Posted: Wednesday March 12, 2003 10:21 PM
Updated: Thursday March 13, 2003 2:14 AM
Illinois' Brian Cook (rear) was the concensus Player of the Year in the Big Ten. AP
1
Wisconsin
2
Illinois
3
Michigan State
4
Purdue
5
Michigan
6
Indiana
7
Minnesota
8
Ohio State
9
Iowa
10
Northwestern
11
Penn State
3
Consecutive years that Iowa has boasted the Big Ten’s leading rebounder. Junior center Jared Reiner (8.3 boards per game) led the league this year after Reggie Evans took the last two titles.
“I don’t think there are 10 teams in America that could’ve played the four games that we played and had a winning record."
-- Minnesota coach Dan Monson, campaigning for some perspective after his Gophers faced Michigan State, Indiana and Illinois on the road and hosted league champ Wisconsin to end the season, losing all four tilts.
By Brian Hamilton, Special to SI.com
Looking back now, Tom Izzo can admit that the questions made him laugh. He will concede that, yes, the Big Ten’s freshman class of 2002-03 certainly had an impact and had an impact from the start. But to Izzo, all the questions about the Brat Pack missed something. Actually, several somethings.
Like, the fact that he would look at the league standings and there were Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Purdue. And there with those teams were stars like Kirk Penney, LaVell Blanchard, Brian Cook and Willie Deane -- seniors, all. The coincidence was not lost on the Spartans' head coach.
“I think for some reason, everyone wants to rant and rave about the freshmen,” Izzo said. “But just like offensive stats are good and defense wins championships -- freshmen are great, but usually veterans win championships. Teams that do well in the Big Ten championship have some of their upperclassmen play well.”
So it should be this weekend in Chicago at the Big Ten Tournament. Any number of veteran performers are the most likely candidates to take their team to a title -- a fact reinforced by the release of the All-Big Ten teams earlier this week, in which Penney, Cook, Blanchard and Deane were all first-team selections by both the media and coaches. After some floated the ideas of newcomers like Daniel Horton and Bracey Wright taking home top individual billing, it was Cook that was the league’s most consistently dominant performer and ultimately the Player of the Year.
The presence of the freshmen cannot be dismissed: The likes of Horton, Wright, and Illinois’ Dee Brown and Deron Williams are critical to their teams’ success. Purdue coach Gene Keady said his freshman class is playing its best ball of the year right now, carrying the Boilermakers to a degree.
But ask the coaches around the league, and there’s hardly any disagreement that the postseason is time for the graybeards to make the difference.
“We’ve got so many young guys that if we win, they’re going to be key players in the wins. If we don’t play well, they’ll be key players in those games,” Illinois coach Bill Self said. “But the guys that carry you and the guys [the young players] will look to are the upperclassmen, the guys that have been there in the past. That’s why the guys that you mentioned have to step up and play well when it matters the most.”
“I think you see that trend all across the country where early in season, there’s excitement, it’s all new and fresh to the freshmen and the young players,” Iowa coach Steve Alford said. “Freshmen are not used to playing this late in the year. So I think the middle part of the Big Ten season toward the end is really where you depend on veterans.”
Alford added that he wouldn’t be surprised if the newness of the postseason reinvigorated the youngsters, but Alford need only look back a year to see the impact veterans have on the tournament: His Hawkeyes made the league championship behind a red-hot senior in Luke Recker, losing to an Ohio State team led by senior guard Brian Brown and then-junior Brent Darby.
The talk about the Big Ten being a freshman’s league has quieted down. After all, since the postseason awaits, it’s about time.
Two years ago, Iowa made an improbable run in the Big Ten tournament, thanks in large part to the damage done in the paint by a player on a roll. Judging by the final three games of March, this year may constitute a reprise.
Maybe no Big Ten player had a better end to the regular season individually than Iowa center Jared Reiner. The junior finally got back in the groove after an injury, averaging 20.7 points and 12 rebounds in three games, shooting 68.6 percent from the floor and actually collecting more offensive boards (19) than defensive boards (17).
Teams will have to rely on good shooting from all spots to play into the weekend in Chicago, but at least the Hawkeyes have half the battle won.
“What I’ve liked is, he’s grown and matured in terms of toughness,” Iowa coach Steve Alford said.
HOT: Sole championships
Wisconsin is the first team to finish alone atop the league standings since 1999, when Michigan State won the league.
NOT: Northwestern’s glasswork
In conference play, the Wildcats had a league-worst minus-7.5 rebounding margin.
HOT: Instant gratification
Two of the three Big Ten coaches to win league titles in their first two seasons, all-time, are currently on the job: Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan and Illinois’ Bill Self.
NOT: Big Ten Tournament No. 1 seeds
Top seeds have been knocked out in the first game in three of the tourney’s five years, with the 1999 Michigan State team the only No.1 to advance to the final.
Gene Keady said he knows the folks on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, and he said there’s no way they wouldn’t give the Big Ten a fair shake, no matter when the league tournament’s title game starts.
But Ohio State took the tournament crown last year -- only to receive a No. 4 seed and a trip to Albuquerque on two days’ notice for its trouble, where it promptly lost to Missouri in the first round. It prompted speculation that the Selection Committee had its bracket filled out before the Big Ten title game, and it prompted questions as to whether the league should move the time of the title game up.
Michigan State's Tom Izzo suggested that last year’s lesson was well learned by the NCAA. “Ohio State was kind of a sacrificial lamb that will change the landscape for rest of us,” he said.
Purdue guard Willie Deane
Just in case there was a doubt, Deane exploded at Michigan to seal his team’s NCAA tournament berth, going for 36 points -- the highest output by any conference player this season.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo
The Spartans' coach is once again working his March magic with a relatively healthy team, posting four straight wins heading into postseason and cinching a spot in the field of 64.
Illinois forward Brian Cook
Cook out in style by thumping Minnesota on Senior Day and earning the league scoring title at 20.1 points per game.
There are two teams that need to prove something in the league tournament: Indiana and Minnesota. The Hoosiers are probably in better shape, but a loss in the first round to Penn State -- to whom Indiana just lost to close out the regular season -- might excuse the reigning national runner-ups from the chance to duplicate that feat. But two wins -- not out of the question with No. 3 seed Michigan waiting on Friday -- would get the Hoosiers to the 20-win plateau and easily into the field of 64.
And then there’s Minnesota. The Gophers have been here before. Last year, they needed at least two wins to get into the NCAA tournament -- and wound up facing nemesis Illinois in the second round, getting blown out and blown into the NIT. This year? The Gophers need at least two wins to merit consideration for an NCAA bid, and there the Illini are again, waiting in the second round. Minnesota is 0-9 vs. Illinois under Dan Monson.
The one lesson here: Don’t overlook Iowa. The Hawkeyes made charges to the finals the past two years as the ninth and sixth seeds, and they begin this year from that No. 9 position Thursday.
Minnesota coach Dan Monson was perfectly realistic about where his team stands heading into the Big Ten tournament, even though he cringed at using the word: "bubble." “I don’t feel like we’re in good shape,” he said. “We had an opportunity on national television for three straight games and lost three games to put a stamp on our season. We’re in the danger area.” This was obvious when the Gophers spent more than an hour before Monday’s practice talking -- just talking -- about what needs to be done in Chicago this weekend. … Northwestern coach Bill Carmody received the all-clear from doctors after tightness in his chest forced him into the hospital overnight Friday and caused him to miss the season finale at Iowa. “They said there were no heart concerns, so that was good,” Carmody said. “I’m going to just go to my doctor and do a few more tests. I guess what they say, if it’s not your heart, they start going south, might be stomach thing. I’m just happy that it’s not my heart.” … Purdue gets Defensive Player of the Year Kenneth Lowe back in Chicago. After separating his shoulder, Lowe won’t be at 100 percent, but the Boilermakers are definitely a different team with him. “Don’t be asking people if they’re going to set screens on him, because I’ll be watching that,” Purdue coach Gene Keady joked. … Illinois coach Bill Self hopes, anyway, that his team’s comfort with the United Center will be an advantage. The Illini played one regular-season game there a year ago and then appeared there during the NCAA tournament, and they also played Temple and Northwestern there this year, winning both. “We like playing there and have confidence playing there because we’ve had success there in the past,” Self said. … It was the year of the freshmen in at least a couple of statistical categories, as the Illinois backcourt of Deron Williams and Dee Brown finished 1-2 in the league in assists, while Brown led the league with 1.88 steals per game. … Wisconsin’s 12 league wins were the most for the school since the 1913-14 season.
Brian Hamilton covers the Big Ten for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. His “This Week in the Big Ten” column appears Fridays during the season.
Purdue guard Willie Deane
