In Big Ten, a Race Like No Other

For a man who said goodbye to his 2009 team as reluctantly as a kid giving back a puppy, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo took the fastest possible route to this year's season kick-off.

He arrived in an Indy Car.

With the Final Four in Indianapolis, you don't exactly need your college lit professor to explain the symbolism of Izzo's Midnight Madness ride, (though the prof might help in search of the metaphor to describe what a 220-pound man wedged in a car the sized of a futon looks like). Then again, you could consider it it foreshadowing of a Big Ten race that will be just as fierce and clustered as anything waged on the brickyard.

Please be sure to buckle up.

"I honestly see nine or 10 ... teams that could realistically win the league," Izzo said at the Big Ten media day. "Top to bottom, the league is the best it's been in a long time."

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And it is, without much argument, the best conference in the nation to start the season. Though the conference has been plagued with something of an image problem in recent years, the three yards and a cloud of rebounds basketball league is riding high heading into the 2010 season.

Maybe that's because the league is finally grown up. In an era where the best college players can't buy a beer without a fake ID, the Big Ten is stacked with stars who, in a college basketball world, are half a credit away from shuffleboard and early-bird buffets.

The league only put two players into the first round of the NBA draft last year and the preseason all-conference team is comprised entirely of juniors.

"We just have an unbelievable junior class in college basketball," Purdue coach Matt Pianter said. "There's a lot of juniors that are stars. And when we have some guys that had opportunities to go in the draft that stayed, that really strengthened our league"

"I think we have the opportunity now to grow and be one of the premier leagues if not the premiere league in the country."

That would be a fitting encore.

A season ago, the Big Ten placed a record-tying seven teams into the NCAA tournament, capped by the Spartans race home to Detroit for the Final Four. Of course, the Spartans blue-collar Cinderella story ended when they were run over by something more like a semi than Izzo's Indy car, the national champion Tar Heels.

But the league is already on pace to match, or exceed, last season. The Big Ten placed a nation's best six teams in the first AP top 25 poll of the year, including two in the top seven.

Including a familiar name at the very top.

Since 1999, Michigan State has played in five Final Fours and won a national championship, more final weekend appearances than any other team during that time period. But the nation's No. 2 team is far from a sure bet for a sixth Final Four in 12 seasons this year.

Just ask Tom Izzo.

When it comes to Coach speak, Izzo has always been more of a blackjack dealer than a poker player. His cards are always on the table and he's not afraid to tell you exactly what he thinks his hand. All you have to do is find a way to beat it.

So consider it cause for concern when his first comments about this year's team are what they won't have.

"My biggest fears are two-fold," Izzo said. "No. 1, we lost more than I think people give us credit for. ... And two, [Goran] Suton was a loss because of his play ... but he was a glue guy, he was a chemistry guy."

True, the Spartans return seven of the team's top nine scorers, but lose Big Ten defensive player of the year Travis Walton, a lockdown shadow who could find a way to keep you from scoring in the layup line.. Walton was also an emotional leader of last year's team – he was voted most inspirational by his teammates.

Suton, meanwhile, led the Big Ten in rebounding. When injured last year, the Spartans lost two of five games without him, a pair of cringing defeats to ACC foes North Carolina and Maryland. Compounding matters, the Spartans also lost top backup Idong Ibok, leaving a team that prides itself on rebounding and being football-without-the-pads tough, thin.

"We have 100 minutes," Izzo said of backup Tom Herzog's career playing log. "So our experience went from 15 years (between Suton, Ibok and Marquise Gray) to 100 minutes."

But the Spartans have enough talent coming back. Point guard Kalin Lucas, who could probably dribble faster than Izzo could drive the Indy car, returns after a Big Ten player of the year season a year ago, as does Raymar Morgan, arguably the Spartans' best all-around talent. Add to that Delvin Roe, a star recruit who was hampered by offseason knee surgery last year.

Only Purdue appears to be a serious threat to take the regular season title Michigan State ran away with last year. Ten teams might be able to win a game, but only two have a realistic chance at winning the most.

The Boilermakers continued their steady trend line last season, winning the league tournament and advancing to the Sweet 16. The Baby Boilers of 2008 have grown into a group of the baddest men on the block by 2010, and, returning all five starters from a team that went 27-10 and won the Big Ten tournament a season ago, have every right to expect a place alongside Michigan State.

And follow in their footsteps.

Where the Spartans staged a homecoming last year in Detroit, the Boilers have their eyes on a Final Four by bus to Indianapolis this year.

At the heart of Coach Matt Painter's is the recruiting class of 2007, now all juniors. E'Twaun Moore, an excellent scorer and playmaker, led the team in scoring last year while Robbie Hummel, a do-it-all 6-foot-8 power forward that was hampered by a bad back last year, is one of the nation's very best players. JaJuan Johnson, meanwhile, blossomed into one of the Big Ten's most productive post players last year, averaging 13.4 points per game, not to mention the toughest post matchup in the league.

Senior guards Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer round out the group on a team that has all the hallmarks of a group growing into a Final Four team.

And, with a season of luck so bad you might wonder what truck of mirrors they ran off the road, the Boilers are set for a Final Four run.

"We got better as we got healthier," Painter said of his team last year. "We kept plugging. I thought we had a strong finish and our guys embraced. And now I think we're stronger because of it."

Behind the Spartans and Boilermakers are a series of on-the-rise programs. Michigan, under the third season with head coach Jim Beilien is righting its ship much faster than its other program headed by an ex-West Virginia coach. The Wolverines return all of their top six scorers, including junior Manny Harris, a preseason all-Big Ten selection. Michigan earned its first NCAA bid since 1998 last season and upset Clemson in the opening round. The Wolverines are ranked in the preseason poll for the first time since 1996.

In Columbus, Ohio State will begin the season without a highly touted freshman big man for the first time since the "Thad Five," but the Buckeyes returned all five starters and have arguably the best all-around player in the league, Evan Turner, a 6-foot-7 wing who will be playing a versatile point role. Turner led the Buckeyes in virtually every category last year, including points per game, rebounds, assists and steals. He unfortunately also led the Buckeyes in turnovers, managing an assist-to-turnover ratio just over one. But Monday night's 10-assist, two-turnover debut against Alcorn State might be a sign he'll be more careful with the ball as the primarily ball handler.

Minnesota returns its top nine players for Tubby Smith's steadily improving team, which is good news considering two of Smith's touted newcomers are already suspended. Sophomore Devron Bostick is also suspended.

Illinois lost the league's top assist man and one of its top defenders in Chester Frazier, but with an established frontcourt and Demetri McCamey, they likely won't sweat out Selection Sunday. And Wisconsin, which looks like a bubble team at the season's star, has managed to find its way into the NCAA tournament every year under head coach Bo Ryan. Even Penn State, Iowa and rebuilding Indiana could lead to more than a few Maalox moments.

Just how deep is the Big Ten? Even Northwestern, a team that has never qualified for the NCAA tournament is thinking Big Dance. The Wildcats won eight games in the league last year and are expected to contend for their historic first bid.

"I don't think it's that much pressure," coach Bill Carmody said. "If you have some good players, which I think we do, we look forward to it. That's why you're here. ... We're just really looking forward to it.

"It's going to be a tough year in the conference. That's the only thing. I think we have probably one of our better teams coming up. But just looking around from top to bottom that the league is very strong."

And when it ends, it will be a season no one, not just Izzo, won't want to forget.