GBMWolverine: Big Ten Basketball — Should be Big — The Bottom Two — Preview

Posted at 6:00am — 12/27/2011

GBMWolverine: Big Ten Basketball — Should be Big — Preview

Is this the year the Big Ten Conference takes the cake and eats it too? This is a real scenario. The conference has both quality at the high end and depth across the entire spectrum.

It is not a stretch to predict eight teams go to the NCAA tournament. Most teams currently have only 1 or 2 non-conference losses. The mid-pack of the conference standings will ebb and flow and a logjam at around .500 in league play should give many teams a ticket to the dance. Conferences love a big mid-pack as more teams gain consideration.

The mid-pack from around 5th to 8th place will have at least six teams in serious contention. A team could be very good and finish ninth this year.

The GBMWolverine annual preview will take the same form as previous years. First off will be the teams in serious trouble at even having a shot at the tournament. Then, a group of teams that will struggle to get the seventh or eighth spots in the final standings will be denoted. Next, the mid-pack, the teams that want to get in, can get in, but are far from guaranteed getting in. Finally, the teams that should go, the teams most likely to finish top four.

The first installment is the teams at risk right from the start of not making the NCAA tournament. Two teams have been identified this year: Iowa and Penn State.

Iowa, a once proud program may be improved, but the problem is most everyone else is also improved. The Hawkeyes enter Coach Fran McCaffery’s second season.

Senior Matt Gatens is leading the way in preseason with 14 points per game. He is a big guard that can get hot and influence a game. Sophomore Roy Marble is in double digits and is having a good second year. He is a swing-man and uses his 6’ 6” height well.

Another sophomore, Melsahn Basabe, may be the toughest 6’ 7” player in the league. He rebounds with great enthusiasm and toughness and can block shots very well. Basabe is averaging near ten points per game.

Two freshmen have done well:

Aaron White and Josh Oglesby. White is from talent rich Ohio and Oglesby is from Iowa. Two other youngsters, Zach McCabe and Steven McCarty, are providing good support. The Hawkeyes are averaging about a dozen turnovers a game, about normal, and are doing very well with steals. The rebounding has been about even with Basabe leading the way.

Penn State will also find it tough to make the tournament this season. Junior guard Tim Frazier leads the way averaging over 17 points per game. He also leads the way in rebounding, and this is not so good. Senior Cammeron Woodyard and sophomore Jermaine Marshall are contributing well, averaging near double digits.

Penn State has struggled shooting the ball in all phases of the game hitting only 32 percent from beyond the arc and less than 40 percent overall. The foul shooting is under 65 percent. The turnovers are around the typical 12 per game and the Lions are out-rebounding the opponents by a decent margin.

Pat Chambers, the new Penn State Head Coach, has his work cut out.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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