The Big Ten tournament is held in Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis this year, which is a centrally located major metropolis, but damn, everybody knows the rest of Indiana is nothing but cornfields and shitheads. Why would you make everybody have to travel through that cultural muck? Here are the fourteen guys in the Big 10 this year who have scored the most in previous years' tournaments...
#1: DeShawn Sims (Michigan forward; 76 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Sims is a big dude with solid game, and he plays for John Beilein, which means not only is Sims encouraged to shoot threes as well, he’s expected to. Sims is the perfect forward for Beilein’s system, like Kevin Pitsnogle was at West Virginia - a big guy who might catch fire and help the Wolverines blow somebody away before it’s even close to the end of the game. Michigan is only an 8 seed though, and plays Iowa in the tourney opener for the right to challenge Ohio State on Friday afternoon.
#2: Evan Turner (Ohio State guard/forward; 65 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Okay, I know yesterday I said I hated Ohio State, and I do. But Evan Turner is such a decent-looking soul with honest eyes, it’s hard not to trust him. He’s consensus Big 10 Player of the Year, and this team will go as far as he throws them down the March brackets. He’s also only a Junior, but at 6’7” and able to play guard, he’s NBA-bound I would suspect.
#3: E’Twaun Moore (Purdue guard; 63 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Popular opinion is that Purdue is not nearly the same threat it was with Robbie Hummel going down with a blowed up knee, but E’Twaun Moore can fucking take over a game. They’re still the team to beat in this tournament, in my opinion, being Evan Turner is more of a guy to beat than team. And they could still make hella noise in the Big Dance. On top of all this, E’Twaun is still only a junior.
#4: Demetri McCamey (Illinois guard; 62 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Junior guard was All-Big 10 first team this season, but unfortunately the Illini drew Wisconsin in the 4/5 first round quarterfinal match-up tomorrow. Wisconsin has done a better job than most at shutting McCamey down, and Wisconsin has been on fire lately as well. McCamey will probably be going pro after this season, as he and coach Bruce Weber were arguing on the sideline during their final regular season game last weekend.
#5: Robbie Hummel (Purdue forward; 58 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - You know the deal, junior forward went down with an ACL and the Boilermakers national title hopes seemed to go down with it. Now he gets to try out his dress clothes combinations for a couple of weeks.
#6: Damian Johnson (Minnesota forward; 56 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Even if you consider this a building year for the Gophers, they earned the #6 seed in the tourney and close out the first day of action against shitty Penn State tonight. Johnson’s in his senior year, and a defensive specialist.
#7: Kalin Lucas (Michigan State guard; 55 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Two-time All-Big Ten first teamer and last year's Player of the Year, a showdown between him and Moore seems imminent in the semifinals on Saturday. And you can never count a Tom Izzo team out.
#8: Lawrence Westbrook (Minnesota guard; 54 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Senior guard and the team’s leading scorer, and you’d think with such Senior leadership like the Gophers are rocking, they’d be better than .500 in conference play. Seems like a down year in college basketball to me, across the board. Everything feels unspecial.
#9: Raymar Morgan (Michigan State foward; 51 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Seems like Morgan has been with the Spartans for nine years already, but this is officially his final senior season, so expect him to make some noise like people who don't want to feel like they are ugly when the DJ yells out, "All ugly people be quietttttttttt!"
#10: Manny Harris (Michigan guard; 50 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - All-Big 10 first team last year and second team this year, there has never been a three-point shot Manny Harris was afraid to take. Sometimes this works, other times you are fucked.
#11: Kevin Coble (Northwestern forward; 49 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Northwestern still has a basketball team? They play Indiana today in a game that will decide what color uniforms get to lose to Purdue tomorrow.
#12: Jason Bohannon (Wisconsin guard; 45 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Senior leader of the Wisconsin Badgers team who can drain threes like mad if he gets that feeling. If they can get by Illinois in the 4/5 game, could set up a game against Ohio State, who doesn't seem all that great really from what I saw, so not inconceivable at all for the Badgers and Bohannon to be playing in the title game on Sunday.
#13: Chris Kramer (Purdue guard; 45 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Senior point guard and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year keeps this team running, and actually has picked up his own offensive game since Hummel went down. There’s a lot to be said for highly competent senior guards this time of year. I’m not gonna say it though; I’m just gonna let it hang like that and leave you feeling like you might’ve missed something or I’m tapped into some shit you don’t even know about.
#14: David Jackson (Penn State forward; 42 previous points in the Big 10 tournament) - Junior David Jackson has a nice shot, but The Pennsylvania State University is not that good a team, and if even if they do rally to upset Minnesota in the last game of the first round tonight, they'll only earn an ass-whooping at the hands of Michigan State tomorrow night.
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