We talked about these in advance and came to a consensus on the following:

ALL-DISAPPOINTMENT TEAM

Other candidates were Gabe Kalscheur, Trent Frazier, and to a much lesser degree Aaron Henry and Franz's three-point shooting only.

Brian: We're not trying to dump on guys but it is worth noting the surprises on the other side of the ledger. No one was more cursed than Poor Damn Aaron Wheeler, who had a miraculously bad year. He went from a 58/37 shooter to 34/22 and hit 8 of his 55 twos in Big Ten play. This was a guy who both Ace and I expected to have a breakout season.

Ace: He’s both the most obvious choice and the one I hate mentioning because it was sad to watch him play. The misses clearly got into his head.

Brian: Watching a Wheeler three hit every part of the rim and then bounce out was agonizing even when Michigan was playing Purdue.

Seth: He remained a solid defender and board presence but yeeesh.

Ace: Painter had no choice:

Brian: We entered the year talking about Jon Teske as a guy neck and neck with Tillman for best C in the league. Fast forward to now: Brendan Quinn put nine centers on his three ABT teams, and Teske didn't make it.

Ace: You could’ve knocked me over with a feather if you’d told me that this offseason but now there’s no argument. He got put in the tough position of having his role increase while also being asked to do a lot of new things for a new coach but the strong crop of centers were also responsible for exposing his limitations.

Brian: Michigan is 15th percentile in post-up D per Synergy, which is up from 2nd midseason. Teske dropped 30 points of ORTG as he went from a no TO roll guy to a very awkward post player.

Seth: Juwan Howard: Post Whisperer is one of many things we got wrong about the transition.

Ace: Uh. Big Country, man.

Seth: At least insofar as Teske was concerned.

Brian: Teske was... wait for it... shoehorned into a role that he was very unsuited for. Probably the biggest issue with Howard's year 1.

[After THE JUMP: We are done with that word promise]

------------------------------------

Ace: While Indiana’s Rob Phinisee makes this list for putting in pretty much the exact same year he had as a freshman while losing playing time, I’d like to note that’s pretty much what I expected from an Archie Miller guard.

Your Phinisee disappointment is proportional to your illusions that Archie Miller guards get better. [Campredon]

My Gabe Kalscheur vote got overruled. Though I guess Richard Pitino’s presence makes his much the same circumstance.

Brian: Neck and neck for that spot, really. Phinisee nosed ahead for me because a third of his shots were midrange twos he hits at 23%, and he frequently chucked those up before the shot clock got low. Kalscheur just couldn't shoot, he wasn't driving his team off a cliff intentionally.

Ace: Yeah, Phinisee was the worse player. I had higher expectations for Kalscheur because I thought he could develop into an on-the-move shooter like Purdue has every year. Indiana’s point guards have been the same guy recently: can’t shoot, can’t finish, way too many turnovers.

Brian: Speaking of guys who just couldn't shoot, Michigan nonwithstanding, Eric Ayala was 41/27 in league play on role player usage.

Turgeon's last Top 50 recruit. [Paul Sherman]

Seth: This was all a setup to go 3/4 against Michigan.

Ace: Maryland definitely needed a wing representative. The lack of shooting cost them a solo title.

Brian: Maryland won a share of the league with Ayala and Wiggins both dropping 10 points of 3P%. Maybe Turgeon is a good coach?

Ace: Turgeon is a good coach on the whole who’s bad at certain, glaring things. Like having more than five offensive plays ready heading into a season.

Seth: They were a normal Maryland shooting night away from blowing a three-game cushion in the last five games.

Giorgi wasn't made for chasing wings around the perimeter. [Campredon]

Brian: Finally, Giorgi Bezhanishvili is here in part because he had that season after we all figured out how to spell his name.

Ace: Statistically one of the worst players in the conference. Another situation like Teske’s since he had to play power forward with Kofi Cockburn’s arrival but he really didn’t take to it. Like, way worse than Teske did.

Seth: This is why you don't shoehorn.

Brian: His minutes at the 5 were very bad as well. Michigan's final shot against Illinois was Teske backing him down into a great shot, which was about the last time that happened this season.

Ace: Yeah, he was never a good defender even when he could hang in the paint. This year his offense completely tanked and he sometimes had to chase guys like Franz Wagner.

ALL FRESHMAN TEAM

Ace: There’s a very obvious top four of Cockburn, Jackson-Davis, Wagner, and Fredrick (probably in that order) and then it would’ve been dicey had Rocket Watts not come on strong at the end of the season. DJ Carton would’ve been the clear choice at point guard and a contender for freshman of the year if he hadn’t had to step away from the program.

Seth: I can't say Wagner goes ahead of Fredrick.

Ace: He’s a far superior defender.

Seth: Yeah but that, as well as his rim game, really came on at the end. Wagner took longer to get acclimated, and his shot was 10 points below what it was if we're grading on what it looks like leaving his fingers.

Brian: Anyway yes Franz Wagner shot 62% from two in league play and was a deflection machine on the other end of the floor. His shooting never got untracked, but if it does look out.

Ace: His usage approached 20%, too, which was really necessary when Livers was out of the lineup. That’s another thing that separates him from Fredrick, who hung out around 15%.

46-percent shooters only sometimes grow on trees. [Campredon]

Brian: CJ Fredrick isn't that far behind as a 46% three point shooter who was acceptable inside the line; one of the more entertaining in-game subplots this season was Wagner and Fredrick having a jaw-off in the second M-Iowa game.

Fredrick is one of those guys who you see and you wonder how his recruiting ranking is so low. He's got good size for a shooting guard, has great shooting from three and from the line, and backs down from nobody. Recruiting steal of the year.

Ace: Yeah, don’t let my Franz advocacy mislead you, Fredrick had an excellent year. He’s going to be one of the most hated players in the conference (as will Franz) for a while. Not for being a Davison but because he sinks so many daggers.

Brian: And he has a certain Wagner-ness after he sinks them

Ace: That too.

Technically the same species! [Campredon]

Brian: Finally, the two posts were guys living up to expectations. Kofi Cockburn is a giant human who did giant human things. Trayce Jackson-Davis is a more modern big; both guys were crucial components of tournament teams.

Seth: I wouldn't call a guy who took zero threes a modern big.

Ace: I mostly tried to avoid watching Indiana but it was hard to miss TJD. On a team that often looked lost in tougher games, he maintained his play against high-level competition. He’s great around the rim and a switchable defender, which is why he’s a more modern big than Cockburn.

Brian: Giant free throw rate, low TO rate, excellent rebounder. Main thing separating him from the All Big Ten guys was usage.

Seth: That I get. They were also playing him at the four with Joey Brunk, Justin Smith and Rob Phinisee on the floor, which meant there were four defenders who could crash on the paint at will.

Ace: Cockburn, meanwhile, had a more outsized impact than his numbers indicate. He required a lot of attention both as a scorer and rebounder.

Seth: Also cold-clocked Lewis Garrison.

Ace: Not that 12 and 8 per game is bad production. But he didn’t quite hit 50% from the field in part because he often had several small villagers hanging from him.

Brian: Finishing became a problem later in the year as guys scouted his moves, but as they relentlessly tell you he's only been playing for three years. He's still got a lot of upside to explore even if he's a freshman by class only--he's eight months older than Castleton. A final note: if we refused to shoehorn, PSU wing Seth Lundy was probably next on the list..

Seth: Lundy's a more extreme version of "came on late." He was unplayable earlier in the season.

Ace: In a similar vein, Maryland’s Donta Scott stabilized that lineup as the burly dude who does role player stuff.

ALL DEFENSE

Brian: Xavier Tillman is our unanimous DPOY. This Michigan blog was incensed when he was left off the national DPOY finalist list.

Ace: For extremely good reason.

Kaleb Wesson took his turn in the Xavier Tillman Vortex today.

1-8 FGs, 8 points, 3 fouls, 1 turnover, 35 minutes https://t.co/rKybR3OBCL

— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) March 8, 2020

In the past week, Xavier Tillman has held Luka Garza, Jalen Smith and Lamar Stevens to a combined 15-for-39 2-point shooting.

(And, included in this, worth noting most of Garza's baskets came with Tillman off the floor. He held Garza to 3-of-7 2s in the 2nd half.)

Seth: Surely an NBA team can find a use for that guy.

Ace: Yeah, he shut down several very good centers, but also: Lamar Stevens! Jesus Christ!Tillman should not be able to do the things he does and State’s defense collapses without him. He’s got a long pro career ahead of him.

Brian: Immediately ahead of him, if you please.

Seth: Zoinks! (cupcakes removed)

Ace: Egads.

Brian: JFC

Ace: So, yeah, should probably have made that national list.

Seth: Izzo started Nick Ward over him.

Brian: Jalen Smith gets a shoehorn in here as he was second in the league in block rate and was the only guy to make Austin Davis look bad.

Ace: Plus we know he’s capable of playing the four. Daniel Oturu deserves mention and is unlucky to be a true center in this conference with the way we pick awards. It would’ve been a tough head-to-head choice between Sticks and Oturu. I think I’d still lean Sticks because of his versatility since he remained a high-level rim protector.

He can't shoot but you can't take him off the court. [Campredon]

Brian: Nojel Eastern is either the point guard or small forward on this hypothetical team, and the reason he's on it is because we don't know which. The most switchable guy 1-4 in the conference and an absolute nightmare to try to get around; getting through isn't happening either.

Ace: He’s such a good defender that Purdue has to play him even though he cannot shoot.

Brian: He is the most "he plays so he must be great at D" guy in the league.

Ace: Purdue is not a team generally inclined to play non-shooters on the wing.

Brian: And describing Eastern as a "non shooter" doesn't quite cover it.

Ace: “Spectacle.” At least at the line, he literally doesn’t attempt threes.

Seth: Simpson was 8/8 on twos and 9/14 in the double-OT win. They put Eastern on him in the second matchup and X was 0/10 while everyone else scored. Or I should say they had Eastern blitz him.

All over everything. [Campredon]

Ace: I love watching Luther Muhammad play defense. Ohio State puts him on the opponent’s best perimeter player and he has this remarkable combination of physicality and nimbleness. He might be the best player in the conference at working his way over screens.  He’s 6'3/185 but with the way he plays you can happily switch him 1-3 and he can hold his own against some fours. I honestly assumed he was at least 15 pounds heavier until just now.

Seth: I had Matt EM over and I tried to compare Muhammad to Charles Matthews. Doesn't have the elite athleticism but we agreed the guard erasure is there.

Ace: Their pick-and-roll defense (including passes) ranks in the 97th percentile, per Synergy. Some of that is Kaleb Wesson becoming much more mobile but a whole lot of that is Muhammad being a nightmare. Finally, Jamari Wheeler is another guy on this team who has to be good at defense because he’s definitely not out there for offense.

Brian: 30 MPG, takes 8% of PSU shots.

Ace: This was the toughest pick for me because both of Michigan’s starting guards have a solid argument. But Simpson had to focus on offense more and it hurt his defense, Brooks’s size could be exploited, and Wheeler got unleashed this year.

Seth: The weird thing about Wheeler is PSU's defense doesn't budge when he's off the court. Cupcakes removed:

Brian: Austin Davis effect where he looks breakeven because he gets sheltered minutes; Wheeler is getting the opposite of that.

Ace: Yeah, he’s the only PSU guy who keeps the team relatively level on defense when Lamar Stevens sits. Speaking of which, Stevens is the best defender on that team, we just needed a guard more than a wing.

Brian: I feel bad that we didn't have anyone from Rutgers on this list. Second best D in the conference.

Ace: This team plays at the RAC. Which somehow boosts Rutgers from decent to murderous on that end.

Brian: Bastards one and all but no one who ends up as an individual standout.

Seth: Gumby forest. They're all super-long guys who can't shoot.

Ace: Myles Johnson, but there are so many damn centers. I liked Akwasi Yeboah’s individual defense too.

ALL BREAKOUT

[Campredon]

Brian: This doesn't have a defined team, it's just us calling out guys we think will blow up next year.

We're all aboard the Franz Wagner train. Choo choo.

Seth: Next stop: Stauskasization chooo choo.

Ace: There will be another pick-and-roll post soon that expands on this and I suspect people will enjoy that section.

He’s already an excellent finisher even though his drives don’t usually get all the way to the rim, his basketball IQ is high on both ends of the floor, he’s improving as an on-ball defender, and he gets his hands on a lot of passes and shots.

Seth: I believe the shooting is there. You already brought up the free throw metric. We also have his form and his Euro stats.

Ace: Oh, yeah, I assume he’ll at least be at 35% next year. We’re starting to see that come together already.

Seth: And he'll have enough mass that he won't be literally ejected from the paint anymore.

Brian: Aaron Wheeler: because it can't be worse?

Ace: Hngh. True! Some guys bounce back from a Yips year, some don’t.

Brian: I'm not sure 111 ORTG 28% usage Micah Potter qualifies because of a lack of minutes, but I do expect people to be "holy shit Micah Potter" next year.

Ace: Yeah, he didn’t come to mind for me only because that moment came for me in January.

Brian: If Wisconsin figures out how to play him and Reuvers 30 MPG they're going to be a bear next year.

Ace: And if they can’t, they need to start playing Potter over Reuvers. Rocket Watts is gonna blow up. He’s also gonna drive Tom Izzo nuts, but he’ll be really good. The shot is starting to come together, he’s an elite athlete, and he’s already a good defender, plus he’ll step into a huge opportunity. If Tillman comes back he’ll have a hell of a running mate, too.

Brian: I don't want that to be true though.

Ace: #freegrandmatillman

Seth: There's a scenario where Michigan State fans hate him for not being Winston and...I'm grasping.

Ace: Foster Loyer is there to remind them what could be.

Brian: I like Seth Lundy as an undersized but burly stretch 4 and there's going to be a lot of PSU usage coming open. I'd put in a shout for CJ Fredrick but I don't know where his usage boost comes from unless Wieskamp goes to the NBA.

Ace: If we’re looking at the “guy who’s already good who could take it up a level” category, I’m curious to see how Kofi Cockburn looks after an offseason in a college conditioning program. If he has a little more explosion and mobility to go with his considerable power, that’s frightening. Plus he’ll add more post moves so he won’t be as easy to download on defense.

Seth: Kofi was a total black hole this year too. If he can buy himself some space by functioning in an offense instead of lighting up a giant "He's Gonna Shoot" beacon every time he touches it, look out.

Brian: It would help if Illinois could give him any spacing at all next year.

Ace: Alan Griffin ate into Giorgi B’s role and that’ll probably become more the case.

COACH OF THE YEAR

What more?

Brian: With all due respect to Gard, Steve Pikiell has Rutgers in the NCAA tournament, end of story.

Ace: I assume they couldn’t remember how to pronounce Pikiell and that’s why they went with Gard.

PIE-kull

Seth: Wisconsin's late run after Gard ran off his best player, and the way they pulled wins out of sure losses all year were impressive. Not nearly as impressive as taking a room full of bricklayers and turning the RAC into the game's most lethal venue.

Brian: Gard benefits storyline wise because his team got a lot better but that was less a coaching revolution and more getting Potter after 10 games.

Ace: I also don’t want to give him too much credit for running off Kobe King since it sounds like Gard was in large part the problem there.

It makes the turnaround a little less impressive if you were the guy driving the wrong way.

Seth: Oh I was not saying that to give him credit.

Ace: Yeah, just doubling down.

Brian: Rutgers lost Omoruyi and is 27th in Kenpom. They're a collection of castoffs and weirdos. Wisconsin going 14-6 in the league is nice and all but we're talking about a got damned New Jersey Miracle here.

Ace: Seriously. They even had a short stretch without Geo Baker! They won games while playing Jacob Young, Disaster Factory!

Seth: Speaking of miracles, every time I turned on a Wisconsin game they were down 8 because they had Potter on the bench for Reuvers.

Brian: speaking of...

THE ISAIAH WASHINGTON AWARD

given to the most YOLO player in the league.

Brian: This year's Isaiah Washington Award winner is Jacob Young.

Ace: LEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENNNNNNNNNNNKINS

My dude picked up his dribble one step inside the arc. He is six foot two.

I love him.

Brian: 85 ORTG. Talking infinite shit. Pick six open court steals. Thinks he is Giannis when attempting to dunk. Go off king.

Seth: Jawed at Zavier Simpson.

Ace: Lived to tell the tale because that much confidence is unkillable.

Brian: Had 4 points on 30% usage in that game.

Seth: AND broke the home spell.

Brian: Truly a perfect Rutgers basketball player, and they're going to the tournament. What a year.

Ace: The great part of Jacob Young is if you put together a two-minute highlight reel you could convince a random basketball fan that he’s all-conference. But you’d be cutting so much tape.