Filed under: Big Ten
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- To a man - or more specifically to a coach - the Big Ten Conference is the nation's best.
At least that was the company line among the 10 assembled just outside Chicago for the league's media day Thursday (Penn State was the league's missing team, due to travel issues). From Michigan State's Tom Izzo to Wisconsin's Bo Ryan to Purdue's Matt Painter and Ohio State's Thad Matta, the Big Ten deserved every accolade bestowed upon it by college basketball prognosticators and pundits, bloggers and blowhards.
"If I had to take one reason, it's the players who've hung with college basketball instead of bolting (for the NBA),'' said Izzo, whose Spartans have been picked No. 2 in the both the AP and coaches' poll. "We have stability in coaches and some solid systems. We're deserving as the other teams are, but you could easily put Purdue and Ohio State up there, too. They're just a lot of good teams (in the Big Ten.)''
And, to a man, no one is picking against Michigan State.
In late October, MSU is cleaning up the honors, and added another as it was picked as the heavy favorite to win the league by the assembled media. Last year, it shared the regular-season title with Purdue and Ohio State, though the Buckeyes won the postseason tournament by defeating Minnesota.
Spartans point guard senior Kalin Lucas added to the glory grab for the men in the green as the preseason pick to win Big Ten Player of the Year honors, despite recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in last year's tournament.
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Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2010/10/28/michigan-state-faces-long-road-through-deep-big-ten/
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