Big Ten basketball is a healthy mix of urban black dude thuggishness and small town midwestern whiteboy old schoolery. And though The Ohio State University tries to prove this wrong fairly often, you don't really see the run of one-and-doners through the gigantic midwestern Big Ten schools that you do in other conferences, although I could be completely full of shit. And unlike the SEC, also a football-first conference, the Big Ten has a long tradition in basketball as well, with nearly every program having had experienced some Final Four runs in the past 20 years. Anyways, here are your fourteen top scorers from the previous four Big Ten tourneys, in a very particular order...
#1: Drew Neitzel (Michigan State guard; 97 points in Big 10 tourneys '06-'08) - Steely cold whiteboy who has mostly played in Germany since finishing college in 2008, which is appropriate because he always reminded me of evil Germans in old Sgt. Fury comic books.
#2: Shaun Pruitt (Illinois center; 87 points in Big 10 tourneys '06-'08) - Big former center who has also travelled the world in odd manners, which goes a little something like this since 2008: the Czech Republic (for BK Prostejov), Latvia (for BK Ventspils), China (for Fujian SBS XunXin), America (for the Golden State Warriors briefly), Greece (for DASH Peristeri Athens), and now Puerto Rico (HOOOOOOO! for Gallitos de Isabela). I bet if he wanted he could've built an awesome patch collection in that time.
#3: DeShawn Sims (Michigan forward; 76 points in Big 10 tourneys '07-'09) - Still in college; will speak upon him tomorrow.
#4: Jamelle Cornley (Penn State forward; 73 points in Big 10 tourneys '06-'09) - Jamelle Cornley, as would be befitting of a guy whose biggest career accomplishment was leading his team to an NIT title last year, is currently in the D-League, playing for the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants, although he did play a spell in the Ukrainian Superleague last fall.
#5: Alando Tucker (Wisconsin forward; 70 points in Big 10 tourneys '06 and '07) - Big Ten Player of the Year his last year in 2007, and then bounced between the Phoenix Suns and the D-League (mostly Albuquerque Thunderbirds) a million times, andwas traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves this past December, where he makes sure the end of the bench doesn't fly away.
#6: Goran Suton (Michigan State center; 70 points in Big 10 tourneys '06-'09) - As legend has it, this Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian/Herzegoviniac would play ball with his brother back home in Sarajevo, and if the basketball went into the field behind the house, they couldn't go get it because of landmines. So his grandfather would retrieve the ball. Goran came to America, originally to find a wife in Queens, but then to go to the same high school Magic Johnson went to in Lansing, Michigan, and followed Magic's trajectory through Michigan State. After trying to make the Utah Jazz this past preseason, he went back to the Motherland, playing for Spartak St. Petersburg in the Russian Superleague, and competed with them in the Eurocup.
#7: Brian Randle (Illinois forward; 69 points in Big 10 tourneys '06-'08) - Post-collegiately, Brian Randle has kicked it in the Israeli Premier League with Altshuler Saham Galil Gilboa.
#8: Marcus Landry (Wisconsin forward; 66 points in Big 10 tourneys '07-'09) - Four years of solid work put in in Madison by a Milwaukee born kid, which ended last year. He was drafted and played for the Knicks (off to New York City), then traded to the Celtics (up I-95 to Boston), and then designated down to the D-League's Maine Red Claws (most likely further up the highway to Portland). They have forced this urban midwestern boy into the farthest reaches of funny-talking white people, although to be fair, Wisconsin motherfuckers talk funny as shit too. I almost went to go pick apples there with a hippie chick one time. Ahh... to be young enough to romanticize migrant labor again.
#9: Evan Turner (Ohio State guard/forward; 65 points in Big 10 tourneys '08 and '09) - Still in college.
#10: E’Twaun Moore (Purdue guard; 63 points in Big 10 tourneys '08 and '09) - Still in college.
#11: Demetri McCamey (Illinois guard; 62 points in Big 10 tourneys '08 and '09) - Still in college.
#12: Jamar Butler (Ohio State guard; 59 points in Big 10 tourneys '06-'08) - I hate Ohio State, so fuck this guy. He's bounced around the Mediterranean the past two years, in Italy and Turkey last year and this season in Greece playing for Gymnastikos Olympia Larissas.
#13: Robbie Hummel (Purdue forward; 58 points in Big 10 tourneys '08 and '09) - Still in college.
#14: Maurice Ager (Michigan State guard; 57 points in Big 10 tourney '06) - Defensive specialist who finished up in 2006, and bounced between the NBA and D-League before spending all of last year on the shitty New Jersey Nets. This year, he started out in Spain, but got released back in January, and latched onto the Maine Red Claws in the D-League last month, hoping to get back to the NBA.
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