Preseason All-Big Ten Teams and Predictions

Today, the Preseason All-Big Ten teams and preseason rankings for the Big Ten were released.  None of the selections were too surprising, but I wanted to take this chance to make my own selections and predictions.  Typically, the preseason polls are relatively accurate, but they often have major errors and for this reason, I want to create my own Preseason All-Big Ten teams.  Of course, mine may be just as inaccurate as the teams the media's came up with this year, but I still selected my own teams just in case.

Before I can create my own lists, we should probably take a look at the lists that were selected by the media.  Overall, I think fans will have to generally agree with their assumptions, but I think there are some major problems with their list.  For instance, I have predicted that Ohio State will have a significant dropoff this season, but the media decided to select two players from the Buckeyes, which seems absolutely insane to me.  They have some quality players, but I really think that's going out on a limb.  Regardless, let's take a look at their list and predictions:

CBSSports Preseason Rankings: Michigan And Big Ten Breakdown

Earlier this week, CBS Sports released several lists look at the upcoming college basketball season.  Not only did they break down some of the elite teams, but they took a look at the best players across the nation and named their preseason All-American picks and their Top 100 players in the country.  Now, I don't make it a habit of responding to every preseason hype list or ranking, but I thought the way CBS laid out the rankings was quite interesting and I wanted to respond.

Their preview post had three parts; Preseason All-Americans, Top 100 Players, and Final Four Predictions. I'm only going to respond to the first two because responding to every expert's Final Four picks is simply ludicrous   Most of them will be off and it would simply take too much time to analyze each pick.  However, I thought the selections in the All-American and Top 100 players lists were pretty interesting and something I wanted to analyze.  So here are where Michigan and the Big Ten teams stacked up on both lists:

Previewing Big Ten Basketball: Ohio State

Our Big Ten basketball preview finally arrives in Columbus.  We've already analyzed some of the teams that are predicted to be great next year like Indiana and Wisconsin, but this is the first team we have touched on that won the Big Ten Championship last year.  Thad Matta, the current head coach of Ohio State, has an impressive record of 221-65, a record of 98-40 in the Big Ten, and four deep NCAA Tournament runs at Ohio State, despite making some blunders along the way (please click the link, you will enjoy it).


OSU had some inconsistent play during the 2011-2012 season, but they ultimately finished with a Final Four appearance and a share of the Big Ten Championship.  They entered Big Ten play with a 12-1 record, where their only loss was a road game against Kansas when Jared Sullinger was out with injury.  They played inconsistently to start Big Ten play with a 3-2 record, but both games were close losses and the Buckeyes had a huge target on their backs, which probably added into the upset factor.  They responded well, winning the next 6 games, including a rematch against Indiana, a road win over Wisconsin, and a win over Michigan at home.


At this point, OSU seemed to be the favorite to win the Big Ten.  However, after winning 6 straight games and having a 9-2 record in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes stumbled to a 2-3 record over the next 5 games.  After losing these games, there was just be too much to overcome for OSU to remain the "dominant" team in the Big Ten.  They had an uphill battle the rest of the season, but they won all of their remaining regular season games, made it to the Big Ten Tournament final, and won 4 NCAA Tournament games before collapsing at the very end of the game against Kansas to miss the NCAA Tournament final.