FanPost

B1G BBall Roster Replacements

The following B1G teams lost a significant portion of their production since last Year: Wolverines, Spartans, Buckeyes, Terps, Illini, Hoosiers and Boilers. In all cases there were 3 starters (or significant contributors) lost and in many cases a bench player or more. For most teams the loss was between 40% and 60% of Points Per game, Rebounds per game and Assists per Game. For purposes of the analysis I tossed out the Boilers as they ended up last in the conference. My focus is how will IU compare to teams that were equal to or better than them last year. By ranking each team in each category I was able to rank in order of lost least to lost most as: Illini, Hoosiers, Terps, Wolverines, Spartans and Buckeyes. So from the amount of production lost IU appears to be favorable to all but the Illini although by a slim margin. Each team will be asking returning players to step up, adding freshmen and in some cases transfers. It strikes me that the order of finish between teams 2 and 10 might come down to how well these teams fill those openings. The Buckeyes lost the most by my calculation however their recruiting class was ranked best and they have a grad transfer ready to plug in. The Spartans were impacted heavily, they seem to have a good but not great mix or returning players and newcomers. I think they could slip a bit this year. If not for Izzo I would predict about a 3-4 spot drop. Wolverines took the next biggest hit. They do not have a strong recruiting class but people are predicting big leaps for returning players. Like the Hoosiers they should be strong on the perimeter and weak inside. There Coach has a very positive trend over the last 2-3 years and will keep them competitive but I think they are also capable of 2-3 spot drop. The Terps are next on the list. A bunch of players opted to transfer and the Terps reloaded with a strong recruiting class. They were 9-9 in the ACC last year and at that rate would have finished ahead of the Hoosiers. I am predicting a drop of several spots. They not only are replacing roughly 1/2 their production from last year, they are joining an entirely new league and taking a young team on the road to unfamiliar opponents and destinations. That is a lot to handle and handle successfully. The Hoosiers are slightly ahead of all those teams in terms of what we lost. The most critical by far is the inside presence of Noah Vonleh. We will be strong outside and struggle inside. However I feel good about our ability to replace lost production and win a couple of games more than last year. Finally the Illini lost the least of any of these teams but may also be at the bottom when it comes to newcomers (although that could change in 2015). By my calculations IU was ranked 2nd in terms of how much production was lost and came in 3rd in terms of how much talent we brought in. It gives me reason to believe we can improve by 2 to 4 wins and get back to the dance.


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