Now that Kofi has returned, the fun really begins…….the Big Ten will be a war zone again next year but after doing my homework on all the transfers in, transfers out, freshmen coming in, and all the players staying in the draft or opting out of the draft, I have come to the conclusion that Illinois will win the Big Ten…..which is huge because without Kofi I legitimately had them at #8.
He literally makes that much of a difference……our defense immediately improved tremendously and now everyone will have a lot more open shots on the perimeter. Sure the Illini will miss Ayo but they did go 3-0 without him last year including a destruction of Michigan on the road and this roster is LOADED with really good wings and has Curbelo now running the show.
Three x-factors on why we improve from last year:
1)Coleman Hawkins…..he can really shoot the three and I think he’ll get that chance this year and become a solid weapon.
2)The Freshmen…..I have watched a lot of film of them and they are really good……due to our depth, they might not have huge seasons but I feel at least one of them will step up and become a key bench contributor.
3)Trent Frazier…..he’s not being talked about a lot with all the Kofi hype and Curbelo hype and last year with all the Ayo hype but this guy has already had a very underrated career and I think he’ll finish his career in a big way……he laid an egg (1-10) against Loyola Chicago and I don’t think him or any of those guys wants that as their last memory.
So the Big Ten (fourteen) essentially comes down to three levels:
NCAA tournament teams (EIGHT OF THEM)
NIT hopefuls (FOUR OF THEM)
BAD (TWO OF THEM)
NCAA locks:
1)ILLINI
Already stated why
2)MICHIGAN
Yes, they return Dickinson and have a stacked freshman class coming in but they are losing a lot in Livers, Wagner, Smith, and Brown………that’s a lot of talent and leadership.
They get Sun Belt player of the year, guard Devante Jones and have Eli Brooks returning for their backcourt.
Up front, they will get a lot of help from stud freshmen Caleb Houstan, Will Tschetter, Moussa Diabite, and freshman Frankie Collins and Kobe Bufkin will help in the backcourt
3)PURDUE
They return their top eight scorers and add two very good freshmen bigs in Caleb Furst, who was Mr.Basketball in Indiana and Trey Kaufman.
They will likely lose Trevion Williams after this season, but Edey will likely take over in the middle and they’ll return much of this team the following season also. Painter already has three freshmen lined up for 2022 (two are four star recruits) so the Boilers seem to be in a great position moving forward
4)OHIO STATE
This team will not win the Big Ten next year and that is because Duane Washington decided to stay in the NBA draft.
Yes, they return E.J. Liddell, who is a star, and bring in highly ranked freshman guard, Malaki Branham, and return Justice Sueing, Kyle Young, Seth Towns, Zed Key, and Jimmy Soto but losing Washington will be too much to overcome when it comes to contending for the championship.
He was playing great at the end of the year and along with Liddell could have helped them win the Big Ten this year. They are still trying to get a few transfers so if they somehow landed a great guard, they might have a chance but otherwise I don’t see them in the top three.
They do add a few interesting transfers in:
Jamari Wheeler…..yes Penn State’s Jamari Wheeler, who only averaged 3.8 pts per game last year but he has been All-Defense the last two years and has led the league in steals the last two years.
Joey Brunk….recruited to Butler by Holtmann, the seven-footer redshirted for Holtmann in 2016-17, then Holtmann took off for OSU, Brunk played the next few years at Butler before transferring to Indiana last year….now he rejoins his original college coach and should be a solid back-up center.
5)RUTGERS
Like the Illini, they also received good news recently when Ron Harper Jr. opted out of the NBA draft.
Which means they’ll return Harper Jr., Geo Baker, and Paul Mulcahy, a trio that has won a lot of Big Ten games the past few years. Add in LSU transfer Aundre Hyatt and sophomore center, Clifford Omoroyi, who take a big step forward this year, and you have a very solid starting five.
They have a decent bench returning and have added transfer Ralph Agee up front so it looks like this senior laden group will be knocking on the door again. I just don’t feel they have the overall depth to finish ahead of the top three.
6)INDIANA
This might surprise some but the Hoosiers should be a lot better than last year.
First, they return Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was very good last year and should cause a lot of problems in 2021-22. He’ll be helped up front by Race Thompson and South Florida 7-foot transfer, Michael Durr.
At point guard, they’ll have Pitt transfer Xavier Johnson, who average 15pts a game backed up by Rob Phinisee and at wing they have Parker Stewart, who is really good. He left Tennessee-Martin after his dad, who was the head coach died. He sat out last year but he averaged 19.2 pts a game the year before and should make a name for himself this year in the Big Ten. At small forward, they’ll have Miller Kopp……yes, that Miller Kopp from Northwestern, who is a very good shooter and should get a lot more open looks this year.
Off the bench, they have top-100 guard Tamar Bates and Trey Galloway to also help out.
Overall, I think the Hoosiers had a lot better off-season than most people expected.
He literally makes that much of a difference……our defense immediately improved tremendously and now everyone will have a lot more open shots on the perimeter. Sure the Illini will miss Ayo but they did go 3-0 without him last year including a destruction of Michigan on the road and this roster is LOADED with really good wings and has Curbelo now running the show.
Three x-factors on why we improve from last year:
1)Coleman Hawkins…..he can really shoot the three and I think he’ll get that chance this year and become a solid weapon.
2)The Freshmen…..I have watched a lot of film of them and they are really good……due to our depth, they might not have huge seasons but I feel at least one of them will step up and become a key bench contributor.
3)Trent Frazier…..he’s not being talked about a lot with all the Kofi hype and Curbelo hype and last year with all the Ayo hype but this guy has already had a very underrated career and I think he’ll finish his career in a big way……he laid an egg (1-10) against Loyola Chicago and I don’t think him or any of those guys wants that as their last memory.
So the Big Ten (fourteen) essentially comes down to three levels:
NCAA tournament teams (EIGHT OF THEM)
NIT hopefuls (FOUR OF THEM)
BAD (TWO OF THEM)
NCAA locks:
1)ILLINI
Already stated why
2)MICHIGAN
Yes, they return Dickinson and have a stacked freshman class coming in but they are losing a lot in Livers, Wagner, Smith, and Brown………that’s a lot of talent and leadership.
They get Sun Belt player of the year, guard Devante Jones and have Eli Brooks returning for their backcourt.
Up front, they will get a lot of help from stud freshmen Caleb Houstan, Will Tschetter, Moussa Diabite, and freshman Frankie Collins and Kobe Bufkin will help in the backcourt
3)PURDUE
They return their top eight scorers and add two very good freshmen bigs in Caleb Furst, who was Mr.Basketball in Indiana and Trey Kaufman.
They will likely lose Trevion Williams after this season, but Edey will likely take over in the middle and they’ll return much of this team the following season also. Painter already has three freshmen lined up for 2022 (two are four star recruits) so the Boilers seem to be in a great position moving forward
4)OHIO STATE
This team will not win the Big Ten next year and that is because Duane Washington decided to stay in the NBA draft.
Yes, they return E.J. Liddell, who is a star, and bring in highly ranked freshman guard, Malaki Branham, and return Justice Sueing, Kyle Young, Seth Towns, Zed Key, and Jimmy Soto but losing Washington will be too much to overcome when it comes to contending for the championship.
He was playing great at the end of the year and along with Liddell could have helped them win the Big Ten this year. They are still trying to get a few transfers so if they somehow landed a great guard, they might have a chance but otherwise I don’t see them in the top three.
They do add a few interesting transfers in:
Jamari Wheeler…..yes Penn State’s Jamari Wheeler, who only averaged 3.8 pts per game last year but he has been All-Defense the last two years and has led the league in steals the last two years.
Joey Brunk….recruited to Butler by Holtmann, the seven-footer redshirted for Holtmann in 2016-17, then Holtmann took off for OSU, Brunk played the next few years at Butler before transferring to Indiana last year….now he rejoins his original college coach and should be a solid back-up center.
5)RUTGERS
Like the Illini, they also received good news recently when Ron Harper Jr. opted out of the NBA draft.
Which means they’ll return Harper Jr., Geo Baker, and Paul Mulcahy, a trio that has won a lot of Big Ten games the past few years. Add in LSU transfer Aundre Hyatt and sophomore center, Clifford Omoroyi, who take a big step forward this year, and you have a very solid starting five.
They have a decent bench returning and have added transfer Ralph Agee up front so it looks like this senior laden group will be knocking on the door again. I just don’t feel they have the overall depth to finish ahead of the top three.
6)INDIANA
This might surprise some but the Hoosiers should be a lot better than last year.
First, they return Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was very good last year and should cause a lot of problems in 2021-22. He’ll be helped up front by Race Thompson and South Florida 7-foot transfer, Michael Durr.
At point guard, they’ll have Pitt transfer Xavier Johnson, who average 15pts a game backed up by Rob Phinisee and at wing they have Parker Stewart, who is really good. He left Tennessee-Martin after his dad, who was the head coach died. He sat out last year but he averaged 19.2 pts a game the year before and should make a name for himself this year in the Big Ten. At small forward, they’ll have Miller Kopp……yes, that Miller Kopp from Northwestern, who is a very good shooter and should get a lot more open looks this year.
Off the bench, they have top-100 guard Tamar Bates and Trey Galloway to also help out.
Overall, I think the Hoosiers had a lot better off-season than most people expected.
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