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: MSU

As we arrive in East Lansing, we are nearing the completion of this early preview series on the Big Ten.  I've talked about some teams that I think will play a big role next year like Indiana, some that should drop-off like Ohio State, and teams that should have little to no impact like Nebraska.  The Spartans present an interesting scenario for next season.  They have living Big Ten legend Tom Izzo as coach and haven't missed the NCAA Tournament since 1997, but will need to make some key replacements for next season.  MSU had its low points during last year, but ultimately entered the NCAA Tournament as a #1 seed and had a pretty decent tournament run, even considering the team's high seeding.


Expectations were low to begin 2011 and there weren't many out there that thought MSU would be a big factor both in the Big Ten and the nation.  However, as the season progressed, MSU really started to excel. They began the year with an 0-2 record, but those were against ACC powerhouses North Carolina and Duke.  MSU dominated following this poor start, winning the next 15 games, including their first 4 Big Ten games.  Many thought OSU would be the Big Ten favorite throughout all of last year, but after the first few games, MSU was certainly the front-runner.  OSU, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan all had losses in the first few games.  On the other hand, MSU was undefeated and had beaten Indiana and Wisconsin.  What made this even more impressive was that Indiana had already beaten OSU and Michigan as well.