all big ten

Charles Matthews
You forget someone? [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

THE SPONSOR:

Nick Hopwood, MGoFinancial Planner from Peak Wealth Management is the Beilein of financial management, except Beilein doesn't make nearly as many Star Wars references in his cheesy ad. If you haven't started planning for retirement, uh, do your taxes, and then get on that.

Legal disclosure in wee itty bitty font: Calling Nick our official financial planner is not intended as financial advice; Nick is an advertiser who financially supports MGoBlog. MGoBlog is not responsible for any advice or other communication provided to an investor by any financial advisor, and makes no representations or warranties as to the suitability of any particular financial advisor and/or investment for a specific investor.

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THE QUESTION:

This is PART II of our annual All-Big Ten Roundtable, because Part I (the All-Big Ten team) went really long. Here's where we do the all-defensive team, all-frosh, etc.

ALL DEFENSE

Ace: Not Josh Reaves!

Seth: I haven't seen the list so I'm going to guess Davison made it.

Ace: Michigan (very) arguably had the best defender in the country at three positions. One made the coaches team. Let’s start here: it’s either Zavier Simpson or Jon Teske for DPOY for me. I could be talked into… Charles Matthews.

Alex: Rank X, Matthews, Teske:

Seth: Simpson had some nights but Teske was every center's nightmare against THIS league of centers.

Brian: X is obvious, Matthews is obvious, I thought Teske had some competition in Fernando and Tillman.

Ace: Teske did have the tougher task than Simpson. Considering my ranking of those guys is splitting hairs, it’s probably a positional thing, and that may actually favor Matthews given the variety of players he defended.

Brian: Tillman annihilated us.

Alex: Is it insane for me to pick X last among those three? Behind Matthews and Teske?

Ace: I don’t think any order is insane, I’ve talked myself into all of them in the last two minutes.

Seth: The knock on X is he had two nights against a Real PG(TM) and had, uh, 20 minutes of lockdown?

Ace: What’s insane is LEAVING TWO OF THE THREE off the list entirely.

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Reaves?!!? [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

Brian: Non-Michigan folk?

Ace: Nojel Eastern. It’s the only reason he plays unless you really dig offensive rebounds.

Alex: Matt McQuaid?

Brian: I want to put in a shout for Nate Reuvers.

Alex: Fernando is probably the best rim protector but he’s not mobile.

Ace: Happ is super disruptive but the mention of Reuvers (and how he was used) says something about his pick and roll defense. Teske was the most complete defensive center in the league. Tillman maybe could’ve entered the conversation.

Alex: Reuvers and Happ are both quite good. I’m pretty surprised they passed Michigan for the best defense in Big Ten play. But they are a great defensive team.

Brian: Obliterating Iowa was the spur. I did not watch that game and so can't tell you why they had 0.65 PPP. But Reuvers is very mobile, spent most of the year guarding fours, and has a top 50 block rate.

Seth: Reuvers joins Dosunmu on the list of players who are going to be really good next year.

Brian: He's a bit of a flopperson but aren't they all.

Ace: I think my tiebreaker for bigs here is the lasting mental image of Fernando slamming his head into Teske’s torso to no discernible effect. X is the obvious choice among point guards, Matthews gets a wing spot, and then you have two spots for Reaves-Eastern-McQuaid. Or Fernando if you want two bigs, but I like the selection of wings better.

Brian: You could go X, Eastern, Matthews, Reuvers, Teske

Alex: Reaves’s body of work over his career makes me inclined to think he’s one of the five best defenders in the conference.

Brian: Since Reuvers did check 4s and there were a lot of dual posts in the league.

Ace: I think we get into the issue here of putting together a team that fits instead of picking the guys who were the best individual defensive performers. Wisconsin’s use of Reuvers against us stuck out but he was also playing with Happ and they had a great gameplan in that one.

Seth: My argument for Teske is he stays on the floor so much that our major coaching complaint is when he's pulled off it unnecessarily. Also he looks very Sherriff-y.

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Alex: Reaves is in that Matthews mold of sleeper who could stick for a bit because he has the defensive upside to be a no-offense stopper. He’s been top 15 in the country in steal rate in each of the last three seasons. I’m not saying “he’s better than X” or “he deserved to be the defensive player of the year” but

Brian:

Ace: There are some—I’m guessing people with Synergy access—who’ve said Reaves’ play slipped a bit this year.

Brian: It felt like he'd start gambling for steals a lot.

Ace: I wish I still had a login so I could check McQuaid. That actually may have swung me to X-Eastern-Matthews-Reuvers-Teske though.

Brian: Alright make a pick and let's move on

Ace: It swung me. Along with Wisconsin’s team stats.

[AFTER THE JUMP: All-Breakout Next Year, and other stuff]

Cassius Winston pass over Zavier Simpson
Three of these guys are discussed, one makes it. [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

THE SPONSOR:

Nick Hopwood, our MGoFinancial Planner from Peak Wealth Management. If you haven't started planning for retirement, uh, do your taxes, and then get on that.

Legal disclosure in wee itty bitty font: Calling Nick our official financial planner is not intended as financial advice; Nick is an advertiser who financially supports MGoBlog. MGoBlog is not responsible for any advice or other communication provided to an investor by any financial advisor, and makes no representations or warranties as to the suitability of any particular financial advisor and/or investment for a specific investor.

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THE QUESTION:

IT IS TIME TO ALL BIG TEN VARIOUS THINGS

Seth: Are we making a lineup or just five guys and shoehorning them into positions? And does our lineup have to match what the guy's primary role is?

Brian: Lineups should be realistic but not dogmatic.

Seth: So Happ at point guard is...

Brian: Incorrect.

All right, basics first. All Big Ten. Let's just take it as read that everyone has Cassius Winston.

Seth: He's pretty good. It is infuriating that he's not on draft boards.

My pet stat this year is "%PAst" ie percent of a guy's points from the field that came off assists. It's a way to spot the Just a Shooters wracking up points off open looks someone else created for them. Here's a list of the top 15 Big Ten players this year with at least 100 FGAs by %PAst:

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Every Michigan State starter except Winston made this list.

Alex: I really like this stat, Seth. Good idea. Who’s at the bottom?

Seth: Geo Baker, Shot Taker.

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Seth: X is second to last. All hail Zareem Xabdul-Sabbar.

Brian: Of course Geo is last. The most interesting name on the get your own list is Andres Feliz.

Seth: That is deeply unfair to Isaiah Washington, founder and CEO of Assists & Bricks Dot Com, but I concede your point.

One of the quiet things about this Big Ten season that we haven't said out loud is that Michigan caught several teams at their worst versions of themselves. Not Michigan State--Langford was replaceable and the Ward injury merely prevented Izzo from playing the wrong center in his two biggest games. But we played After Copeland Nebraska, Early December Purdue, got Illinois when they were still playing Kipper Nichols and were just starting to discover Dosunmu, got IU twice during their midseason 1-12 swoon, and faced Brad Davison the game after his douchebaggery made national news. We even got Northwestern without Law, though we also got Northwestern on the road before the collapse.

Ace: I was gonna say Nojel Eastern, who maybe should look for it less.

Alex: Anyways, I feel like the Carsen Edwards discourse has moved too far in the "he's actually not that good" direction. To me, a guy who leads his team to a Big Ten title while leading the conference in scoring average by a comfortable margin is a no-brainer first-team selection. He takes bad shots and wastes possessions, and it can look pretty rough at times, but he's as much of a lock as Ethan Happ.

He's also slightly more efficient than Happ on slightly lower usage.

[After THE JUMP: An all-fives all-conference list?]

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THE EVENT: So long as Michigan survives Thursday (and your band of health-compromised bloggers do as well), we’re going to get together this Friday at 2:30 at Wolverine Brewing for our first MGo-gamewatch party. Sponsor Nick Hopwood of Peak Wealth Management, who also sponsors this post, offered to cover the first couple rounds and some food for our tables. Please let us know if you’re coming so we can get a halfway decent count (if we run out of space signups get first priority: https://goo.gl/forms/t0F28mhfnYRRbKPh2

Also if you’re in New York, Dewey’s Pub down the street from MSG tends to collect the MGoBlog contingent after the game.

THE SPONSOR: How are you managing your savings? Your insurance? What kind of accounts do you have for your kids? Our MGoFinancial Planner Nick Hopwood from Peak Wealth Management is the guy to talk to.

Legal disclosure in tiny font: Calling Nick our official financial planner is not intended as financial advice; Nick is an advertiser who financially supports MGoBlog. MGoBlog is not responsible for any advice or other communication provided to an investor by any financial advisor, and makes no representations or warranties as to the suitability of any particular financial advisor and/or investment for a specific investor.

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The Big Ten released its all-conference selections so we decided to complain, of course.

All-Big Ten Team
Coaches Media
Miles Bridges, MSU Miles Bridges, MSU
James Palmer, Neb Ethan Happ, Wis
Keita Bates-Diop, OSU Keita Bates-Diop, OSU
Tony Carr, PSU Tony Carr, PSU
Carsen Edwards, Pur Carsen Edwards, Pur
2nd Team
Coaches Media
Juwan Morgan, IU Juwan Morgan, IU
Moritz Wagner, UM Moritz Wagner, UM
Jae'Sean Tate, OSU Jordan Murphy, Minn
Vincent Edwards, Pur Vincent Edwards, Pur
Ethan Happ James Palmer, Neb
All-defense All-freshmen
Anthony Cowan, Md Trent Frazier, IL
Jaren Jackson, MSU Bruno Fernando, Md
Josh Reaves, PSU Jaren Jackson, MSU
Mike Watkins, PSU Kaleb Wesson, OSU
Dakota Mathias, Pur Brad Davison, UW
Player of the Year Keita Bates-Diop, OSU
Freshman of the Year Jaren Jackson, MSU
6th Man Duncan Robinson, UM
Coach of the Year no argument

Brian: Ugh, naming a team without a center is like naming a football team without an OL. My pet peeve is first team all conference basketball teams that wouldn't be very good. And this is a season with Ethan Happ and Isaac Haas!

Seth: Haas got so much love all season on BTN I was both surprised and totally fine with him being left out. I But I agree even Beilein wouldn't play a lineup of Bridges-Palmer-KBD-Carr-Edwards.

Ace: Jackson freshman of the year, KBD player of the year, Duncan Robinson(!) 6th man of the year.

Seth: This is the part where Ace is mad Poole didn't make any of these teams.

Ace: They probably got the right guys since Poole emerged so late, though that lineup doesn’t pass the “this would work on the court” test.

Brian: Two pure Cs might be worse than none. Ugh, all broken, I'm just naming my first team because guh.

C Isaac Haas. Not Haas's fault he's got a windmill on the bench behind him and a team around him. Haas has per-minute stats that stack up with anyone, spearheaded the nation's #15 eFG defense, and plays on an actually good team. Happ's numbers are silly in part because he has one other guy who can play on his team; he's more effective on offense but doesn't bring anywhere near the rim protection Haas does. The Mo mismatch applies to both of these guys; Haas was much better at attacking at the other end of the floor.

Ace: Happ is also way worse at free throws, which is a big deal for both of them. Totally agree with this one. In general, everyone seems to have overvalued raw numbers.

Haas hit one fewer FT on 31 fewer attempts in B1G play.

Alex: PUT SOME RESPECK ON ETHAN HAPP'S NAME, ACE AND BRIAN.

[After THE JUMP: how long until Ace says Poole is robbed you think?]