Friday, November 9, 2018 // TIP OFF 2018
6B
Big Ten Breakdown: Iowa and Maryland the teams to beat
With
football
season
dwindling, there is only one
thing that can fill the void that
will be left in the hearts of Big
Ten fans across the country:
basketball – and maybe a little
bit of hockey.
Coming
off
its
seventh
straight 20-plus win season
– the sixth straight under
coach Kim Barnes Arico – the
Michigan women’s basketball
team is primed to continue
its recent success in what
should be a wide open Big Ten
race. If Barnes Arico achieves
another 20-win season this
year, she will become the first
Wolverines basketball coach,
men’s or women’s, to record
seven-straight
20-plus
win
seasons.
Michigan, which went 10-6
in the Big Ten and 22-9 overall
last season, is coming off of a
sixth-place finish in the Big
Ten and a second-round exit
in the NCAA Tournament. To
reach their goal of the first Big
Ten title in school history, the
Wolverines will have to get
through the likes of defending-
Big Ten champions Ohio State,
perennial powerhouse No. 9
Maryland and an up-and-comer
in No. 13 Iowa.
Ohio State
Last
season:
Big
Ten
champions (13-3, 27-6)
Coming off its conference-
leading
fifteenth
Big
Ten
championship – its second in
a row – Ohio State will be in
a different position from last
year. It is going to be hard for
the Buckeyes to move on after
losing all five starters from
last season to either graduation
or transfers, including three-
time Big Ten Player of the
Year Kelsey Mitchell. In fact,
just four players return from
Ohio State’s 2017-18 campaign:
Waterman (3.5 points per game),
senior guard Karlie Cronin (0.1
points per game), junior guard
Jensen Caretti (2.4 points per
game) and sophomore forward
Savitha Jayaraman (0.5 points
per game).
The Buckeyes, though, will
not lack college experience;
they bring in a plethora of
graduate transfers – five to
be
exact.
Graduate
guards
Carmen
Grande
and
Carly
Santoro should have the most
immediate impact – they have
combined for over 150 starts
in their collegiate careers and
scored 11.5 and 12.8 points per
game last season, respectively.
Santoro
also
averaged
8.7
rebounds per game, and Grande
was second in the nation with
9.2 assists per game last season.
Another likely contributor,
graduate
guard
Ashanti
Abshaw,
who
averaged
17.1
points per game in her three
seasons
at
Cleveland
State,
injured her ACL in late October
and will be out for the season.
Ohio State beat Michigan
96-87 in their lone matchup last
year and will travel to Michigan
this season on Jan. 20.
No. 9 Maryland
Last season: Second-place
finish in the Big Ten (12-4,
25-7)
Since joining the Big Ten
ahead of the 2014-2015 season,
the Terrapins held at least a
share of the Big Ten title in
each of their first three seasons
before finishing second in the
conference last year.
Maryland
coach
Brenda
Freese, who has been with the
team since its days in the ACC,
has led the Terrapins to the
NCAA Tournament in 14 of
her 16 seasons in College Park
– including all four seasons
since Maryland joined the Big
Ten. While last year may have
been seen as a step down for
the Terrapins, Freese’s squad
will look to bounce back in a
big way after losing just three
players – only one of whom was
a consistent starter.
Similar to last year, Maryland
will place a heavy workload on
BENNETT BRAMSON
Daily Sports Writer
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
The Ohio State basketball team finished with a 13-3 Big Ten record last season, winning the conference for the second straight year. But the Buckeyes lost much of their production heading into 2018-19.
See ROSTER, Page 7B
After winning the conference last season, Ohio State seems to have taken a step back entering this year