Big Ten College Basketball Betting Preview
Robbie Hummel and the Boilermakers share the preseason spotlight with defending champions Duke as the college basketball betting co-favorites to win the whole enchilada. But it won't be a cakewalk through the Big Ten for Purdue where several other schools are going to put up a fight. Among them are Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans and a very talented Ohio State Buckeyes squad that scored a double recruiting coup.
With all due respect to the other nine teams in the Big Ten, this season's basketball campaign looks to be a two-horse race between the Purdue Boilermakers and Michigan State Spartans.
Oh sure, the rest of the conference isn't going to just step aside and let Purdue and Michigan State have an easy avenue to the regular season or conference tourney titles. Ohio State isn't going to just disappear after the departure of All-American and NBA 1st-round pick Evan Turner. Bo Ryan's Wisconsin Badgers will be tough to be on their own floor or on the road. And Illinois is going to have a chip on its shoulder after a late season string of losses led to the Illini missing the NCAA dance.
But the talent in East Lansing and West Lafayette is just too strong not to expect the Spartans and Boilermakers to fight it out and be the two top-ranked schools once the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament begins at Houston's Reliant Stadium in early April 2011.
Purdue leads the college basketball futures odds board at TheGreek.com as the plus 125 favorite to take the conference title. Michigan State is not far behind at plus 200 followed by the Buckeyes (plus 300), Illini (plus 650) and Badgers (plus 800).
The Boilermakers share top honors on the National Championship front with Duke at plus 500. The Blue Devils ended Purdue's season with a 70-57 win in the Sweet 16. Duke was an 8½-point favorite in the contest, coincidentally played in Houston.
Matt Painter was without one of his main cogs in that loss to Duke after Robbie Hummel was injured in late February and missed the team's final regular season game plus all tourney action due to a knee injury. Hummel is back this season, as are E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson. The trio combined to average over 47 points per game, roughly two-thirds of the team's scoring as well as more than half of the boards.
Newcomers Terone Johnson and Anthony Johnson could figure into guard play along with junior Ryne Smith. Both of the Johnson freshman were highly recruited, with Terone a top point guard.
Michigan State is coming off a Final Four season, losing to Butler in the semis. The Spartans lost star Kalin Lucas earlier in the tourney in the 85-83 win over Maryland that propelled State in the Sweet 16. Lucas, the team's leading scorer last season at nearly 15 per game, is back for his senior season along and will be rejoined by Draymond Green, Durrell Summers and Korie Lucious.
Tom Izzo's decision to return to Michigan State after being courted by the Cavaliers was no doubt due to the whole LeBron James mess. But I can't help but wonder if an incoming freshman by the name of Adreian Payne didn't figure into it. The 6-foot-10 Payne was one of the top-recruited centers from the Class of 2010, and could be a true force by the time conference play begins, if not before.
Thad Matta and the Buckeyes, who won the Big Ten Tournament title after a three-way regular season tie with Purdue and Michigan State, pulled in two top recruits in Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger. Thomas, 6-foot-6 out of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, can play inside as a small forward or outside as a shooting guard. Sullinger is listed at 6-foot-9 and is already a big kid at 270 pounds or so.
How fast they can adjust to the college game could go a long way with returning lettermen William Buford (14.4 PPG), Jon Diebler (13.0) and David Lighty (12.6) who ranked just behind Turner on last year's scoring chart.
Illinois is my 'under the radar' pick in the Big Ten, and by that I mean under the public bettors' radar. The Illini have their top four scorers back from last season in Demetri McCamey (15.1 PPG), Mike Tisdale (11.9), Mike Davis (10.7) and DJ Richardson (10.5), with Davis (9.2) and Tisdale (6.0) the leading rebounders.
They also have a redshirt freshman to watch, Joseph Bertrand. This was a team that could've gone as deep as possibly the Sweet 16 if not for dropping five of their last six regular season games that included home-&-home losses to Ohio State and a road loss to Purdue.
I'm a Bo Ryan fan, and I'd love to pick his Badgers to upset the Big Ten applecart, but I just don't see it happening. Defense will always be the trademark of Ryan's team, with this year no exception. Senior Jon Leuer remains the star after leading the team with 15.4 points per game. Two freshmen to keep an eye on are guard Josh Gasser and forward Duje Dukan.
Robbie Hummel and the Boilermakers share the preseason spotlight with defending champions Duke as the college basketball betting co-favorites to win the whole enchilada. But it won't be a cakewalk through the Big Ten for Purdue where several other schools are going to put up a fight. Among them are Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans and a very talented Ohio State Buckeyes squad that scored a double recruiting coup.
With all due respect to the other nine teams in the Big Ten, this season's basketball campaign looks to be a two-horse race between the Purdue Boilermakers and Michigan State Spartans.
Oh sure, the rest of the conference isn't going to just step aside and let Purdue and Michigan State have an easy avenue to the regular season or conference tourney titles. Ohio State isn't going to just disappear after the departure of All-American and NBA 1st-round pick Evan Turner. Bo Ryan's Wisconsin Badgers will be tough to be on their own floor or on the road. And Illinois is going to have a chip on its shoulder after a late season string of losses led to the Illini missing the NCAA dance.
But the talent in East Lansing and West Lafayette is just too strong not to expect the Spartans and Boilermakers to fight it out and be the two top-ranked schools once the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament begins at Houston's Reliant Stadium in early April 2011.
Purdue leads the college basketball futures odds board at TheGreek.com as the plus 125 favorite to take the conference title. Michigan State is not far behind at plus 200 followed by the Buckeyes (plus 300), Illini (plus 650) and Badgers (plus 800).
The Boilermakers share top honors on the National Championship front with Duke at plus 500. The Blue Devils ended Purdue's season with a 70-57 win in the Sweet 16. Duke was an 8½-point favorite in the contest, coincidentally played in Houston.
Matt Painter was without one of his main cogs in that loss to Duke after Robbie Hummel was injured in late February and missed the team's final regular season game plus all tourney action due to a knee injury. Hummel is back this season, as are E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson. The trio combined to average over 47 points per game, roughly two-thirds of the team's scoring as well as more than half of the boards.
Newcomers Terone Johnson and Anthony Johnson could figure into guard play along with junior Ryne Smith. Both of the Johnson freshman were highly recruited, with Terone a top point guard.
Michigan State is coming off a Final Four season, losing to Butler in the semis. The Spartans lost star Kalin Lucas earlier in the tourney in the 85-83 win over Maryland that propelled State in the Sweet 16. Lucas, the team's leading scorer last season at nearly 15 per game, is back for his senior season along and will be rejoined by Draymond Green, Durrell Summers and Korie Lucious.
Tom Izzo's decision to return to Michigan State after being courted by the Cavaliers was no doubt due to the whole LeBron James mess. But I can't help but wonder if an incoming freshman by the name of Adreian Payne didn't figure into it. The 6-foot-10 Payne was one of the top-recruited centers from the Class of 2010, and could be a true force by the time conference play begins, if not before.
Thad Matta and the Buckeyes, who won the Big Ten Tournament title after a three-way regular season tie with Purdue and Michigan State, pulled in two top recruits in Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger. Thomas, 6-foot-6 out of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, can play inside as a small forward or outside as a shooting guard. Sullinger is listed at 6-foot-9 and is already a big kid at 270 pounds or so.
How fast they can adjust to the college game could go a long way with returning lettermen William Buford (14.4 PPG), Jon Diebler (13.0) and David Lighty (12.6) who ranked just behind Turner on last year's scoring chart.
Illinois is my 'under the radar' pick in the Big Ten, and by that I mean under the public bettors' radar. The Illini have their top four scorers back from last season in Demetri McCamey (15.1 PPG), Mike Tisdale (11.9), Mike Davis (10.7) and DJ Richardson (10.5), with Davis (9.2) and Tisdale (6.0) the leading rebounders.
They also have a redshirt freshman to watch, Joseph Bertrand. This was a team that could've gone as deep as possibly the Sweet 16 if not for dropping five of their last six regular season games that included home-&-home losses to Ohio State and a road loss to Purdue.
I'm a Bo Ryan fan, and I'd love to pick his Badgers to upset the Big Ten applecart, but I just don't see it happening. Defense will always be the trademark of Ryan's team, with this year no exception. Senior Jon Leuer remains the star after leading the team with 15.4 points per game. Two freshmen to keep an eye on are guard Josh Gasser and forward Duje Dukan.