College basketball is coming off of the most disappointing season in probably the history of the sport. Not because of the lack of talent on the floor, but the global pandemic that was breaking out during conference tournaments that eventually cancelled the season before we crowned a National Champion. The 2020-21 season, however, could be the best one in recent memory due to the fact almost every notable early entrant who left the door open to returning to college, did.
That was exemplified no more than this past weekend when the Big Ten received news that Illinois' Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn, Iowa's Luke Garza and Michigan State's Aaron Henry would all be retuning. Now, a Big Ten league that was loaded last year is even better this season.
"It's going to be an amazing year... we all sat there and thought there is no way it could get better than this (last year), this is the best it's going to get," Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News told Indiana Sports Beat. "Then Luka (Garza) came back, Kofi (Cockburn) came back, Ayo (Dosunmu) comes back, Trayce (Jackson-Davis) comes back, Aaron Henry does the right thing at Michigan State... you just have such a deep, strong league. It's really amazing how gifted this league is going to be."
The Big Ten was slated to get around 10 teams in the 2020 NCAA Tournament and by the looks of it this year, it could get even more. But, before we can get there, finding a schedule that fits is critical. Will it be a conference only slate or will non-conference still be played?
"Of all of the years to do that (conference only)... I hope we aren't in that circumstance... I hope that we have a regular season and don't have a conference only season," DeCourcy said. "I will be very curious to see how they judge, how would they have a selection process.
"I will say this, if you were in this circumstance the team I would give the greatest edge to would be Wisconsin because Iowa still has to figure out where (Jordan) Bohannon fits into things.. and they have to figure out how to be better than the 97th best defensive team in the country. Wisconsin, it's just there and just have to make sure they don't lose it."
While so many people have been talking about the roster configuration for Illinois and Iowa, Decourcy says you can't forget about Michigan State.
"You have to talk about them. They are up there every year," DeCourcy added. "They would be the one team that would be the most prepared for 24 high major games and that's what you would get in a Big Ten only scheduled, around there. (Playing a tough schedule) That's what Tom (Izzo) has done to them so many times in the past."
Indiana, on the other hand, is a team that seems to be in the second tier which would be accompanied by nearly eight teams. All eight would have the possibility of making the tournament and find themselves ranked in the top-25 throughout the season, but it'll be up to two players to connect if IU wants to make the most of this season.
"I think for indiana to be one of those teams, Trayce Jackson Davis has to find a way to be a threat from out there (three-point range). But even more important will be the chemistry that Rob Phinisee and Khristian Lander develop," DeCourcy said. "There are a lot of different ways they can play that, but figuring out how those two play together. If you empower them both and they both have great years, they are in the upper-third in the Big Ten and top 25 in the country."
To listen to the interview in its entirety, click on the tweet below.
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