0 0 I C Te ihgn al Tpf -Tusay oebe 2 009 Biggest foes in the Big Ten Top six threats to Michigan's conference title hopes By Gjon Juncaj and Chris Meszaros n Daily Sports Writers SIGHT Darius Morris: The Cali Kid By Joe Stapleton I Daily Sports Writer When talking to people who know Darius Morris' game best, one thing keeps coming up. It's not that he can jump out of the gym, though he can throw down with the best (just YouTube "Darius Morris dunk"). It's not that he's quicker than everyone else, though his speed is at times mind-boggiing. And it's not that he's bigger than every- one. Though he is 6-foot-4, his frame is best described as lanky. What sets the freshman point guard apart is what his high school coach, Miguel Villegas, saw the first time he saw Darius play - in an eighth-grade AAU game. Darius had just gotten - a rebound and was dribbling up the floor. He glanced up at his teammates. "The way he told his players where to go, looked to pass and then looked to score when the opportunity was there," Villegas said. "You could tell he just had the natural instincts of being not only a great point guard but a great basketball player." What Villegas called "natural instincts" has been described in many different ways, but the truth is, it's hard to define. Scouts look for cold, hard statistics like vertical leap, height and wingspan. Then, they look at the real physical tools needed to succeed in the sport, such as lat- eral movement, coordination and speed while dribbling. But the toughest aspect of a player's game to evaluate is also the most important. It's what makes him wait that fraction of a second before throwing a backdoor pass, and not look at his target when he does. It's that voice that tells him when he grabs an offensive rebound in the paint, when to pump fake and when to go straight up. It's what makes it seem like he's watching every possession in tape delay while everyone else is experiencing it in real time. It's not all that common to find a player who has developed these instincts to the point where they can compete at the collegiate level. Maybe Michigan has. "Darius dropped everything to go play with his bigger brother," DeWayne Sr., Darius' father, says. He remembers how from the age of five, Darius followed his brother DeWayne Jr., who is eight years older, and his friends all over WHAT'S GOOD: The Spartans' backcourt is terrifying. Led by reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas, Michigan State should repeat as the conference's most prolific offense. Along- side Lucas is junior shooting guard and middle school friend Durrell Summers, a 6-foot-5 athletic freak with great hops and a dangerous three-point shot (38.5 percent last season). Backups Korie Luscious and Chris Allen round out arguably the confer- ence's best set of perimeter players. WHAT'S NOT: The Spartans lose last season's Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Travis Walton, and arguably the conference's most complete center, Goran Suton. Wal- ton provided a steady handle on offense (he led the team in assist-to-turnover ratio) and was comfortable guarding the one-three positions whenever needed. There's no one on the roster that can duplicate Walton's impact right now. Suton led the conference in rebounding (8.4 boards per game) and was an efficient double-digit scorer, finishing sixth in the Big Ten with a 52.1-percent shooting rate. Although sophomores Delvon Roe and Draymond Green will be healthy, in shape and much more athletic than their Bosnian predecessor, their interior passing and back-to- the-basket moves will require time to develop. BOTTOM LINE: This is still the Big Ten's best team on paper. A loaded backcourt and two budding stars in Roe and Green should make up for the loss of Walton and Suton by March. WHAT'S GOOD: After being upset by a No. 12 seed in last sea- son's NCAA Tournament, Illinois is looking for a big rebound this year. But that shouldn't be too difficult. The Fighting Illini are led up front by 7-foot-1 center Mike Tisdale and forward Mike Davis. Though the lanky Tisdale may not look like a basketball star, he did average more than 10 points and four rebounds for Illinois last season. While former Michigan commit Alex Legion struggled last year, averaging just 3.5 points per contest, he is expected to fill a bigger role this season. WHAT'S NOT: If there is an unproven team near the top of the Big Ten, it would be the Illini. Though Illinois finished 24-10 last season, the team is starting a true fresh- man at guard (D.J. Richardson) and an unproven guard who has thus far failed to live up to his potential (Legion). Additionally, Tisdale is not strong enough to be physical down low, which could pose a problem ina tough Big Ten. BOTTOM LINE: Illinois is one of the teams jockeying for a place in the middle of the conference. Expect the Illini to make it to the Big Dance but struggle on their way there. WHAT'S GOOD: Purdue is a bona fide top-10 team, and the Boilermakers know it. Last year at Big Ten Media Day, guard Keaton Grant boldly predicted that Purdue would win the national title. And while the Boilermakers only made it to the Sweet Sixteen, No. 7 Purdue hopes to make that short trip to Indianapolis when the season ends - and not just for the Big Ten Tournament. The Boilermakers return junior forward Rob- bie Hummel, a Preseason All-Conference Team selection. Though he struggled with a lingering back injury last year, Hummel still averaged 12.5 points and seven rebounds per game. To top it off, all five of Purdue's starters return to a team that won the Big Ten Tournament last year. WHAT'S NOT: The biggest concern for Purdue is its thin frontcourt. The Boilermak- ers have just three true freshmen to back up starters Hummel and JaJuan Johnson. Additionally, coach Matt Painter used a thin bench last year, with all of his starters averaging over 27 minutes a game. That means there is a chance that the team could wear down during a lengthy tournament run. BOTTOM LINE: Purdue has five solid starters led by Hummel and should challenge the Spartans for the Big Ten crown. Expect the Boilermakers to go far in the postseason. WHAT'S GOOD: Evan Turner is the Big Ten's Mr. Every- thing, leading the league in scoring last season and finish- ing in the top 10 in shooting percentage, assists, rebounds and steals. The six-foot-seven junior will be entrusted with Ohio State's point guard duties this year, and in Monday's season-opening win became the second Buckeye ever to post a triple-double. Though Turner had said he prefers initiating the offense, coach Thad Matta will likely save a package of plays to take advantage of Turner's slashing ability and keep the conference's best player off the ball. WHAT'S NOT: Rebounding and offensive efficiency. The Buckeyes finished ninth in rebounding margin last year, and that was with seven-foot center B.J. Mullens, who is now in the NBA. And don't expect Turner to grab seven-plus boards a night while run- ning the point. With no incoming freshmen this season, forwards David Lighty and Dal- las Lauderdale will have to show significant improvement on the glass to compensate. Turner's move from swingman to point guard was done in part to improve an offense that finished seventh in assists and recorded a measly one-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio. Matta has said ballhandling will be one of his primary focal points during the first semester. BOTTOM LINE: The Buckeyes have one of the most versatile players in the country, a rock-solid starting five and a proven coach. This may be the most dangerous team in the conference, but rebounds and turnovers may be the difference between first and third nlace. their Los Angeles neighborhood looking for pick-up games. At first, Darius would only play with his brother when they didn't have enough bodies for a game. Eventually, he earned his way on the court. It was there, on the blacktops of L.A., that Darius was forced to develop his instincts quickly, to find creative ways to shoot over taller kids and dribble around wider ones. "The best part of his game is his handle and his creativity," DeWayne Jr. says now. "His court vision is something you can't teach. The stuff he could do on a basket- ball court when he was ten years old was amazing. A nine, ten-year-old kid should not be able to see the floor that way." DeWayne Sr. also noticed the skills his son had at a young age. As an eight-year- old, Darius would go to the YMCA in Inglewood, a hoops mecca if there ever was one, and play against kids at least a couple years older. "Darius used to do some very" - he pauses - "unnatural things, I would call it, as a youth in basketball," DeWayne Sr. said. But it wasn't until a national AAU tour- nament in Florida that DeWayne Sr. real- ized exactly the opportunity his son had. At age 11, Darius splitdouble teams with ease, found eye-popping passing angles and just flat-out scored the basketball. His father watched all of this from the sideline and had a bit of a revelation. "I told him, 'If you really want to pur- sue this, you have a chance at being really good at this,' " DeWayne Sr. said. Darius listened. By the time he was in eighth grade, he was in a position to play at one of the many big-time high schools in the L.A. area, like Westchester, Redondo Union or Mater Dei. He was even thinking about following his AAU teammate and current Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings to the famed basketball factory Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. But DeWayne Jr. realized Darius, at 5-foot-9 and painfully thin, would be physically overmatched at these basket- ball powerhouses. DeWayne Jr. had heard about a private school called Windward, located in the Mar Vista neighborhood in L.A. It had a very good academic reputation but was looking to build up its hoops program. It was then that DeWayne Sr. contacted the school's coach, Villegas, and together they went to see one of Darius' AAU games. Villegas was impressed. Growing up in the L.A. area, it's natural to run into celebrities every day. Darius played high school ball with two of them: Malcolm Washington, son of Denzel, and Percy Miller, formerly known as Lil' Romeo. Even on a star-studded squad, Darius See 4-SIGHT, Page 7C WHAT'S GOOD: Penn State should have plenty of reasons + for optimism after narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament and winning the National Invitational Tournament last season. Junior point guard Talor Battle is arguably the Big Ten's most dangerous crunch-time player. He earned preseason first-team All-Big Ten honors after averaging 16.7 points, 5.0 assists and 5.3 rebounds last year. Penn State also returns redshirt junior for- ward Andrew Jones, who could become one of the conference's elite rebounders after finishing fifth last season in offensive boards per game. WHAT'S NOT: Replacing Jamelle Cornley and Stanley Pringle might be impossible. Johnson - with potenti The two now-graduated players averaged a combined 27.2 points last season, and were The Gophers return all critical in freeing up Battle on offense. After Battle, Jones was the nexthighest-return- points per game. ingscorer from last year (6.2 points per game). Penn State's offense will likely be a one- WHAT'S NOT: Minne manshow this fall until a reliable second option emerges. Should that take too long, the be what sets it back in t Nittany Lions will likely be back in the NIT. make the Gophers one o BOTTOM LINE: For better or worse, Battle will shoulder more than any other player an 11-deep bench, not all in the conference during the early part of the season. A first-half schedule that includes sota has the potential tol road games at Virginia, Temple and Minnesota will show just how much help Battle BOTTOM LINE: Smith will need to take the Nittany Lions to their first NCAA Tournament since 2001. in the NCAA Tourname WHAT'S GOOD: If there was an award for the coach who best turned around their program, only Minnesota's Tubby Smith might beat out Michigan coach John Beilein. The Gophers went from a nine-win squad two years ago to a 22-win team that made the NCAA Tournament last season. Minnesota is also one of the deepest programs inthe Big Ten, mixing senior talent - Lawrence Westbrook and Damien al stars in sophomores Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III. nine of their top scorers, led by Westbrook, who averaged 12.6 sota has a lot of good players but no proven stars, and that might the talent-rich Big Ten. Attrition within the conference could f many potential bubble teams. And while Minnesota may have 1 of those players can see game action at the same time. Minne- be a great team, butthat will likely be a few years down the road. and the Gophers should make their second straight appearance nt and are a dark horse contender for the Big Ten title.