Posts Tagged ‘Cody Zeller’

Nic Moore transferring to SMU

Published by Source on June 14th, 2012

Illinois State transfer Nic Moore has made up his mind about where he is headed next. The 5’9″ point guard is headed south to play for the SMU Mustangs. Even though Moore seemed determined to play for a big program in the Midwest, the opportunity to play for former ISU coach Tim Jankovich again was too enticing.

Moore averaged 10.0 points per game in his only season in Normal, which was good for 3rd best on the team. He shined as the team’s starting point guard, dishing out 3.8 assists per game (5th best in the Missouri Valley). The Redbirds made a surprising run in the MVC tournament, beating top-15 ranked Wichita State in the semifinal to face Creighton in the title. Moore scored 20 points in that title game, which was somewhat of a coming out party for the freshman. He followed that up with 24 and 25 point performances in the NIT to go out on a hot streak.

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Zeller and Watford returning to Indiana

Published by Source on April 10th, 2012

Two key pieces to Indiana’s success this past season will be back again next year to help the Hoosiers make a run at the National Title. Freshman big man Cody Zeller and junior wing Christian Watford announced Tuesday that they will both be back for the 2012-13 season to play for Tom Crean and the Hoosiers.

Zeller, the B1G co-Freshman of the Year and honorable mention AP All-American, had a brilliant season in which his post presence changed the entire complexion of the team on both sides of the court. The star forward averaged 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds on a team that went to its first Sweet 16 since 2002. Zeller was the cornerstone of the team’s turn-around and will continue to have a major impact on their success moving forward. Many NBA experts projected Cody as a lottery pick, many placing him in the top-10.

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Michigan lands late 2012 PG commitment

Published by Source on April 7th, 2012

With the news that Michigan starting point guard Trey Burke may be gone to the NBA, head coach John Beilein went in search of a new point guard to bring in next season. It appears he has found that player in Spike Albrecht, a point guard currently finishing a prep season at Northfield Mount Vernon (MA). Albrecht, who is originally from Crown Point, Indiana just over of the IL/IN border, becomes the fourth member of a Wolverine 2012 class that includes Rivals150 players Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson III and Nick Stauskas.

The NCAA spring signing period starts on Wednesday, so Albrecht will be able to sign with his new team as early as next week. The commitment came during a visit to Ann Arbor on Friday night on which Beilein offered the point guard a scholarship. Beilein has landed a number of players from “The Region” of NW Indiana, including seniors Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, as well as 2012 commits McGary and Robinson, both of whom come from the same AAU program (SYF Players) as Albrecht.

There are conflicting reports as to whether or not Burke will be back to the Wolverines next season and there is no doubt that his departure will be a tough loss for the program. Burke emerged as one of the top point guards in the conference and shared B1G Freshman of the Year honors with Indiana’s Cody Zeller. The NBA stock is high for Burke now, but he may decide that another year in college would improve his position and NBA-readiness. Albrecht would also benefit from playing with such a talented point guard for a season or two, but will have to be ready to go right away if Burke is in fact off to the pros.

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Revisiting My Preseason Predictions

Published by Source on March 21st, 2012

With the regular season finished and postseason tournaments in full swing, it is time to take a look back at the predictions I posted the day before this college basketball season began. I went game-by-game to predict wins and losses, tallied them up and listed the teams from 1-12. Needless to say, I did not do that well.

The first thing that jumps out is that the B1G really beat up on each other in conference play, with a lot of teams at the top of the standings losing to teams at the bottom. No team dominated the season the way that I (and many others) expected Ohio State to do.

It was not all bad, though, as I was pretty spot on with my non-conference records. For most teams, I only missed 2 or 3 non-conference games (I missed 4 for Penn State, but was perfect for Minnesota and only missed 1 each for Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin). Below, you will see a couple different lists. The first is the side-by-side of my predicted conference standings and the actual conference standings. Next, you will see a team-by-team breakdown of the records I predicted so that you can see how wrong/right I was. NOTE: I do not include conference tournament games, as those would have been impossible to predict before the season. NOTE 2: 3-way tie in actual B1G standings, but I listed the 3 teams in the order they were seeded in the conference tournament.

PREDICTED:                       ACTUAL:

1 – Ohio State                  T-1 – Michigan State

2 – Michigan                   T-1 – Michigan

3 – Wisconsin                 T-1 – Ohio State

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Posted in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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Up First For Indiana: New Mexico State Aggies (26-9)

Published by Source on March 13th, 2012

The Indiana Hoosiers have travelled an incredibly long road to this tournament appearance (<<please click that link, it’s required reading for Hoosier Nation and true college basketball fans!!). The Hoosiers grabbed the 4-seed in the South region and will head out West to Portland to face the New Mexico State Aggies. The game is Thursday night at 9:45pm/8:45cst on CBS.

Who are they?

The Aggies of New Mexico State have had a lot of success under head coach Marvin Menzies. NMSU is coming off their second WAC tournament title in the past three seasons and they finished second place in the regular season conference seasons. The Aggies finished 26-9 this season, including 3 wins in the conference tournament. They finished with a WAC record of 10-4, which was good for the 2nd seed in the tournament. They avoided having to play conference winner Nevada in the final by virtue of upset win by Louisiana Tech (the Aggies lost to Nevada both times they faced off this year). Their last NCAA Tournament appearance was 2010, when the were a 12-seed and lost to Michigan State in the first round 70-67 (the Spartans would go on to make the Final Four that season). In their only game against a power conference team this season, the Aggies fell to Arizona 83-76. In six neutral site games, they went 5-1 including their 3 conference tournament wins.

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The 2012 NCAA Bracket is out!

Published by Source on March 12th, 2012

Congrats to all 68 teams that were fortunate enough to have their name called tonight! Six teams from the B1G received spots in the field, as well as local Big East teams Marquette and Notre Dame. Below, you will find a breakdown of who is playing who, where they are playing, and what day the game is on.

UPDATE: Times/broadcasts have been added at the end of each game description.

Michigan State – The Spartans got the 4th 1-seed in this year’s field after beating the Ohio State Buckeyes in this afternoon’s conference title game. Tom Izzo leads his Michigan State squad into the NCAA Tournament for the 15th straight season and this is the 4th time that they have been a 1-seed in that span. This year, the Spartans sit atop the West Region and will face NEC Champion LIU-Brookyln in the first round (Columbis, OH). A first round win will result in a match-up with either Memphis or Saint Louis over the weekend. [9:20pm/8:20cst on TBS]

Ohio State – Despite losing in the conference title game, the Buckeyes were given a 2-seed in this year’s East Regional (Syracuse is the 1). They will face off with 15-seed MAAC winner Loyola (MD) in the first round and would face either 7-seed Gonzaga or 10-seed West Virginia after that. Those games will be played in Pittsburgh. This is the 6th NCAA berth in head coach Thad Matta’s 8 seasons in Columbus and the 3rd time the Buckeyes have been a 2-seed in that time. They were also a top seed twice, including last season. [9:50/8:50p on TNT]

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Posted in featured, Indiana, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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B1G Announces Year-End Award winners

Published by Source on March 5th, 2012

The B1G Conference has released their year-end award winners and all-conference teams. There are two sets of winners, one chosen by the twelve B1G coaches and one chosen by a select group of media members. Congrats to all of the honorees!! You will find the full lists below:

COACHES:

All-B1G First Team: Jordan Taylor (Wisconsin), Robbie Hummel (Purdue), John Shurna (Northwestern), Draymond Green (Michigan State), Jared Sullinger (Ohio State)

All-B1G Second Team: Trey Burke (Michigan), Tim Frazier (Penn State), William Buford (Ohio State), DeShaun Thomas (Ohio State), Cody Zeller (Indiana)

All-B1G Third Team: Keith Appling (Michigan State), Brandon Paul (Illinois), Matt Gatens (Iowa), Tim Hardaway Jr. (Michigan), Drew Crawford (Northwestern)

All-B1G Freshman Team: Trey Burke (Michigan), Dave Sobolewski (Northwestern), Branden Dawson (Michigan State), Aaron White (Iowa), Cody Zeller (Indiana)

Honorable Mention: Meyers Leonard (Illinois), Christian Watford (Indiana), Aaron Craft (Ohio State), Jared Berggren & Ryan Evans (Wisconsin)

Player of the Year: Draymond Green (Michigan State)

Coach of the Year: Tom Izzo (Michigan State)

Freshman of the Year: Cody Zeller (Indiana)

Defensive Player of the Year: Aaron Craft (Ohio State)

Sixth Man of the Year: DJ Byrd (Purdue)

*media selections after the jump*

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Posted in featured, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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A signature win for Indiana

Published by Source on December 10th, 2011

The Build-up

Despite being 8-0 and winning each game by more than 10 points, Indiana was not favored to win today at Assembly Hall. In fact, most people outside of Indiana did not even really think twice about Indiana’s chance to win today. The reason? The top-ranked, undefeated and uber-talented rival Kentucky Wildcats were coming to town.

John Calipari’s bunch was fresh off of a win over previously top-ranked North Carolina that vaulted them up to that number 1 spot. In addition to that, Indiana hadn’t beaten UK since 2007. But none of that matter to Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers. Because of that, their program has been changed forever.

Most Hoosier fans will tell you that this year’s IU team has been playing better than the non-ranking given to them by national media. They have been receiving votes in each poll but had yet to crack the Top 25. Indiana’s first 8 wins did not exactly come against top competition, though they had won 2 true road games (Evanston and NC State) and a tough home win over Butler. There was a lot to be excited about in Bloomington and with an entire week to prepare for this game, Hoosier Nation was in heavy anticipation for their date with Number One.

Kentucky came into Saturday’s game with 8 wins of their own, coming against the likes of UNC, Kansas and St. Johns, but had yet to play a true road game. With a young team, a road trip to a wild environment like Assembly Hall is a real challenge.

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Hoosier Hysteria 2011 RECAP

Published by Source on October 16th, 2011

By: Kyle Dunne

Assembly Hall was absolutely electric on Saturday night. So much so that it wouldn’t have been hard to imagine that the Hoosiers were celebrating a season that ended in a trip to the final four last year.  Clearly that wasn’t the case however; a reported crowd of over 16,000 were still on hand to get a firsthand look at the 2011-2012 Hoosiers. The men’s team took the floor at 8:00pm and the crowd was immediately treated to Victor Oladipo singing his version of “You Got It Bad” by Usher. The current players were then introduced individually with former players Eric Gordon and DJ White getting loud ovations as well afterward.

The evening continued with guest host Bill Raftery announcing a 3-point contest as well as a slam dunk contest, which not surprisingly became a showdown between Oladipo and Will Sheehey.  With as much talent that was on the court, just as much attention seemed to be focused on the talent sitting courtside in the stands.  It seemed that with every silent moment between events, a “Gary Harris” chant would ring throughout Assembly Hall. Harris was just one of many talented prospects that were reportedly at Hoosier Hysteria tonight, including all 7 of Indiana’s current commits for 2012 and 2013.

The night concluded with an inter-squad scrimmage. Cody Zeller, Jordan Hulls and Sheehey were the three standout players from the scrimmage. Zeller looked exactly how every IU fan hoped he would. He ran the floor extremely well, finished at the rim and possesses a back to the basket game that Indiana hasn’t seen in at least 3 years. Sheehey was much more aggressive and looked like he put a lot of work in on his jump shot this off season. Jordan Hulls was Jordan Hulls. He needs to be the leader in order for this team to take the next step. He knocked down numerous threes and made some very nice passes.

All in all the night was an absolute success. There was a perfect mix of on court action and Tom Crean talking directly to the crowd and indirectly to all the recruits in attendance. It’s impossible to say what will be the direct effect of Saturday night recruiting wise, but it will certainly leave a lasting impression on recruits and fans alike.

 

**Dunk Contest Highlight Video: IUAthletics YouTube

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Gary Harris and Indiana’s scholarship situation

Published by Source on September 2nd, 2011

By: Kyle Dunne, Indiana contributor

Gary Harris is one of the few highly ranked, unsigned recruits remaining from the state of Indiana for the class of 2012. By numerous accounts, the 6’6’’ shooting guard’s top three schools consist of Indiana, Purdue and Michigan State. With many of his friends already committed to play for the Hoosiers, as well as Bloomington’s close proximity to his hometown of Fishers, it may be very hard for Harris to turn down the opportunity to play for Tom Crean. However, because of the already clouded scholarship situation, a Harris commitment to Indiana could make things complicated in Bloomington.

Assuming Matt Roth does not use his 5th year of eligibility at Indiana, two additional current Indiana players or committed players through the class of 2012 would need to vacate their scholarships for the 2012-2013 season. This could be accomplished through transfers, early entries into the NBA draft, a player offering to give up their scholarship and pay for their school or a player in the 2012 class reclassifying.

If Harris does commit to Indiana, only five of the Hoosiers’ 2012 recruiting class would be able to sign their letters of intent in November. While it is not my intention to speculate on which current players will or will not be with the team at this point next year, it is intriguing to look at the different scenarios. (more…)

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