IU, Big Ten centric notes from Athlon Sports college basketball preview

  • 09/01/2017 8:23 am in

Last weekend, we shared that Indiana’s Robert Johnson would be featured on a regional cover for the Athlon Sports college basketball preview magazine.

Now that the magazine is officially on newsstands, here are some additional notes on Indiana and the Big Ten at-large from the annual publication. (You can purchase the regional cover featuring Johnson here. The magazine also features a four-page story on Archie Miller.)

· Athlon predicts the order of finish in the Big Ten as follows: Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland, Iowa, Indiana, Penn State, Illinois, Ohio State, Nebraska and Rutgers.

· In Athlon’s preseason top 25, the Big Ten teams are Michigan State (2), Minnesota (16), Purdue (18) and Northwestern (24).

· Michigan State’s Miles Bridges and Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ are preseason first team All-Americans.

· Athlon projects eight Big Ten teams to make the NCAA tournament field: Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland and Iowa.

· The publication ranked the top 100 players in college basketball and Miles Bridges was No. 1. Other Big Ten players on the list include Happ (6), Purdue’s Vincent Edwards (36), Michigan’s Moritz Wagner (37), Michigan State’s Nick Ward (39), Minnesota’s Nate Mason (57), Minnesota’s Amir Coffey (85), Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh (94) and Purdue’s Carsen Edwards (98).

· No Big Ten newcomers were represented on Athlon’s “15 most impactful freshmen” list.

· Miller was ranked as the second best hire in college basketball behind Brad Underwood at Illinois.

· Two Big Ten coaches appeared on Athlon’s “coaches on the hot seat” list: Pat Chambers of Penn State and Tim Miles of Nebraska.

· Collin Hartman is one of ten players on Athlon’s “All-Rehab” team.

· No IU player made one of the three preseason All-Big Ten teams. The first team is Bridges, Vincent Edwards, Happ, Wagner and McIntosh.

· Bridges is Athlon’s pick for Big Ten player of the year, Minnesota’s Reggie Lynch is the pick for best defensive player, Purdue’s Dakota Mathias is the pick for “most underrated” and Michigan State’s Jaren Jackson is regarded as the league’s best newcomer.

Filed to: