On the Stove Top: 3/26

Six members of the Wisconsin men's basketball team were named Academic All-Big Ten this week: Joe Krabbenhoft, Jon Leuer, Tim Jarmusz, Kevin Gullikson, Morris Cain and Brett Valentyn. That's four rotation players and three non-walkons. Nice job.

Only days earlier, the wide range of graduation rates among this year's NCAA tournament participants was also released. Connecticut came in at a sterling 33 percent. Ouch. On average, though, the Academic Progress Rates are up across the board, which are the statistics that dictate the loss of scholarships for programs who are not graduating players.

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After only two seasons, Iowa's rebuilding project under coach Todd Lickliter is collapsing from within. As many as four players may transfer in the offseason, in addition to 2010 recruit Chanse Creekmur decommitting. The fans who still care are calling for Lickliter's head.

Losing Jake Kelly would be a huge blow. Kelly nearly single-handedly kept the Hawkeyes competitive when he switched over to point guard. He was one of the Big Ten's rising stars and if/when he winds up at Indiana State, the conference as a whole suffers. The possible defection of two more guards and a fourth big body makes Iowa the new conference doormat for the foreseeable future. Good for opponents' records? Yes. Good for league quality? No.

I would argue that Creekmur changing his mind ranks as the second biggest loss. Iowa needs to bring in a higher level of talent to be more competitive and this is a huge red flag to all potential recruits.

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With Iowa City devolving into a madhouse, Indiana moves up half a notch by default. Since coach Tom Crean had already signed more new players (6) for next season than he had room for, apparently it was time to convince one of his existing players to transfer. Again.

The winner was Malik Story, a freshman guard who played in all 31 games this year, averaging 6 pts & 2 rebs in 18 min/g. Story shot a horrible percentage and was the fifth guard in a rotation that will be adding two or three more Top 100 prospects to the backcourt.

Just in case Story did not accept his new mission, two possible backup plans may have been for Georgetown transfer Jeremiah Rivers to pay his own way or to strip big man project Tijan Jobe of his free ride after one year. See, that's why taking away J.P. Gavinski's scholarship would be a bad idea, image-wise. Bo Ryan would be copying Crean.

Thad Matta always has the opposite problem at Ohio State. Now that frosh B.J. Mullens has officially thrown his hat into the NBA Draft ring, Matta will need to scramble to find a big body to comprise his previously empty 2009 recruiting class. Until now, the Buckeyes had no available scholarships. Although Matta has the ability to pull it off, the pickins' are slim these days. So Ohio State may bank it for 2010 and continue to load up one of the greatest recruiting classes in history: a Buckeye six-pack?

Though Ohio State will lack depth in the frontcourt, their powerful perimeter game should keep them in the upper half of the Big Ten next season. Evan Turner, William Buford, Jon Diebler all have one more season under their belts and David Lighty will return from injury.

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Wisconsin recruit Mike Bruesewitz saw his prep career come to an unexpected end on Wednesday as Bloomington Jefferson upset Henry Sibley in the Class 4A quarterfinals, 60-56. Though Bruiser had another nice game (21 pts, 16 rebs), he was tied up by a defender with a chance to tie the game in the final minute and deferred to his cold-shooting guards on the final meaningful possession.

The Warrior's only outside threat, Maurice Hernandez, played on a badly injured ankle and shot only 1-of-11 behind the arc, making the shocking loss a bit more understandable. Even Bruesewitz was not quite 100% physically, according to his father. It seemed like a foregone conclusion to everyone that Sibley would earn that anticipated rematch with Hopkins. Welcome to the real world kids ... I feel for ya.

Though Bruesewitz will not take any consolation in his individual accolades, he was named the Star Tribune's Metro Player of the Year and also succeeded Jordan Taylor as Minnesota's Gatorade Player of the Year. Germantown's Ben Averkamp won the Gatorade award for Wisconsin.

Keeping Tabs on Big Ten Transfers and Indiana's Rebuilding Project

Big Ten experiencing more costly defections
You know the offseason is in full swing when the transfer announcements are flowing freely. Last year, four Big Ten programs (Indiana, Purdue, Michigan St. and Minnesota) each had one player defect to a different school. Chris Lutz (PU) and Maurice Joseph (MSU) were the only ones you may have even heard about.

While Michigan and Illinois will welcome in two highly-regarded players at the start of 2009, and Penn St. a third, this latest offseason has been particularly unkind to the Big Ten's talent level so far. A total of nine players are expected to transfer out of the conference and continue their collegiate careers elsewhere. That total gives the Big Ten the highest average transfer rate of any major conference (per member - Big East has 12 so far out of 16 schools). If last year is any indication, there are more announcements to come. After the 2006-07 season, the BCS conferences lost many more players, yet the Big Ten easily had the fewest departures.

More alarming is that many of the names this year were significant contributors to their teams previously. Scott Martin averaged almost 22 minutes and 8.5 points per game as one of the heralded Boilermaker freshmen. Tony Freeman led Iowa in scoring and assists as a shoot-first point guard, and Michigan's Epke Udoh easily topped the league in blocks (2.9/g) while playing 26 min/g. And I have not even mentioned Indiana yet ...

Revamping the Indiana roster
The most obvious victim of this flurry of transers is Indiana, which only has itself to blame. Tom Crean inherited a tough situation from Kelvin Scampson. Crean is no stranger to seeing players bolt from his program for different pastures, but losing the following would be difficult for any team to overcome:

- best player graduates to the NBA (D.J. White)
- as expected, freshman phenom jumps to the NBA (Gordon)
- top returning scorer and second in assists dismissed (Bassett)
- top returning rebounder and leader in assists dismissed (Ellis)
- two frontcourt rotation players graduate (Stemler & Mike White)
- a senior-to-be post player was asked not to return (Thomas)
- freshman post transfers (Holman)

That leaves four returning players, and only two previous 2008 recruits who decided to stick with the Hoosiers. In reality, Crean had nothing to lose by keeping Bassett and Ellis off the team. The community's expectations are now at rock bottom and Crean gets to trumpet a perceived "cleaning up" of the program in academics and attitude.

So now Crean is doing what he does best: selling his program. Three new players have bought in so far, with undoubtedly more on the way. He even stole a recruit from Tubby Smith's grasp when Verdell Jones verbally committed on Monday. Not only was Minnesota shocked about the choice, but Hoosier Nation seemed a little confused too.

I would expect Indiana to be in the market for one or two of this year's transfers, depending on how it wants to spend its plethora of open scholarships. Otherwise, there are many different routes the Hoosiers could go with its roster. I think walk-on Kyle Taber should probably get rewarded with a senior-year scholarship for what he's put up with in the last year (ed: apparently Taber was awarded a scholarship last fall). Expect Crean to sign a star JUCO big man that can help immediately and maybe even a third JUCO if another 2008 recruit is not signed. If all that happens, IU would have 1-2 more scholarships left for the 2009 class and then use the 2-3 expiring JUCO/transfer scholarships for its 2010 class.

Luckily, Indiana got a free pass on its low Academic Progress Report score and will not suffer an additional loss of scholarships in light of "significant improvement." Wisconsin scored a passing grade in the 50th-to-60th percentile; Purdue apparently already dealt with its impending APR penalty during the past season, while Ohio State already knew it was in line to lose a schollie. Retaining a full arsenal--for the moment--should allow Crean to go after players like Jamil Wilson with renewed fervor until the NCAA sanctions, if any, drop.

One player Crean doesn't seem to be going after is Jeronne Maymon, who has finally seen his production translate into a cache of offers from high-majors. But when you see how demanding his father appears to be, it easy hard to understand why some schools, like Wisconsin, kept their distance. But I'm still pleased for the kid's sake that he has apparently hit the big time. He has played for several AAU clubs already and most recently was dominant for the Illinois Bobcats at the Speice Run N' Slam tournament, where ChicagoHoops.com said Maymon "punished opponents all weekend long." I hope Jeronne's dad let's him take enough time off this summer to attend those summer classes we've heard so much about. Or maybe Tennessee, USC, Marquette, Baylor and Iowa State told them not to worry about that ...

Tom Crean Finally Gets His Wish

If you have not heard yet, Tom Crean will be the next head coach at Indiana. The move allows Crean to crawl out from under the shadow of Bo Ryan and Wisconsin's large state university and return to his Big Ten roots at another basketball-first school. Now that Marquette has officially confirmed the report, how will this affect Wisconsin?

As a recruiting nerd, the first thing that jumped into my mind was how this might aid in Wisconsin's recruitment of Jamil Wilson. While it's true that Crean will keep recruiting Wilson for Indiana (and offer plenty of playing time), I don't see him following "Tan Tommy" to this new locale. If any place in Indiana has a shot, it would be Purdue, but even that might be a long shot.

The biggest thing Marquette has going for it with any Racine recruit is proximity and nothing has changed on that front. Depending on who becomes the next Marquette coach, I think the Golden Eagles should still be considered the front-runners. Crean's departure cannot hurt the Badgers' chances though. A best-case scenario involving Wilson would be if the coaching changes cleared up his mind enough to make an announcement earlier than the March 2009 date he has previously indicated. Even if he didn't choose Wisconsin, getting that storyline out of the way would benefit the Badgers.

Only time will tell if Marquette shifts its recruiting focus to a more in-state approach under a new head coach, as opposed to the regional, Big East-conscious style of Crean. There are plenty of great coaches that might find the Marquette job a step up. However, the university will be dangerously close to falling off the map if it makes the wrong move here. If I was a Golden Eagle fan, I would not be too excited about the pressure on new AD Steve Cottingham.

A new coach will face the expected issues: players leaving the program, turning pro and previously committed high schoolers rethinking their decision. Incoming swingman Nick Williams, out of Alabama, and Jersey guard Tyshawn Taylor are already planning to ask out of their respective LOIs.

As you know, Marquette is not on my radar for discussion normally. While I might understand the tension behind the UW-MU blood feud that you see on message boards, I think it is stupid. Therefore, I have not stored up any vitriol for Crean (although it sounds like he may be a jerk and does look a bit silly being so tan in Wisconsin). But I think he is a good coach whom Marquette will miss.

So if Marquette dips, Wisconsin can only breathe easier for so long because Crean is a step in the right direction for Indiana--and the Hoosiers play UW twice as often. Trouble is, there are surely dark days and many more steps ahead for Indiana. On Monday, Indiana's interim head coach Dan Dakich ejected two more players from the Hoosier train. The cupboard gets more bare each day for a team that already was set to lose the Big Ten's only two AP All-Americans. The Kelvin Sampson mess also shook some incoming Indiana recruits out of verbal committments, although Marquette and Crean himself stepped in on at least one such player. Others, like Matt Roth, are excited for the Tom Crean era to begin.

On the surface, this looks like a great match for the Hoosiers. Crean is an Izzo disciple that has proven he can build a program in Big Ten country. The Indiana program is in serious need of rebuilding and Crean's strength is recruiting. That skill will be needed at IU to offset the stigma attached to a school that faces impending NCAA sanctions. If anyone can keep the talent level high in Bloomington, it is someone like Crean. The poll and fan comments over at The Hoosier Scoop indicate most Indiana fans are very pleased by the move.

The hire is as good as can be expected for Indiana. As for the Badgers, Bo will still face Tom Crean annually and nothing ought to change as far as recruiting goes. If nothing else, this only cements Wisconsin's status as the people's champ, a fact some Marquette fans will never be able to swallow.