The BTN student broascasts are the worst. But also hilarious. The kids always try wayyyy too hard

I lol'd

Ramzy Nasrallah ‏@ramzy 3m Remember when IU looked almost stunned that Syracuse runs a 2-3 zone? Tom Crean is late for B1G media day because "Chicago has traffic."

Pick6;1526445 wrote:I lol'd

Ramzy Nasrallah ‏@ramzy 3m Remember when IU looked almost stunned that Syracuse runs a 2-3 zone? Tom Crean is late for B1G media day because "Chicago has traffic."

This not only made me laugh, it also made me dislike Crean even more.

Pre-Season writers poll for Big Ten:
Here is the full poll, with points:
1. Michigan State 288
2. Michigan 241
3. Ohio State 240
4. Wisconsin 218
5. Iowa 192
6. Indiana 173
7. Purdue 143
8. Illinois 127
9. Minnesota 74
10. Northwestern 70
11. Penn State 58
12. Nebraska 48

Michigan obviously has talent. But losing a player like Burke, at his position isn't going to be easy to replace. MSU is no brainer as favorite.

centralbucksfan;1526681 wrote:
Michigan obviously has talent. But losing a player like Burke, at his position isn't going to be easy to replace. MSU is no brainer as favorite.

I said it right here on the OC last year, and I stand by it after seeing Walton in action...they can be better this year. And I think they just might be. Does that mean they'll make the Final Four? Who knows. This team will be good.

WebFire;1526812 wrote:I said it right here on the OC last year, and I stand by it after seeing Walton in action...they can be better this year. And I think they just might be. Does that mean they'll make the Final Four? Who knows. This team will be good.

Haven't seen Walton in action yet. But he is no way a better player than Burke. Burke was special. Yes, selfish at times. But during crunch time, when you needed a play or bucket, the kid was about as good as it gets. That alone will be missed big time. Certainly not saying they are going to be bad by any means. They are talented. But again, replacing Burke, Hardaway and back issues with McGary, there are questions at key positions certainly.

centralbucksfan;1527476 wrote:Haven't seen Walton in action yet. But he is no way a better player than Burke. Burke was special. Yes, selfish at times. But during crunch time, when you needed a play or bucket, the kid was about as good as it gets. That alone will be missed big time. Certainly not saying they are going to be bad by any means. They are talented. But again, replacing Burke, Hardaway and back issues with McGary, there are questions at key positions certainly.

Never once did I say Walton is better than Burke. As an individual player, that would be quite a feat. What we are discussing is the team. I do believe the team will be a better offensive team with a true distributor. Michigan has play makers. They need someone to get the ball to the right place. Burke would take too much on himself at times, and wasn't a distributor nearly enough. Don't get me wrong, Burke was somebody that you take on your team no matter what, and he did a lot to make that team what it was. But Walton is no slouch...if you are into rankings, he is a much higher rated recruit than Burke was. But the important thing is that he is showing that is ranking was legit..so far.

Hardaway: Lavert will take over for him and not miss a beat. I've like this kid since I first saw him play. He gained some necessary weight over the off season (needs to gain some more), and he has been a nice surprise for many this year. Though not a surprise for me, I think he's legit. Hardaway was very streaky and not the best ball handler at time. But he would make the shot when it mattered most. That is what will be missed most with Hardaway.

McGary: his back issue isn't expected to have a real impact on the season. The biggest issue will be the practice he missed, but that won't take long to make up. in the meantime, he has been practicing other facets of his game he needed to improve on. Plus they have Morgan and a healthy Horford back. They'll be fine here.

Overall, I think this team has just as much potential as last years. Read that correctly though: POTENTIAL. I am not making any FF predication or anything like that. Yet.

LeVert will have to make a big jump to be anywhere near what Hardaway was. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but a potential redshirt guy as a freshman going into a meaningful role doesn't happen very often. He was pretty terrible last year.

se-alum;1527814 wrote:LeVert will have to make a big jump to be anywhere near what Hardaway was. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but a potential redshirt guy as a freshman going into a meaningful role doesn't happen very often. He was pretty terrible last year.

He was? Must have watched someone else than I did.

se-alum;1527814 wrote:LeVert will have to make a big jump to be anywhere near what Hardaway was. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but a potential redshirt guy as a freshman going into a meaningful role doesn't happen very often. He was pretty terrible last year.

Also, just like Burke, I am not saying he is as good or Hardaway. But he will fille the role just fine. It's a team game, and the team will be fine despite any losses. They have much more returning than what they lost. I feel many people look at Michigan and say "they lost 2 guys to the NBA, they won't be near as good." You know that's not how it works in the college basketball.

They only team who didnt loss a ton is MSU...

Everyone has questions and everyone has a ton of talent. People are sleeping on the B1G this year because going into the season it seems they are weaker than last year. I wouldnt be surprised to see 8 teams make it to the NCAAs.

Like Web, not saying that WILL happen. Just saying it wouldnt surprise me.

Indiana, Michigan, MSU, OSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minny are all top 20 (in some cases much higher) in terms of raw talent. It just remains to be seen if that translates to the floor.

Watching through B1G media day right now. Tim Miles is awesome. Hard not to root for him.

Jeff Goodman (ESPN, insider article) listed Caris LeVert #13 on his list of breakout players for '13-'14.

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post?id=2086&ex_cid=espnapi_public

just took Indiana the last possession to beat LIU Brooklyn.. Not good..

Indiana just survived LIU Brooklyn 73-72 at home. An upset would have been pretty sweet there.

LeVert had 24 points, including 6/7 from three, in Michigan's win tonight.

Whisky boring Florida to death and hitting 3s up 11 at home

Columbia up 21 to 19 over No. 2 Michigan State in East Lansing, with about three minutes left in the first half. Wild night in college hoops.

Game is on Big Ten Network.

Halftime score: Columbia Lions 26, Michigan State 22.

Liking the competitive games tonight. Rare for a Friday in college basketball.

7 combined points from Appling and Harris so far. That's not gonna get it done for Sparty.

The Spartans look very pedestrian tonight. After a big performance in Chicago where they dominated the No. 1 team in the country for about 35 minutes, Michigan State has let a team from the Ivy League come into the Breslin Center and push them around for the entire second half up until this point. Goes to show you that this year is still wide open and up for grabs.

Lions holding strong so far, up 42 to 40 with 10 minutes to go.

Adreian Payne is a beast.

Mulva;1536574 wrote:Adreian Payne is a beast.

When he chooses to be a beast. Very inconsistent effort over his career IMO.

No. 20 Wisconsin survives against Green Bay on the road, 69 to 66. And this is why many major teams do not schedule true road games at small school gymnasiums. There is nothing to gain and everything to lose. That would've been a bad, bad loss on the resume to a middle-of-the-pack Horizon League team.

Big Game Frank Kaminski is back in action tonight. No. 10 Wisconsin takes on Saint Louis at 8:30 on the CBS Sports Network from Cancun.

Then at 10:30 Illinois travels to Vegas to take on the Rebels in the Thomas & Mack Center.

Nice double-header.