ESPN Men's Basketball

On Sunday, Big Ten and consensus national player of the year Trey Burke made official his entrance into the NBA draft. There was basically nothing surprising about this decision, save maybe one thing -- the conference Burke left behind.

Now that the POY is gone, and taking other top scorers Deshaun Thomas, Cody Zeller and Brandon Paul to the NBA draft with him, the top two returning points-per-game scorers in the Big Ten will both play for the same team. Ah, but which team? Burke's own Michigan Wolverines, which shot their way to the national title game? Similarly efficient Indiana? League powers Michigan State or Ohio State? Emerging Iowa? No, no, no, no and no.

At the start of the 2013-14 season, the Big Ten's top two returning scorers will be D.J. Newbill and Jermaine Marshall, both of whom play for ... Penn State. Penn State? Penn State! It's a true story, and one that probably says more about Pat Chambers' team than the Big Ten, when you really think about it.

First of all, as anyone even remotely into efficiency statistics would recognize, points per game is not the greatest statistic in the world. It's pretty simple stuff: Taking a larger number of shots to score a certain number of points doesn't always mean you're helping your team. Both Newbill and Marshall, despite finishing fifth and sixth in Big Ten scoring last season, failed to post an offensive rating higher than 100.0 last season. Penn State simply wasn't very good, and definitely wasn't deep, because star guard Tim Frazier -- who was a preseason conference POY sleeper pick who finished the 2011-12 year second in the conference in scoring with 18.8 points, 6.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game -- was lost to a season-ending an Achilles rupture in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in November. Newbill and Marshall were asked to do a lot more than they probably bargained for, and while it didn't always result in efficiency, it did result in points.

In other words, it's not like saying Newbill and Marshall are the best returning players in the Big Ten. Obviously not. Michigan State will have Keith Appling and some combination of Gary Harris, Adreian Payne, Branden Dawson and Denzel Valentine; Indiana has point guard Yogi Ferrell; Michigan could have Mitch McGary or Glenn Robinson III; Ohio State has Aaron Craft and a March-emergent LaQuinton Ross; Wisconsin has Sam Dekker; Iowa has a score of interesting players, particularly center Adam Woodbury; Purdue has A.J. Hammons, who could be a beast; new Minnesota coach Richard Pitino has a really good returning backcourt (Andre Hollins, Austin Hollins; Joe Coleman), provided it can figure out how to stop turning the ball over.

You get the point: There are still going to be a lot of good players in the Big Ten. Rest assured, the Nittany Lions will not come off a 10-21 season with a monopoly on college hoops talent.

Even so, Penn State will be intriguing. The Nittany Lions have been the victims of some really awful luck in the past two seasons, the first of it minor (when Big Ten teams hit the lottery from beyond the arc against them, a bit of production not entirely related to defense) the latter of it Frazier's injury, which came just six weeks ahead of the start of one of the more brutal Big Ten conference seasons in memory.

But Frazier will be back next season. Newbill and Marshall will still be around. Penn State will have more depth, more skill, more issues being guarded on the perimeter. Don't expect the Nittany Lions to compete for a conference title, because that would be even crazier than saying Penn State has the top two returning scorers from the best Big Ten season in recent memory. But they will be very intriguing.

The virtual glass sitting on Pat Chambers’ desk wasn’t just half-empty; it was cracked straight through and emptying like a sieve.

His Penn State basketball team was 0-14 in the Big Ten this season, winless over its previous 18 games in the league. The Nittany Lions were on a path of ignominy, destined to join DePaul's 2009 Big East entry in the ranks of conference futility.

Except every time Chambers looked at that stinking, leaking glass, he saw something in it.

Had the man stood on the deck of the Titanic, he probably would have remarked at the pretty stars.

He is that optimistic, that positive-thinking.

That he was able to retain his optimism in Misery Valley this season -- where injury to Tim Frazier predetermined the insult -- is stunning.

That he somehow passed it on to his players is a miracle.

Yet there were the Nittany Lions, about to do the impossible and upset the No. 4 team in the nation, huddling close to their coach without even a blink of panic.

"It was fierce focus," Chambers told ESPN.com. "We were ready to win. We’d worked on end-game situations in practices, so I had 15 guys in that huddle looking at me with big eyes just asking, ‘OK, how do we finish this game?’ And they executed it beautifully."

With the exception of TCU’s upset of Kansas, there might not be a more improbable score in this season full of improbable scores than Penn State 84, Michigan 78.

Expectations had dipped so low in State College, Pa., that in order to rush the floor, some students and fans first had to pick their way through the empty seats to get courtside.

"I wanted them to have a moment," Chambers said of his players. "They worked so hard and I just kept thinking and hoping, ‘Let them taste victory just one time.’ With all this hard work, there’s got to be some results."

The fact is, Penn State had been threatening for a few weeks. A blocked shot with 21 seconds left dashed the Nittany Lions' hopes of beating Iowa and they ended up losing by two Feb. 14; they were tied with the Wolverines in Ann Arbor at the half three days later before losing by eight; they trailed by three with 5 seconds to go against Illinois last Thursday and wound up losing by five.

A team that simply couldn’t score without Frazier, who was injured in November, solved its own riddle. In Penn State’s first 11 Big Ten games combined, the Lions hit 44 3-pointers. In the past four, they’ve sunk 32, including 10 against Michigan.

"These guys have been totally engaged with what we were saying and what we were trying to accomplish," Chambers said. “They didn’t let the outside distractions of ‘They’re no good; they can’t win in that league’ get to them. And they got better. I kept telling them the results might not be there, but we are better."

Yes, all of that goes to the players, certainly, but also the coach.

Penn State doesn’t exactly have a rich tradition to call on -- the Lions' previous victory against a top-five team came during the 2001 NCAA tournament.

That part Chambers knew. What he didn’t know was that he was walking into a volcano about to blow when he took the job two years ago. The Jerry Sandusky scandal has tainted the entire school’s reputation, and last summer, Chambers admitted that people looked at him a little funny when he wore his gear out recruiting.

Mix in this season, one where the Nittany Lions started out thinking they could compete in the Big Ten and had those hopes all but dashed with Frazier’s injury, and you’ve got a run of bad fortune that only Job could relate to.

Yet here’s Chambers.

Staring at that glass.

On Wednesday night, it wasn’t only half-full, it was time to raise it.

Hail to the victors, indeed.

Don't get it twisted: Most of what happened in State College, Pa., on Wednesday night -- winless Big Ten doormat Penn State shocking No. 4-ranked Michigan, 84-78 -- happened thanks to Penn State.

Jermaine Marshall and D.J. Newbill made those crucial buckets in the final four minutes; Sasa Borovnjak made the key late free throws; the Nittany Lions defended Glenn Robinson III's final last-ditch misses. More than road misery and failure, Wednesday night's prevailing story is one of hard-earned triumph.

But the fun half of the story -- perseverance and unlikely triumph -- couldn't exist without the other, which is where we have to take a step back and pose a perfectly valid question: Just what is the matter with Michigan?

Because it's not just the loss at Penn State. Indeed, this isn't the first time in the past 10 days the Nittany Lions have pushed the Wolverines for 40 minutes. That came on Feb. 17, a Sunday, when Penn State led Michigan 18-11 at the 10-minute mark and played the Wolverines close for the rest of the game in Ann Arbor. The final score, 79-71, came on just 66 possessions.

There were signs for concern before that, too. After that thrilling Feb. 2 "College GameDay" special at Indiana, an 81-73 IU win, Michigan had to fend off Ohio State in overtime in its own building 76-74 in one of the often-stagnant Buckeyes offense's best performances. On Feb. 12, John Beilein's team was hammered at Michigan State, 75-52. (Sandwiched between those two games was a 65-62 loss at Wisconsin, which doesn't count because it came in overtime after Ben Brust hit a regulation-ending half-court shot. We can all forgive that one.)

Thanks to a 20-1 start through November, December and January, we anointed Michigan as one of the nation's select handful of national title contenders. And rightfully so. Then, as it suffered through its worst patch of Big Ten schedule, we overlooked the defects. Also rightfully so. At Indiana, vs. Ohio State, at Wisconsin, at Michigan State? Who wouldn't struggle against that?

But there are some issues here, and they're the ones we've always had to worry about with this Michigan team, coached as it is by Beilein. Those issues can essentially be summed into one word. That word is defense.

In the past seven games, Michigan has allowed 1.11 points per possession to its opposition. Remember, that includes two games against Penn State, the league's least efficient offense, one averaging just .89 points per trip in conference play before Wednesday. Before Wednesday, the Wolverines were averaging an even 1.00 points per trip against Big Ten competition -- good for sixth-best in the conference. They had allowed opponents to make 48.9 percent of their two-point field goals, the highest percentage in the Big Ten, and they had blocked the fewest percentage of available shots (just 7.7. percent) of any team in the conference, too. According to Ken Pomeroy's adjusted efficiency rankings, the Wolverines rank No. 42 in the country in defensive efficiency -- good, but not great, and hardly among the elite units in the country. (For a handy snapshot of this stuff, John Gasaway's Tuesday Truths should be on your list.)

The upshot of all of this is that while Michigan's offense has been chugging along, posting efficiency numbers akin to Indiana's and keeping Trey Burke very deservedly in the conversation for national player of the year, Michigan's defense has slowed considerably. Simply put, teams with league-average defenses -- even if that league average is the Big Ten -- don't win national titles.

This was always the biggest question about Michigan, more than if it could meld Burke and Tim Hardaway and all the young talent into something great. The question was whether or not Beilein, who has never coached a top-25 efficiency defense in his career, at least since 2003, could mix all of that offensive potency with a defense that could at least get stops. Indiana faced a similar challenge last offseason, a hyper-efficient offense with a returning freshman star and sights set on a national title. The Hoosiers, who rank third in the Big Ten in defense (and have the No. 1 offense in the country) have largely answered the bell.

Michigan's offense is that good. It will be in March, too. Its defense, on the other hand, appears to be trending in the opposite direction -- and at the worst possible time of the season.

So while the Nittany Lions celebrate their monumental win, and IU and Michigan State breathe a sigh of relief, and fellow No. 1 seeds across the country thank their lucky stars, the Wolverines have much more pressing concerns. If they want to get to the Final Four, they have to fix this defense before it's too late.

 
Behind 25 points from Jermaine Marshall, host Penn State came back from a 15-point deficit to upset No. 4 Michigan, 84-78, and record its first Big Ten win this season.

Sam Thompson scores 16, leading the No. 14 Buckeyes past the Nittany Lions.

Victor Oladipo scored 19 points for No. 7 Indiana, which cruised past visiting Penn State, 72-49.

No. 5 Indiana, behind 16 points and 8 rebounds from Christian Watford, improved to 14-1 with a 74-51 victory at Penn State

This is the final time I will construct a Big Ten power rankings post out of nothing more than nonconference games; Big Ten play begins Monday.

That is good news for power rankings purposes, sure -- it is easier to rank teams when you have some head-to-head results to look at, obviously. But that's not why I'm excited. I'm excited because, you guys, how good is this league? How much fun is it going to be on a nightly basis? I vote "really good" and "a lot." Let's see where we stand before the voice actor from "Mortal Kombat" yells "FIGHT!"

1. Michigan. The Wolverines have been dormant since before last week's rankings, so there's nothing new to report here. If I had to pick between the two, I'd say Indiana is still the best team in this league and best in the country other than (maybe) Duke. But Michigan is right there offensively, not far behind on defense, and has the talent to beat anyone, anywhere, anytime. Keep an eye out on Mitch McGary. He's been good so far, but he's already flashing signs of great.

2. Indiana. I showed Illinois some love last week, and I couldn't bring myself to punish Ohio State for losing at Duke by five, but now that both have suffered losses I don't feel quite as bad about putting the Hoosiers back near the top of the conference. Here's the thing: The Hoosiers aren't perfect. They aren't going to go undefeated. They have holes on the defensive end, they could turn the ball over less, and Christian Watford's propensity for no-shows is troubling. On the road, in the rigors of this loaded league, IU will lose games -- maybe four or five by the time Big Ten play is through. But this offense is so good -- and the defense so improved -- that you can't bet against this team any night, in any gym. Butler troubles or not, IU is very much for real.

3. Illinois. This is the problem when 43.2 percent of your field goal attempts are 3-pointers: When you miss, you lose. That's what happened Saturday in the Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis, when Illinois suffered its first loss of the season, 82-73 to Missouri. The Tigers were able to win despite Phil Pressey's 3-of-19 (!) night because Illinois shot just 8-of-32 from beyond the arc, well below its season average of 37.1 percent. That's the biggest question about Illinois: Is this laudable hot start sustainable? We'll find out soon enough.

4. Minnesota. The Gophers beat Lafayette at home on Saturday, which wouldn't be enough to make them leapfrog a team under normal circumstances, but (a) I have some concerns with Ohio State, (q.v. below) and (b) I want to give Minnesota some love. It is deserved love! Minnesota is rebounding 48.9 percent of its misses -- if my calculations are correct, that's nearly half -- which is the best rate in the country by about 3 percent. Not too shabby for a team with Duke, Memphis, Stanford, Florida State, USC (a good defensive-rebounding team, despite it all) and South Dakota State on its docket. This is Tubby Smith's best team at Minnesota.

5. Ohio State. It's tough to ride a team too hard for losing to Kansas, even at home, because Kansas is Kansas and Ben McLemore is really good. That said ... Ohio State has a few minor problems. Chiefly, the Buckeyes' defense isn't where it was in recent seasons; it doesn't rebound as well or create turnovers without fouling the same way, even with Aaron Craft doing his thing. The second, it seems, is a lack of identity beyond Craft and Deshaun Thomas; as of yet, none of the Buckeyes' promising young forwards has stepped up and demanded a role the way Thad Matta surely would have hoped. Until that happens, the Buckeyes are going to be good, but well shy of great.

6. Michigan State. Were this nearly any other program, this team's turnover woes would be major cause for concern. But this is Michigan State, where turnover woes are quite frequently -- and quite bafflingly -- often the cost of doing business. Even so, this year's Spartans team is turning it over on 23 percent of their trips down the floor, which is the second-highest mark under Izzo since 2003 (though it could obviously come down before the season ends). MSU defends well, shoots it OK, and rebounds, so even if some of these games are ugly, I'm not worried. Yet.

7. Iowa. Last week I officially reclaimed my set aboard the Iowa Hawkeyes Big Ten sleeper bandwagon, and nothing has changed this week. The Hawkeyes are playing some surprisingly good defense, considering the way they started the season at Virginia Tech (which we now know is just plain good on offense); plus Iowa plays fast, which can skew their defensive numbers. Meanwhile, forward Melsahn Basabe is rebounding the ball like he did as a freshman, when he was one of the Big Ten's most impressive newcomers. Look out for the Hawks.

8. Wisconsin. For all the talk of how much Wisconsin misses former point guard Jordan Taylor and injured point guard Josh Gasser, the fact of the matter is that Wisconsin turns the ball over at the lowest rate of any team in the country. Clearly, ballhandling is not the issue. So what is? The Badgers are shooting fewer 3s and have reoriented their offense into the paint, but probably not enough. The 3s they do shoot are not nearly as likely to go in as in recent seasons past. There may be intangible, leadership-based reasons this team hasn't found its stride yet this year, but it's just as much about making shots, and how.

9. Northwestern. Is there anything worse in college basketball than being a Northwestern fan? Anything?! The past few seasons have been one long series of groin kicks, from near-constant bubble worries to failed home wins to surprisingly good teams and a renewal of hope to suspensions (Jershon Cobb) to sudden season-ending injuries (Drew Crawford). So of course the Wildcats lost by two at home to a good Stanford team last Friday. Of course they did.

10. Purdue. At 5-6, Purdue has the worst record in the Big Ten to date. It is a long season, sure, but the chances this young, rebuilding, inconsistent group gets to the NCAA tournament are slim; it's hard to go 5-6 in November and December and get a tourney bid. And with that said, if you think any coach in the league is looking forward to traveling to West Lafayette to face those Purdue fans and their raucous Mackey Arena echoes, not to mention that grindingly good defense, you, my friend, are wrong.

11. Nebraska. Nebraska does exactly one thing well: It prevents offensive rebounds. Other than that, it is taking its lumps any time it plays a good team (and sometimes when it plays not-so-good teams), which was to be expected in Tim Miles' first season. The latest was a 68-52 defeat at UTEP. So, you know: lumps.

12. Penn State. Are wins over Army, Delaware State (in overtime) and New Hampshire exciting? No. Are they wins? They are! With the prospect of playing against the above league for the next two months, you take a three-game winning streak any way you can.

New week, new Big Ten power rankings, new No. 1. Let's dig right in:

1. Michigan: Indiana's loss to Butler Saturday -- and the fashion in which it came -- prompted some legitimate near-term questions for the Hoosiers. But it's not like Michigan only gets this spot by default. Quite the contrary. The Wolverines are 12-0, have an All-America-level point guard (Trey Burke) running a balanced, hyper-talented team, and as such play some of the most efficient offense in the country. Michigan has its weak spots on the defensive end -- it doesn't force many turnovers, for one -- but the Wolverines don't allow opposing offensive rebounds, and they don't foul. They're the real deal.

2. Illinois: It does not make me an Illinois "hater" (haterz!) to assume that the Illini will not finish above Ohio State and Indiana through the rest of the college hoops season. I mean, I'm ready to have my perceptions altered and all, but even at 12-0 the Illini haven't been playing as well on a per-possession basis as many of the teams now sitting below them in my rankings. And, you know, so what? John Groce's team is still shooting the ball well enough from the perimeter to keep all those attempts looking like the right strategy, and Brandon Paul is still playing well, and the Illini beat Butler on a neutral floor (cough, Indiana) and Gonzaga at the Kennel. I think Illinois is probably the fourth- or fifth-best team in the league by February. But right now, it would be a disservice to move Illinois any lower than this.

3. Ohio State. Nonconference games don't get much bigger than what the Bucks have on tap Saturday. Kansas comes to town. Why is this so important? For one, it's Kansas, a good, tough team that will push the Buckeyes to the limit (particularly on the low block, where Jeff Withey's height poses a major matchup problem). For another, Ohio State had just one other nonconference game of note this season, and it was at Duke -- a game the Buckeyes could well have won. Other than that, Ohio State has a pretty weak noncon schedule. Saturday's game is massive.

4. Indiana. Don't worry, Hoosiers fans: Indiana won't languish this low in the rankings too long. But there's nothing wrong with a little medicine right now. On Saturday, IU was outworked by a Butler team with a fraction of its talent. Cody Zeller was beaten up by Andrew Smith. Tom Crean was outcoached by Brad Stevens. The Hoosiers were outrebounded, outfought and outthought, and couldn't put away a team missing three starters to foul trouble in the final minutes of overtime. Zeller needs some physical help along the front line -- the arrival of Hanner Mosquera-Perea should be a step in the right direction there -- and the Hoosiers still need to shore a few things up on defense. They'll get there.

5. Minnesota. It's becoming a weekly routine for me: I dig around for some college hoops stats, I check in on Minnesota, I make sure they're still ranked No. 1 in the country in offensive rebounding, I write as much in the power rankings. And so it is again this week, as the Gophers haven't played since last week's 13-point victory over a really solid North Dakota State team.

6. Michigan State. Thursday was tough on the Spartans. Right up until he unveiled that Duke T-shirt, MSU fans were still holding out a ton of hope that star recruit Jabari Parker would decide to take his talents to East Lansing. Instead, Parker passed, citing his positional similarity with Branden Dawson (a fair point). The good news: The Spartans you know are still a very good defensive team, and they rebound the ball on both ends of the floor. If they can cut down on turnovers -- particularly by not allowing so many possessions (13.9 percent) to turn into steals -- Keith Appling and company have a ton of potential. (Saturday's home date versus Texas should be a win, but beware that Longhorns defense.)

7. Wisconsin. It will come as no surprise for me to tell you that I base most of my statistical analysis -- i.e., the stuff I use to help me see the game, in addition to actually seeing the game (word to ESPN3 and Synergy Sports) -- on Ken Pomeroy's measures of per-possession performance. Currently, Wisconsin is ranked No. 16 overall. Much as it pains me to say this … that number is untrustworthy, even if it isn't quite as off as you might think. Wisconsin's four losses (at Florida, Creighton, Virginia, at Marquette) are all to good teams, and Bo Ryan's squad did put an utter beating on a decent Cal team. But we still haven't seen Wisconsin beat anyone really good. The Badgers have a ways to go yet.

8. Iowa. Hey, don't mind me -- just hanging out on the Iowa Big Ten sleeper bandwagon again. Oh, I'm all the way back on. Sure, sure: I was critical of the Hawkeyes after that loss at Virginia Tech, but that's because I didn't realize Virginia Tech was actually a really good offensive team (and that Erick Green was a legit All-America type this season). But after being somewhat dismissive, the Hawks swept their state foes (Iowa State and Northern Iowa) in back-to-back weeks. I already have Indiana fans telling me they're dreading opening the Big Ten season at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on New Year's Eve. All aboard!

9. Northwestern. The Wildcats got a quality home win this week, beating Texas State 74-68 … wait a second … how do you only beat Texas State 74-68 at home? It's Texas State! (No offense to Texas State.) I'll tell you how: When your best player, guard Drew Crawford, is sidelined for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, you're bound to experience some difficulties pulling away from inferior teams. The Wildcats had a chance to stay in the middle of the Big Ten race this season, but that Crawford injury might be a killer.

10. Purdue. I maintain faith in Matt Painter's ability as a coach; indeed, he's probably already underrated, and at this rate will definitely remain so. The Boilermakers play good defense. They do not play particularly good offense. Surrounded by a young team and no real developed interior, one-time glue guy D.J. Byrd has tried to morph into a catch-and-shooter star. It hasn't worked. The lackluster loss to Notre Dame at the Crossroads Classic last Saturday wasn't pretty, but it had nothing on the 47-44 loss to Eastern Michigan that preceded it. Yuck.

11. Nebraska. How offensively challenged are the Huskers? I could give you a handful of statistics, like their rank -- No. 251 -- in points per possession, or cite their paltry offensive rebounding and inability to get to the free throw line. Or I could tell you that Nebraska scored 38 points at Oregon last Saturday, or exactly 0.59 ppp. In the words of Jesus Quintana: laughable man.

12. Penn State. No jokes or Lebowski references here. We all knew the Nittany Lions were going to struggle without Tim Frazier, and that's what's happened. To wit: Last Saturday, Penn State had to battle to hold on for an overtime home victory against Delaware State. But hey, at least the Nittany Lions are battling.

Clay Matvick and Tim McCormick look at Boston College's 73-61 win over Penn State.

Penn State was unlucky last season. As Mike Portsheller and Josh Reed (aka the Big Ten Geeks) wrote in College Basketball Prospectus, 3-point shooting can be a bit of a lottery, and the Nittany Lions caught the wrong end of it on defense last season. If Big Ten teams had shot an average rate against Pat Chambers' team, Penn State would have looked much better on a per-possession basis than last season's 11th-place finish implied.

But that kind of luck has nothing on what happened to the Nittany Lions this week.

On Tuesday, Penn State announced via its Twitter feed that star point guard Tim Frazier was scheduled for surgery today to repair a ruptured left Achilles tendon, an injury he suffered during Sunday's 85-60 loss to Akron. Frazier will apply for a medical redshirt for the 2013-14 season, one he is certain to be granted, but his current season is over.

It's hard to understate just how devastating this injury is to Penn State's season. Frazier was PSU's everything guy last season. He averaged 16.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, posted the 10th-highest usage rate in the country, assisted on 45.3 percent of available possessions (second-highest in the country) and just generally did it all for the Nittany Lions without being inefficient in doing so. This is a very difficult thing for basketball players to do, particularly on rebuilding teams with so few supporting pieces, but that's exactly what Frazier did.

Now Chambers is starting from scratch, which was in some sense already the case. Two players (Trey Lewis, Matt Glover) transferred, guard Billy Oliver left the game due to concussions, and guard Cammeron Woodyard has graduated. Chambers has a few recruits coming in, and transfer D.J. Newbill can take on a chunk of the scoring load, and, ever the energetic optimist, Penn State's coach is already talking about the opportunity Frazier's injury will create for younger players to step up. He is also not the least bit interested in pity.

Well, forgive me, coach, but I'm feeling some for your program right now. And I thought you got unlucky last season.

T.J. Warren had 22 points and 8 rebounds to lead sixth-ranked North Carolina State to a 72-55 victory over Penn State at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

While this year’s Puerto Rico Tip-Off field isn’t chock-full of ranked teams, the bracket is dotted with notable players and emerging squads hoping to prove their worth -- and perhaps pull an upset or two. Here’s a quick look:

The basics: Nov. 15-16, 18 at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico

The set matchups: Nov. 15 -- Akron vs. Oklahoma State, 10:30 a.m. ET; UNC Asheville vs. Tennessee, 1 p.m.; NC State vs. Penn State, 5 p.m.; Providence vs. Massachusetts, 7:30 p.m.

(For the full bracket, click here.)

The favorite: NC State. There’s a lot of hype surrounding the sixth-ranked Wolfpack, and for good reasons: a strong finish last season that led to an NCAA Sweet 16 berth; the return of junior forward C.J. Leslie; and the addition of a heralded freshman class led by Rodney Purvis. This is the chance for Mark Gottfried’s squad to show it can, and will, build off last March.

FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH

Jeremy Atkinson, UNC Asheville: The Bulldogs lost their top three scorers from the squad that won the Big South and came oh-so-close to beating Syracuse in the NCAA tournament last season. Now they’re counting on this senior forward. He is averaging 20.5 points and eight rebounds for a team that has already beaten Western Carolina by 10, but lost to UNC Wilmington by eight.

Lorenzo Brown, NC State: The Wolfpack have plenty of weapons in Leslie, Purvis, Scott Wood and Richard Howell, but to be consistently successful, Brown has to be the leader of the Pack. He posted 15 points and seven assists in their season-opening blowout win over Miami (Ohio), and those stats are great. But his most important contributions may well be his calm, his confidence and his leadership when this team is tested.

Tim Frazier, Penn State: The guard was the only Division I player to average at least 17 points and six assists per game last season, setting a PSU season assist record (198) and recording 17 20-point games in the process. Pretty impressive, considering the team averaged only 61.8 ppg. The senior got off to a similar start this season, notching 23 points and six assists in a win over St. Francis (PA).

Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State: The preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year recorded 8 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and just 1 turnover in 34 minutes in his regular-season college debut against UC Davis. Highly praised for his competitiveness and court vision, the point guard’s versatility and decision-making will be key to how far the Cowboys advance.

Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee: Stokes wasn’t quite sure of his identity as a player when he joined the Volunteers out of high school during the middle of last season. But now the 6-8, 260-pound sophomore is a bruiser and a low-post threat. He recorded 10 points and five rebounds in the Vols’ season opener, and he will be looking to make things tough in the lane for foes this week. Making him even tougher: the fact that he has so many veterans around him.

FIVE BIG QUESTIONS

Will NC State live up to its ranking?

In this tourney, the Wolfpack are playing for more than what they hope will be the first of several championships this season; they're also playing for credibility. Win, and the kudos continue. Lose, and folks might wonder if NC State is ready for the spotlight. This tournament could set the tone for the rest of NC State's season.

How does Providence fare without Vincent Council?

Ricky Ledo’s ineligibility and a shoulder injury to Kris Dunn had already left the Friars with only seven scholarship players. Council’s hamstring injury not only cuts that to six but also means Providence will be missing the guy coach Ed Cooley considers the best guard in the Big East. Bryce Cotton started at point guard in Council’s place against Bryant and posted a double-double (24 points, 11 rebounds), but the competition is about to get a whole lot stiffer.

Can Oklahoma State rebound?

In their season opener, the Cowboys had trouble putting away a UC Davis team that won only five games last season, and one of the concerns remains their lack of size. OSU -- playing without expected starting center Michael Cobbins, who injured his toe during the preseason -- was outrebounded 40-28 versus UC Davis. The Cowboys will face some tall challenges during this tournament, beginning with Akron’s Zeke Marshall, and possibly continuing with Tennessee’s Stokes.

Who else will step up for UMass?

There’s no doubt that guard Chaz Williams is the star of this team, but the other Minutemen need to step up in big moments, too. They did just that earlier this week against Harvard, as Jesse Morgan and Sampson Carter bookended a Williams-forced turnover with 3-pointers to win by three points. Who’s next?

Who’s that guy with the 7-5 wingspan?

Why, that’s the aforementioned 7-foot Akron senior Zeke Marshall. He entered the season as the Zips’ career leader in blocked shots (246) and is averaging 4.5 blocks to go along with 11.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. And according to the school’s website, he was the first top-100 recruit to sign with a Mid-American Conference program since Rivals.com began its ranking system in 2003.

THE PICKS

Opening games: Oklahoma State over Akron; Tennessee over UNC Asheville; NC State over Penn State; UMass over Providence

Semifinal games: Tennessee over Oklahoma State; NC State over UMass

Championship game: NC State over Tennessee

Editor's Note: Check back later in the day for full coverage of Big Ten Media Day in Chicago from Eamonn Brennan and Myron Medcalf.

Before we get to the Blue Ribbon team-by-team previews for the Big Ten, here is Eamonn Brennan's quick wind sprint through the league:



Blue Ribbon's in-depth previews of all 12 Big Ten teams:

Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Wisconsin

More Big Ten content:
-- Jason King's "Five Things I Can't Wait To See" in the Big Ten
-- Seth Greenberg answers five burning questions for the conference
-- Our staff of writers gathers to answer questions at the Big Ten roundtable
-- Video: Jay Williams and Dan Dakich break down IU's national-title chances
-- Brennan's Three Big Things on Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, MSU and Wisconsin
-- Brennan rates and analyzes the nonconference schedules of the Big Ten
-- Andy Katz warns us not to forget about Michigan State in the Big Ten title race
-- Katz on the recovery process for Wisconsin's Mike Bruesewitz after a gruesome injury
-- Myron Medcalf on the off-court troubles at Minnesota
-- Reggie Rankin identifies the top freshmen and potential recruits in the Big Ten
-- Podcast: Katz and Greenberg talk Big Ten hoops with Iowa's Fran McCaffery
-- ESPN.com's Summer Shootaround preview of the Big Ten
-- Chad Ford on the Big Ten's best NBA draft prospects
-- For more Big Ten coverage in the Nation blog, click here. In addition, visit WolverineNation, BuckeyeNation and ESPNChicago.com.

Editor’s note: For two weeks, we're rolling out Blue Ribbon previews for every team in the country. We'll also have comprehensive preview coverage of the nation's top 10 conferences. As part of that, we're asking our writers to share what they're most looking forward to in each of those leagues. Today we take a look at the Big Ten.

Can the Big Ten finally win a national title?

As strong as the league has been, a Big Ten team has hoisted the NCAA championship trophy just once in the past 23 years. That was in 2000, when Mateen Cleaves led Michigan State to an 89-76 victory over Florida in Indianapolis. This season the conference boasts as many as four Final Four-caliber teams. Indiana is ranked No. 1 or 2 in virtually every preseason poll. Michigan appears to have its best team since the Fab Five days. Ohio State and Michigan State should also be in the mix. In a season that should be defined by parity -- there appears to be a lack of truly elite teams -- there’s no reason a Big Ten school can’t win it all.

Will Cody Zeller separate himself in the national player of the year race?

Zeller, Indiana’s 7-foot forward, led the Hoosiers in points (15.6) and rebounds (6.6) as a freshman last season. He likely would’ve been a lottery pick had he chosen to leave school and enter the NBA draft. Instead, his decision to return makes IU a Final Four favorite entering the season. Zeller is on virtually every preseason All-America team, and deservedly so. But it’d be premature to pencil him in as the national player of the year. He may not be a future top-10 pick, but Creighton forward Doug McDermott averaged 22.9 points and 8.2 rebounds as a sophomore. Not many players in America have a higher basketball IQ or stronger fundamental skills than McDermott. I expect the national player of the year race between Zeller and McDermott to be a close one -- and others will surely emerge as well.

Will Minnesota flourish or implode in the face of adversity?

Year after year, the Gophers find ways to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Trevor Mbakwe, who missed the 2009-10 campaign while awaiting trial on a felony assault charge in Miami, was convicted of DUI in September. The incident threatened to end his college career because it violated the terms of his probation from the earlier incident. Minnesota caught a break last week when a Florida judge ruled that Mbakwe wouldn’t serve jail time. Still, the incident was certainly frustrating for a program looking to shed its bad-boy image. Making matters worse was last weekend’s arrest of assistant coach Saul Smith, who has been suspended indefinitely. Saul is the son of head coach Tubby Smith. Minnesota is talented enough to do some damage in the Big Ten and contend for an NCAA tournament bid, but it won’t happen if the Gophers’ problems off the court lead to a lack of focus on it.

Where will Northwestern and Iowa fit in?

We say it every season, but one of these years, Northwestern is going to earn an NCAA tournament bid for the first time in school history. Could this be the year? With players such as Drew Crawford and Dave Sobolewski returning, the Wildcats are perhaps more talented than they’ve ever been under Bill Carmody. The addition of Louisville transfer Jared Swopshire also helps. Iowa came on strong at the end of last season to finish 18-17 overall and 8-10 in league play. The Hawkeyes return five of their top six scorers, but their roster features just one senior. Fran McCaffery’s squad will give a lot of opponents fits, but it may still be a year away from the NCAA tournament.

Can John Groce get Illinois back on the map?

The former Ohio coach wasn’t the school’s first choice to replace Bruce Weber, but that doesn’t mean he’s not the perfect fit. Groce served as an assistant to Thad Matta at Xavier and Ohio State and has already begun to make inroads on the recruiting trails in Champaign. Groce has landed commitments from three players in the Class of 2013, including two who are ranked among the nation’s top 100 prospects by ESPN.com. Illini fans will need to be patient with Groce in his first season. Illinois returns a pair of double-digit scorers in Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson, and he added Coastal Carolina transfer Sam McLaurin shortly after his hiring last spring. Still, there’s an extreme lack of depth in the paint and at point guard. A hard-working, competitive team that contends for an NIT berth should be enough to please supporters of a program that lost 12 of its final 14 games last season.