first in a pick-up game” - this isn’t a team at all. Congrats - you’re the fourth best center in your conference…have a spot on the all B10 team!"
In some ways I like that it recognizes the best PLAYERS but I also think there should be a home for best TEAM. It isn’t just football that drives this thinking either - it is baseball, hockey, etc. You can’t vote for 9 MLB first basemen even if they are the best hitters. You have to vote by position for the best TEAM. The benefit of basketball is that we can get creative with some of the spots too and have a team with one guard, two forwards, and two centers. Or we could have four guards and one forward. Those are teams you could see on the court. The B10 just so happens to generate the one type of team that you’d NEVER see on the court - four centers.
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Better than “Congrats - you’re the 15th best player in the conference, but we don’t have any guards on the first team all league so here is a spot for you!”
Point is, it is an award to honor the best players. This “team” of players isn’t going to be playing in exhibitions against other teams so I think you want to give the best players the honor. It would be extremely dumb if Hunter was third team all Big Ten because he had the third best year among TJD and Edey.
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Yeah, it isn’t an all-star team. The team isn’t playing anyone. It’s an honor for the best players in the league.
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I think he’s justifiably hurt by the fact that his team was picked 12th.
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Jamison Battle isn’t the 15th best player in the conference. He’s arguably one of the top SFs/wings in the country.
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Wasn’t talking about Battle, per se. I think he’s the only non-Center with an argument for first team besides Murray (and as Dylan points out, is hindered by the fact that his team is bad). But if you had to go to 2 guards on the First Team to form a cohesive unit, you’d really be struggling to come up with a second guard that is worthy.
Then wouldn’t that be another issue?? Writers not being able to separate a team and a damn good player. Battle isn’t the reason Minnesota is picked so low.
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He’s a stretch four, though. He’s not a guard.
He still made 2nd Team. I personally factor the caliber of a player’s team into my all-league picks. I think it makes a big difference in something like this.
Especially because the way basketball works someone has to score points, even when they lose. That can lead to guys on bad teams putting up big numbers that aren’t as valuable as guys who might put up lower numbers on better teams.
An example would be Isaiah Livers in 2020-21 putting up 13.1, 6 and 2 on a title winning team vbs. Battle putting up 17.5, 6.3 and 1 on a basement team last year. I’d vote for someone like Livers.
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Where was TJD in 20-21? Just curious because the Hoosiers were terrible. He still got a lot of hype.
Yeah, I was thinking of him more as a wing. But that makes it even sillier that you’d need to put 2 guards on the First Team when you’d have to drop down beyond the top 6-7 players in the conference to even find one guard, let alone 2.
He was on the first team and IU was picked to finish 7th.
Indiana has been decidedly mediocre the last few years but hasn’t been outside of the KP top 100 since 2010. Minnesota finished 109th last year and should probably be worse this year.
