Written by Brent Yarina, BTN.comWith every Big Ten team having played at least nine conference games, we’ve reached the midway point of the Big Ten season. It’s been a fantastic race thus far, with Indiana one game ahead of the pace, and it should only get better.
Halfway home, it’s a good time to consider early All-Big Ten teams. See my teams in this post.
For the record, I factored in both nonconference and conference play, with a bigger emphasis on the latter, of course.
FIRST TEAM
G: Trey Burke, Michigan
| Per Game | Team | G | GS | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TOPG | PFPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 2012-13 | Mich | 22 | 22 | 34.0 | 18.2 | 3.1 | 7.2 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 1.8 | .487 | .367 | .778 |
G: Victor Oladipo, Indiana
| Per Game | Team | G | GS | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TOPG | PFPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 2012-13 | Ind | 22 | 22 | 27.9 | 14.0 | 5.8 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 2.5 | .644 | .514 | .716 |
G/F: Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan
| Per Game | Team | G | GS | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TOPG | PFPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 2012-13 | Mich | 21 | 21 | 34.0 | 15.6 | 4.8 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 1.7 | .483 | .410 | .736 |
F: Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
| Per Game | Team | G | GS | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TOPG | PFPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 2012-13 | OhioSt | 21 | 21 | 34.2 | 20.0 | 6.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | .467 | .400 | .816 |
F/C: Cody Zeller, Indiana
| Per Game | Team | G | GS | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TOPG | PFPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 2012-13 | Ind | 22 | 22 | 28.7 | 16.3 | 8.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 2.0 | .596 | .000 | .739 |
SECOND TEAM
G: Keith Appling, Michigan State
G: Andre Hollins, Minnesota
F: Christian Watford, Indiana
F: Branden Dawson, Michigan State
F/C: Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota
THIRD TEAM
G: Aaron Craft, Ohio State
G: D.J. Newbill, Penn State
F: Glenn Robinson III, Michigan
F: Aaron White, Iowa
C: A.J. Hammons, Purdue
Player of the Year: Trey Burke
Coach of the Year: Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Oladipo
Freshman of the Year: A.J. Hammons & Glenn Robinson III, Michigan
Sixth Man of the Year: Will Sheehey, Indiana
I know what you’re thinking, and that’s how does this compare to my super-early 2012-13 predictions? OK, you most certinaly aren’t, but it’s fun to look back and analyze.
Here’s my offseason list, one obviously impacted by injury:
FIRST TEAM
Tim Frazier, Penn State
Trey Burke, Michigan
Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota
Cody Zeller, Indiana
SECOND TEAM
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
Andre Hollins, Minnesota
Brandon Paul, Illinois
Drew Crawford, Northwestern
Aaron White, Iowa
THIRD TEAM
Yogi Ferrell, Indiana
Keith Appling, Michigan State
Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan
Ryan Evans, Wisconsin
Jared Berggren, Wisconsin
| About Brent Yarina | BTN.com web editor Brent Yarina covers football and men’s basketball for BTN.com. He writes the popular uniform feature “Clothes Call,” which also focuses on the latest cosmetic changes across Big Ten arenas and stadiums. Read all of his work here. You can subscribe to Yarina’s RSS feed and follow him on Twitter @BTNBrentYarina. |
Where the heck is Adrian Payne?
Your picks are very good. 1) Where does Berggren fit in? At all? 2) I think Hammons has a great future, but he hasn’t figured in until his emergence vs IND. Mbwake?, Payne? Even Egwu has outplayed AJ.until now.
I love Hammons, and I think he’s very worthy of All-Big Ten honors. Here are his numbers in Big Ten play: 53%, 13.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.9 bpg (leads league by NINE blocks). Take away the Indiana game even, and his numbers are: 49%, 11.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg (even higher), 2.6 bpg. Even with his best game erased, his numbers are just as good, if not better, than most every big man not named Cody Zeller.
Gary Harris is leading all freshmen in scoring, shooting over 50% from 3 in bigten play and is playing great defense yet he isn’t even tied for freshman of the year? Way to only look at scoring numbers. MSU wouldn’t be anywhere close to contention without our freshman.
If I’m only looking at scoring, Harris would get the nod over both Hammons and GR3. In fact, it was Hammons’ defense and rebounding that gave him the nod on 3rd Team and co-FOY. As for GR3, as bad as the IU game was, the guy is incredibly efficient (59%; 11.7 ppg despite averaging 7.7 field goal attempts – he’s only taken more than eight shots in one B1G game), and he rebounds (5.7 rpg). All that said, Gary Harris is an absolute stud. As I’ve said a couple times this year, I hope he stays in EL for many years.
I think if you have a team at 6-3 in the B10 without a single player recognized for anything, you might want to recognize the coach who apparently is working miracles, especially given the injuries.
Would be nice to see Reggie Hearn on this list. Over 15.5 ppg since conference play began to go along with 4.5 rebs while shooting nearly 50% from the floor. All this while dealing with a bad ankle for a good chunk of the shedule. He’s the main reason an injury depleted Northwestern squad has overachieved in Big Ten play so far. Not bad for a former walk on.
WRT Gary Harris vs GRIII for FOY. Stats are important but how you perform in big games can’t be overlooked. In my opinion it is the differentiator between contributor and leader/FOY. Gary Harris scored 21 on the road against IU and carried his team at times in the game. GRIII’s 2 pts. was the story line for UM loss at IU he was a non factor. GRIII had a similar but not as bad performance at OSU in that loss. Harris scored 12 at Minn. Gary is asked to do more for MSU than RGIII for UM and has done more in the biggest games so far. The stats plus big games and the eye test says Gary Harris is having a better season and doing more for MSU than GRIII is for UM and the teams are tied in the standings. Gary Harrris > GRIII
Harris was also huge in that big win over Kansas, GR 3 is still MIA in big games !
Bo Ryan’s teams overachieve every year, when is he going to get some respect?
Adrian Payne not as good as Hardaway? Give me a break, Payne will eat him up. In case you have’nt noticed Payne is now competent with a three pointer as well as a beast down low. Umbackwa is neither a good shot on the floor or at the line. You made a lot of presumptions and most are wrong.
Payne is a F/C, Hardaway is a G. I wasn’t comparing either. That said, yes, I’ll definitely take Mbakwe over Payne. Mbakwe is the Big Ten’s best rebounder and he’s one of the most physical players. He also draws a lot of fouls, which helps out his teammates.