Tuesday, November 5, 2019 // TIPOFF 2019
7B 

Every 
year 
for 
the 
Tipoff 
edition, The Daily’s basketball beat 
puts out a preview of the entire 
conference. Plenty of other outlets 
do similar pieces around the start 
of the season. They’re big, they’re 
unwieldy, and, honestly, they can 
get a little boring. 
Not this one.
If I’m going to write this Big Ten 
preview, then I’m going to have 
some fun with it. And I’m not going 
to waste your time. 
Let’s just talk basketball.
***
No. 1 Michigan State
Tom Izzo. Cassius Winston. So, 
yeah. They’re gonna be good.
Izzo isn’t just one of the best 
coaches in college hoops right now. 
He’s an all-time great. Izzo has 
brought the Spartans a national 
championship, eight Final Four 
appearances, including last year’s, 
and nine Big Ten championships. 
This team looks as formidable as 
any he’s coached, especially with 
a top-ranked offense and a senior 
point guard in Winston who’s a 
favorite for National Player of the 
Year. The Spartans have been at or 
near the top in pretty much every 
projection this year and with good 
reason.
Honestly, it’s hard to see anyone 
else winning the conference this 
year. This is a team that should 

repeat as Big Ten champs, a team 
that could cut down the nets in 
April – and a team that just might.
No. 18 Ohio State
Chris Holtmann is doing some 
things in Columbus. When the 
now-third-year head coach took the 
helm in 2017, the Buckeyes were a 
middling program that spent most 
of the year near the .500 mark. 
Holtmann has since led that once-
middling program to the NCAA 
Tournament in both of his seasons 
as head coach, and this season 
doesn’t look to be an exception. 
Holtmann returns 10 players 
from last season’s roster, including 
two of his top three scorers, 
Kaleb and Andre Wesson. It’s a 
young Ohio State squad – Andre 
Wesson is the team’s only senior – 
and Holtmann admitted to some 
growing 
pains, 
especially 
on 
defense. But Holtmann has proven 
himself more than capable at 
turning teams with depth questions 
into contenders in March, both at 
Ohio State and before that at Butler. 
There’s no reason for this season to 
be any different.
Wisconsin
I’d like to dedicate this section 
to my summer internship in the 
office 
of 
Congressman 
Glenn 
Grothman, R-Wis., after which I 
am proud to call myself an honorary 
Wisconsinite, despite what my 
beatmate Jacob Kopnick might say.
This year marks something of an 
inflection point for the Wisconsin 

program. The Badgers lose an all-
timer in Ethan Happ, a three-time 
all-Big Ten first-teamer who carried 
the team for much of his time in 
Madison.
If Wisconsin wants to stay near 
the top of the conference, it’ll have 
to bring out a much-different look 
than what’s worked in the past. But 
the pieces are there: The Badgers 
are bringing back three players 
who started every game last year, 
and with the likes of senior guard 
Brevin Printzil ready to take on a 
bigger role in Happ’s absence, their 
roster is plenty talented.
So honestly, dear reader, I don’t 
have a solid feel for this Wisconsin 
team. It’s going to depend a lot on 
that new look. At this point, it’s just 
wait and see. 
No. 7 Maryland
My home and native land! The 
Terps are coming off a second-
round exit in last year’s NCAA 
Tournament, and with most of their 
roster returning, they’re a projected 
top-five team in the Big Ten, and 
easily a top-25 team nationwide; 
KenPom has Maryland ranked at 
No. 16 going into the season, and the 
AP Poll puts them at No. 7. 
There’s a chance I’ve been 
brainwashed growing up half an 
hour from College Park, but Mark 
Turgeon’s a hell of a coach and 
experienced, too. He’s been able to 
mold this young team, and it’s got a 
chip on its shoulder. After a .500 Big 
Ten finish in 2018, and what they 

see as a too-early 2019 tournament 
departure, these Terrapins are still 
hungry. If that weren’t enough, 
they return two of their top three 
scorers, including one of their 
most exciting – and intimidating – 
players in sophomore forward Jalen 
Smith. 
Fear the Turtle, indeed.
Iowa
I drove through the entirety of 
Iowa twice this summer on my 
way to and from the College World 
Series in Omaha. I have nothing to 
say about Iowa as a state. So let’s 
talk about its basketball team.
The Hawkeyes could go either 
way this year. Iowa was a tough 
opponent last year, but some of the 
key pieces of that team are missing. 
Forward Tyler Cook, keystone of 
last year’s Hawkeye front court, is 
gone, having declared for the NBA 
draft, redshirt senior guard Isaiah 
Moss transferred to Kansas and 
senior guard Jordan Bohannon 
underwent 
potentially-season-
ending hip surgery. 
But there’s plenty of talent 
elsewhere in this Iowa roster. 
Sophomore guard Joe Wieskamp is 
a dangerous shooter, and at 6-foot-
11, junior center Luka Garza will 
be a force to be reckoned with on 
rebounds.
This Iowa team probably won’t 
be as much of a challenge as last 
year’s. But I wouldn’t overlook 
them, either.
Indiana

Luckily for me (and you), my 
fellow Hebrew school sufferer and 
good friend Matt Cohen covers 
the team for Indiana’s student 
newspaper, 
the 
Daily 
Student. 
Here’s what he has to say about the 
Hoosiers this year:
“Well first off, don’t appreciate 
that you’re insinuating we haven’t 
always been good friends. It’s fine. 
I’m not hurt at all. 
“IU is in a bit of a transition 
period. Gone are the days of Juwan 
Morgan leading IU inside and 
Romeo Langford providing the star 
power, even if that lasted for just 
one season. But while IU may not 
have the primary scoring options it 
had a year ago, it has significantly 
more depth. IU potentially goes 11 
deep this season. The front-court 
depth has been bolstered by the 
addition of graduate transfer Joey 
Brunk from Butler and the return of 
redshirt freshman Jerome Hunter, a 
top-100 ranked recruit, from injury.
“Archie Miller has a roster that 
may not boast the star power of a 
year ago, but it might be a better 
overall team. These Hoosiers seem 
like a team that should hang around 
the sixth-to-eighth place region 
of the Big Ten standings which, at 
least in prior years, has been enough 
to make it to March.”
Having known Matt for as 
long as I have, I can tell you he’s 
optimistic almost to a fault (this 
is a kid who thinks Joe Flacco is a 
Hall of Famer). Then again, I did 
pick Indiana as my Big Ten surprise 
team this year. So for the sake of my 
dignity, let’s just hope he’s right.
Illinois
I tried to think of a fun and 
interesting way to start this section. 
I really did. But I’m tired. So let’s just 
get into it.
Sophomore guard Trent Frazier, 
freshman 
guard 
Ayo 
Dosunmu 
and 
freshman 
forward 
Giorgi 
Bezhanishvili headline a roster as 
talented as any in the Big Ten. Their 
offense looks dangerous, and they’re 
a team that’s young and tired of being 
overlooked like so much of the state 
they represent. Their non-conference 
schedule is smooth enough that they 
could be in a good spot heading into 
Big Ten play, and from there, this is a 
team that has the potential to take off. 
With a roster this talented, 
this could be a breakout year for 
the Fighting Illini. Let’s just hope 
the announcers figure out how to 
pronounce those names.

What you need to know about the Big Ten basketball season

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
Michigan State senior point guard Cassius Winston was voted a unanimous first-team All-American and is considered a favorite for National Player of the Year.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8B

