In my Big 10/18 preview I didn’t quite get to 2 things. 1) Big 10 tournament predictions, and 2) all-conference. So here goes.
Big 10 Tournament
Of course the tournament is a long, long way off, and they haven’t even said what the format will be other than it will be a 15-team tournament. Just 3 teams will miss out, and I had Iowa, Rutgers and Penn State as the misser outers.
A word about Rutgers. I note that the national rankings are out. They weren’t out when I ranked the Big 18. And, of course, there are some surprises (to me), some discrepancies between my rankings and theirs. But none so great as Rutgers. The AP has them #25 nationally and #4 among Big 18 teams. I have them at #17 out of 18. Well, Rutgers returns almost nobody, and their in-transfers are coming from Merimack, Eastern Michigan, San Diego and Princeton. So far, nothing to see. But their freshman class is #1 in the country with #2-rated Ace Bailey and #4 Dylan Harper plus another 4-star and another Top 100. If Bailey and Harper are world-beaters, well, so be it. But until they’ve proven themselves Rutgers just doesn’t impress me.
First Round
#15 Minnesota beats #10 Wisconsin
#11 Maryland beats #14 Washington
You gotta love this matchup #12 Michigan State vs. #13 Michigan. Michigan wins.
Second Round
#5 Purdue def. #13 Michigan
#11 Maryland def. #6 Oregon
#7 Illinois def. #15 Minnesota
#8 USC def. #9 Northwestern
Quarter-Finals
#1 UCLA def. #8 USC
#2 Indiana def. #7 Illinois
#3 Ohio State def. #11 Maryland
#5 Purdue def. #4 Nebraska
Semis
#1 UCLA def. #5 Purdue
#2 Indiana def. #3 Ohio State
Finals
#2 Indiana def. #1 UCLA
NCAA Tournament Bids
Who knows how deep the NCAA will go into the new Big 10/18. I don’t think 9 of the old Big 10 plus UCLA, USC and Oregon all getting there is out of the question.
#1–Indiana
#2–UCLA
#3–Purdue
#4–Ohio State and Illinois
#5–USC
#6–Oregon
#8–Nebraska
#9–Maryland and Michigan
#10–Michigan State
#12–Wisconsin
All-Conference
Center–Vladislav Goldin, Michigan 7-1 Sr 16 ppg last year (at Florida Atlantic)
Center–Oumar Ballo, Indiana 7-0 Sr 14 (Arizona)
Center–Owen Freeman, Iowa 6-10 Soph 11
Power Forward–Dawson Garcia, Minnesota 6-11 Sr 18
Power Forward–Malik Raneau, Indiana 6-9 Jr 15
Power Forward–Payton Sandefort, Iowa 6-8 Sr 16
Small Forward–Desmond Claude, USC 6-6 Sr 17 (Xavier)
Small Forward–Tre White, Illinois 6-7 Jr 12 (Louisville)
Small Forward–Ace Bailey, Rutgers 6-8 Fr
Point Guard–Bruce Thornton, Ohio State 6-2 Jr 16
Point Guard–Dylan Andrews, UCLA 6-2 Jr. 13
Point Guard–Braden Smith, Purdue 6-2 Jr 12
Shooting Guard–Brice Williams, Nebraska 6-7 Sr 13
Shooting Guard–Kobe Johnson, UCLA 6-6 Sr 11 (USC)
Shooting Guard–Roddy Gayle, Michigan 6-5 Jr 13 (Ohio State)
