w w w w w w _..' W w Thd Michfgdcol ly-:Wodnesdoy Page 16--Wednesday, January 12, 1983-The Michigan Daily Big By LARRY MISHKIN When one thinks of the Big Ten, one thinks of football. Or, at least that's the way it used to be. In the last six years the Big Ten has emerged as one of the top basketball conferences in the nation, annually sending three or four teams to the NCAA tournament and at least two or three more to the NIT field. BESIDES THE national recognition of the conference teams, the Big Ten has also produced some of the finest in- dividual talent in the country, as is evidenced by four of the last six num- ber-one draft picks in the NBA college draft coming from the Big Ten: Pur- due's Joe Barry Carroll (1980), Michigan State's Earvin (Magic) John- son (1979), Minnesota's Mychal Thom- pson (1978) and Indiana's Kent Benson (1976). With the young 1983 season just un- derway, here is a quick rundown of my selection of the top ten players in the conference. Randy Breuer-. Minnesota, center The hope of another successful season, and conference championship, for the Minnesota Golden Gophers rides on the shoulders of their 7-3 center who has developed into one of the top big men in the country. An All-Big Ten first team choice last year and a legitimate All-America can- didate this year, Breuer boasted a shooting percentage of .554, while averaging 16.6 points a game. Also ef- fective from the free throw line (.756), Breuer's only weakness is rebounding where he averages only 7.2 caroms, surprisingly low for a seven footer, but an improvement from his 5.5 average of the year before. IN FACT, improvement seems to be the name of the game for the Gophers' co-captain, who has played better each year. In his top outing, which came in the conference championship-clinching finale over Ohio State, Breuer hit for 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Min- len has the talent... Defensively, Cross averaged 6.4 rebounds a game and tormented op- posing teams with 47 blocked shots. For his outstanding play, Cross cop- ped All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year and was named to this year's pre-season All-America checklist by the Sporting News. THE 6-6 Indianapolis native is also one of the finest ball handlers in the league, committing only 43 turnovers in 29 games for the lowest ratio in the league. Besides excelling on the basketball court, Wittman is also an outstanding student and was named to last year's Academic All-America team after ear- ning second-team Academic All- America honors in 1981. He is also a two-time All-Big Ten All-Academic choice and one of only 10 1982 winners of an NCAA scholarship for post-graduate study. Wittman's top game in 1981-82 was his 22-point performance in Indiana's 80-51 rout of Penn State in the championship game of the Indiana Classic. For his performance, Wittman was named to the Classic All-Tournament team. Ted Kitchel- Indiana, forward Teaming up with Wittman, Kitchel gives Indiana the dominant front-court combination in the conference and one' of the strongest in the country. Also a fifth year player (he injured his back during the 78-79 pre-season and played in only one game), Kitchel ex- ploded last year as he developed into one of the top forwards in the Big Ten, ranking second in the conference in scoring (20.1 ppg), second in field goal percentage (.558) and first in free throw percentage (.881). e B~reuer I nesota's 87-75 victory. He also turned in a fine 22-point, 12-rebound performance in a losing effort against Louisville in the semi-final round of the NCAA Mid- East regionals. "Randy is one of the premier shooting big men in the country," said Minnesota coach Jim Dutcher. "He is the key to our offense and will go into his senior season with All-American potential. He could be the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten con- ference." Russell Cross- Purdue, center Following in the footsteps of Purdue great Carroll, Cross carries on the Boilermaker tradition of dominating big men in the conference. Lauded as one of the top centers in college hoops, the 6-10 Cross returns as Purdue's second leading scorer from last year's team, when he averaged 14.8 points a contest, scoring in double figures in 26 games, while ac- cumulating 475 points to put him over the 1,000 point plateau (1,015) as a sophomore. Cross MEMORABLE moments for Cross last year included a 30-point perfor- mance against DePaul's defensive standout Terry Cummings and hitting a basket with no time left to give the Boilermakers a 61-60 victory over Georgia in the semi-finals of the NIT in Madison Square Garden. A question mark for Cross will be his ability to recover from knee surgery which he underwent last April. Purdue coach Gene Keady doesn't think it will a problem for his star. "After Russell had his knee operated on he had to lay off three months," he said. "But he amazed me by bouncing back to a competitive level as soon as he started playing again. I think you'll see an improved Russell Cross this year." Randy Wittman- Indiana, forward The Indiana Hoosiers are favored to win their seventh Big Ten title in the last 10 years, and one of the major reasons is the outstanding play of Wit- tman at forward. k Richard Rellford 40w- Named co-captain along freshman forward ,with Eric Turner ... first 6-6, 230-Sun Coast HS, team academic All-Big Ten Riviera Beach, FLRockymore 24 and fourth team academic All- Spectacular dunker and of- Leshs ockymurd American ... steady and fensive player ...sophomore guar dependable ball handler star- powerful rebounder and all- 6-3, 185 Southwestern HS, ted in every Big Ten game last around player ... averaged Detroit, MI season .. buzzer shot gave" .;31.5 points and 19 rebounds per A deadeye shooter, 'Michigan win over Ohio State outing in high Rockymore can hit from the :' last year. . . received Steve s c h o o1 . . . n a m e d t o outside and compliments Tur- Grote H u s t l e r P Parade's, B a s k e t b a11 ner well. . . had to make the Award... fourth in conferen- k Weekly's and McDonald's All- transition from forward to ''ce in assists . . . coached in American teams. . . tabbed.guard and is progessing high school by his ;top player in Florida... Also4 smoothly. . . still slow on dad .. . class valedictorian at starred on gridiron as tight- defense, he will have to keep 1Downers Grove . . . also end ... Named to both football at it to guard quicker Big Ten played baseball and and basketball all-state a:guards. Last season he played . golf. . . will see time as seams ... high school team- in all 27 games, started nine at 4\scoring position. mate of Anthony Car- forward, and saw some action ter ... has moved into star 'at guard. Averaged~14.0 ppg ting line-up . in non-conference ... must 4 Aimprove on shooting percen- tage. Scored career high of 21k against Purdue. As a high zschool senior Rockymore , . averaged 28.5 points and 14 rebounds per game. *t: 44 4% A Kitchel %W7 VF S SUBSCRIBE 764 -0558 p KITCHEL GARNERED a wall full of awards in 1982. He was named Big Ten player of the week twice, the first time after victories over Purdue and Illinois in which he scored 40 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out five assists, and the second time after he burned Illinois and Iowa for 34 and 33 points on 27 of 39 shots (69%), 13 of 16 free throws (81%), pulled down 15 caroms and had four assists. Post-season honors for the 6-8 for- ward included being named the Hoosier's MVP, first team All-Big Ten and third team UPI All-American. Asked if he was happy to have Wit- tman and Kitchel returning for the 1982- 83 season, Indiana coach Bobby Knight replied, "If I didn't have Wittman and Kitchel, I wouldn't be very happy at all." Knight is probably all smiles as the season gets underway. Wittman Returning as a starter for his fifth year (he broke an ankle after the fifth game of the 1980 season), Wittman had his finest season in 1982 when he averaged a career high 11.9 points a game and ranked second on the team in assists with 102. .1'