Around the Hall is recommended reading from the Inside the Hall crew. Send us your links to tips@insidehthehall.com.

+ Chris Korman writes that signing day went off without much excitement in Bloomington. (The Hoosier Scoop)

+ Tom Izzo is excited about his four man class — Adrien Payne, Keith Appling, Russell Byrd and Alex Gauna — in East Lansing (Detroit Free Press)

+ Michigan signee Evan Smotrycz penned the first entry in his diary at our favorite Michigan hoops site. (UM Hoops)

+ Matt Painter calls his recruiting class “great for our needs.” (Purdue Official Site)

+ Bruce Weber received Letters of Intent from three top 100 recruits in Champaign. (Chicago Tribune)

+ Ohio State’s class is being touted as No. 1 nationally and it’s headlined by Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas. (Ohio State Official Site)

+ Adam Hoge writes that as the Big Ten gets stronger, Bo Ryan’s recruiting is putting Wisconsin in a hole. (Bucky’s 5th Quarter)

+ Jody Demling wrapped up the first day of the early signing period with a live blog. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

+ Dave Telep breaks down signing day from a national perspective. (Scout.com)

Around the Hall is recommended reading (and in this case, listening) from the Inside the Hall crew.

+ The Big Ten Network has video interviews with most of the coaches in the conference (Tom Crean not included). {Big Ten Network}

+ The media selected Michigan State as the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten and also announced its all-league team, headlined by Kalin Lucas. {Big Ten Conference}

+ Fred Glass confirmed that he talked to Bob Knight and the former coach will not attend his Hall of Fame induction. His reason? He didn’t want to detract from the other inductees. {IU Athletics}

+ Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says the Big Ten is the best its been in a decade. And Bruce Weber chimes in on Indiana. {The Hoosier Scoop}

Big Ten Media Day Tom Crean Audio (Thanks to The Hoosier Scoop)

Or if you prefer video

In a game that no one gave them a chance to win, Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans proved on Sunday afternoon why they’ve been the premier program in the Big Ten since the turn of the decade.

The Spartans throttled the overall No. 1 seed Louisville, 64-52, in a contest that was essentially a home game for the Cardinals. (Louisville is just 100 miles south of Indianapolis and its fans packed Lucas Oil Stadium.) The Final Four is the fifth for Michigan State in the last 11 seasons.

Michigan State ended Louisville’s 13-game winning streak and did it by rendering the Cardinals’ full court pressure ineffective. Izzo’s club never let Louisville turn up the pressure and committed just 12 turnovers.

As an Indiana fan, it’s not often that I express admiration for what’s happening at another program in the league, but credit should be given where credit is due. In a year where the national media annoited the Big East the greatest conference of all-time, Michigan State stood up and slayed its regular season and tournament champion. That, my friends, is worth our congratulations.

I have put little emotional investment into this Big Ten season. As the losses piled up, it was hard to. With so many turnovers and so much frustration, there came a point where you had to cut your losses and just ride this season out. Even when IU was able to get a win against Iowa, I wasn’t really that charged about it.

It’s not that I didn’t still watch, or didn’t still hope IU would win, it’s just that I didn’t find myself cursing out the TV every game, didn’t find myself hooting and hollering like I’d done so many times before.

Tonight was different. Tonight I cursed. Tonight I slapped my hands together and clapped. Tonight my heart skipped a few beats. This is what it’s supposed to be like; I had almost forgotten.

After Tom Izzo picked up that technical foul and MSU went on that ridiculous scoring drought, I believed. Believed IU had a legitimate shot at winning this game. We’ve been close countless times this season and I’ve thought the opposite. IU is bound to lose, IU will blow this, the Hoosiers are doing the same thing they always do: play hard and then watch it come crumbling down late in the game.

I’m not sure why I thought different tonight. Perhaps it was the dulcet tones of Steve Lavin and Brent Musburger. Perhaps it’s because I’m mentally to next season already, and an effort like this made me think the Hoosiers were already there.

(more…)

Here is the audio of Tom Crean’s appearance on the weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference, courtesy of the Big Ten Network:

Related:

• Tom Izzo teleconference audio
• Bruce Weber teleconference audio

The All-Big Ten preview is ITH’s look at our picks for the top players in the Big Ten this season. Today: Raymar Morgan of Michigan State.

Raymar Morgan returns to East Lansing for his junior season as arguably the top returning player in the conference. (Sorry Robbie Hummel.) Morgan was a second team All-Big Ten selection last season and averaged 14 points and six rebounds for a team that reached the Sweet Sixteen and then ran into Derrick Rose.

With the departure of the inconsistent Drew Neitzel, Tom Izzo will now rely on Morgan to be his go-to-guy and he should thrive in that role. According to Izzo, Morgan worked tirelessly on the one major hole in his game, the three-point shot, during the offseason. If he can consistently hit from outside, he becomes a huge matchup problem.

Ultimately, the player of the year in the conference probably comes down to Morgan and Hummel and I’m giving Morgan the nod because I think Morgan is the more complete player and I like the Spartans to win the Big Ten.

The All-Big Ten preview is ITH’s look at our picks for the top players in the Big Ten this season. Today: Kalin Lucas of Michigan State.

The tradition of quality guard play (Cleaves, Charlie Bell, Mo Pete, Jason Richardson, Neitzel, shall I continue?) for Tom Izzo coached teams continues in East Lansing as Izzo hands the keys to the Spartans to Kalin Lucas.

Lucas, a sophomore, averaged a shade over 10 points and just under four assists per game last season. After splitting time with Travis Walton a year ago, he’s looking forward to taking the reigns.

“I feel like this is my team now,” Lucas recently told The Detroit News.

Lucas is a unique combination of power and ridiculous speed. He’s a bit undersized at a shade under 6-0, but his quickness is unmatched by anyone in the conference and perhaps, the country. In fact, Izzo recently commented that Lucas is the fastest player he’s ever coached.

More importantly, however, will be his ability to lead and get the most out of a loaded MSU roster. He’ll have plenty of options up front with Marquise Gray, Goran Suton, Delvon Roe and a candidate for player of the year in the league, Raymar Morgan. The backcourt is just as loaded with Chris Allen, Durrell Summers, Walton and freshman Korie Lucious.

“You can’t be a leader if you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lucas said at Michigan State’s media day. “I’ve been coming in and watching more film. I’ve become a gym rat. I’ve gotta be more vocal and be more of a leader.”