Why You Should Care About Big Ten Women's Basketball
My sales pitch for the structured half of the newsletter
Welcome to the Monday part of the weekly schedule for Hoopla, where I get to talk about something that I have become very passionate about the past two years. While that could also be many topics, like Overwatch League, Phoebe Bridgers or the Good Cleveland Browns, all things that will likely come up on the Thursdays, this day is locked in for Big Ten women’s basketball.
I want the first edition of this day to be a sales pitch to you, a reader who may or may not have much experience paying attention to this conference in this sport. Hopefully, I can sell you enough to follow along with me as, starting next week, I will begin to preview all the teams before the fun begins in the fall.
Style of Play
Right off the bat, I want to attack the most likely point of contention for people: women’s basketball is just not as entertaining to watch.
Let me give you some numbers.
On the men’s basketball side, Iowa put up some serious scoring, ranking fifth in the nation with 83.7 points per game. Illinois at 17th (80.5 PPG) was the only other in-conference team in the top 40, and Ohio State at No. 45 (77.2 PPG) gave the Big Ten three teams in the top 50 in scoring.
Over half of the Big Ten is ranked in the top 50 in scoring for women’s, with Penn State at No. 50 (72.5 PPG) making it eight of the 14 teams. At the very top, the Big Ten had three of the top 10 in 2020-21, including No. 1 and No. 2. Maryland’s 90.8 PPG falls just short of Gonzaga’s 91.0 PPG as the most in college basketball period last year, while Iowa had 86.1 PPG for second in women’s, surpassing its impressive men’s team’s output.
Ohio State ranked 10th with 80.2 PPG and Michigan (27th), Michigan State (29th), Rutgers (30th) and Indiana (35th) bring the total up to eight.
So many teams were a blast to watch in this conference last season, not just because of the high scoring, but because of how they each achieved it. Yes, Iowa and Maryland both shot over 40 percent from three at 40.8 and 40 percent, respectively, but Indiana, a top 35 offense in the country, shot 28 percent and made just 4.1 threes a game. Even with that, the Hoosiers still scored 74.4 a night thanks to its star players being impressive both inside and at the mid-range.
This was also not a league without its defensive powerhouses. Rutgers allowed just 57.7 points per game to go along with its strong scoring attack. The Hoosiers did the same by allowed 59.9 per contest. Teams like Northwestern and Nebraska had success last year because they each specialized in putting their opponents through hell night in and night out, with the Wildcats forcing turnovers and the Cornhuskers playing some old-school slow pace ball that would make the early 2010s Memphis Grizzlies proud.
These clashes of styles led to consistently entertaining matchups that almost often lead to entertaining matchups regardless of who played.
Growing Parity
That leads me into the competition in the conference, which is improving despite a juggernaut remaining at the top.
Yes, Maryland is to this conference what Ohio State is to the conference in football. The Terrapins have been in the Big Ten for seven years and have won the regular season crown six times and the tournament crown five. But, unlike football, there is hope for change here.
The Terrapins haven’t gone undefeated in the Big Ten since their inaugural season and shared the regular season crown as recently as in the 2019-20 campaign. The competition is also very, very strong next year because of the free year of eligibility from COVID-19.
Indiana finished in second last year and returns the backbone of their team in Ali Patberg, who is going into her SEVENTH season of collegiate basketball. Iowa only got better as last season went on and have maybe the second-most exciting player in the country in Caitlin Clark. Ohio State beat Maryland last year and returns a pair of seniors who would not have been here in any other season.
This level of talent in the Big Ten was put on display by how the conference performed in the NCAA Tournament. Even with Ohio State out because of an investigation that had very little to do with the current roster, the Big Ten performed well here.
Indiana and Michigan both had historic runs in the tournament. The Hoosiers made their first Elite Eight since 1983, and the Wolverines made their first ever Sweet 16. Iowa dominated Kentucky to make the Sweet 16, only to fall to the mighty UConn. Also, the supposed juggernaut, Maryland, didn’t even make it the farthest, losing to Texas in a Sweet 16 upset.
There are so many teams that give you a reason to root for them, either because they are entertaining, they have a star player or because they have some chaotic identity that makes them unique. Plus, if you are someone who likes rooting against the best team, you have a clear villain in Maryland, who also happens to be remarkably fun to watch. We all win here.
The Talent
As mentioned briefly above, there were plenty of players that brought a whole lot of passion and excitement to the conference last season, and almost all of them are back.
Of the 10 players selected for the All-Big Ten first team (Yes, 10 players get selected for the first team. No, I do not like it), eight of them return this season. Of the 10 on the second team, seven return this season. Let me run through a few of the top names to give you a sample of what is to come from the Big Ten this season:
Naz Hillmon, F, Michigan – 23.9 PPG/11.4 RPG/62.3 FG%/0.0 3PT%
The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year has to be the first player I mention here. Hillmon is an old-school type of player that every team knows is going to try to score 25 a game inside, and then she proceeds to score about 25 a game inside.
I bring up the three-point percentage not as an insult, but as a compliment. Hillmon made no threes last year because she didn’t shoot any threes last year, emphasizing the point more that it does not matter that she does the same thing over and over again because it works.
Her 50-point outburst – in a loss by the way - to Ohio State emphasized it perfectly.
Caitlin Clark, G, Iowa – 26.6 PPG/5.9 RPG/7.1 APG/47.2 FG%/40.6 3PT%
A bucket. A problem. Someone who is built different. All of these would be fair ways to describe Clark, the one who got my media vote for Big Ten Player of the Year. Iowa lived and died by Clark’s ability to produce, and that is not meant as a slander to the supporting cast, but moreso to emphasize how important Clark was to this team.
Last year was Clark’s freshman season, and, well, the numbers up there speak for themself. She led the country in scoring, has tremendous vision, can work the ball inside and has the ability, plus the confidence, to pull up from Steph Curry, Damian Lillard range.
She put Kentucky into the shadow realm to get the Hawkeyes into the Sweet 16, and if we’re lucky, we will get to see three more seasons of this type of dominance.
Veronica Burton, G, Northwestern – 16.2 PPG/5.2 RPG/4.9 APG/3.8 SPG
I am using Burton as my final example because she shows the type of clash of styles you can get in this conference any given night.
Burton is a good scorer, she’s a strong passer and she can bring in rebounds, but it is her unbelievable defense that made her the easy pick for the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.
The 3.8 (!!!!) steals per game total was the best in the country and a near full steal per game better than the next player in the Big Ten. She is the epitome of Northwestern’s “Blizzard” defense, and is just another layer of what makes the conference so much fun to watch.
You can get the 90 points per games from Maryland. You can get the 20 turnovers per game against Northwestern. You can get Naz Hillmon dropping a half century on Ohio State. You can get Caitlin Clark pulling up from the logo.
What you almost always get, though, is good shit to watch.
Hopefully, I have sold you enough here to at least get you to give these Monday posts a shot. If not, well, you still have Thursdays to look forward to, but I can’t promise any sort of direction at all over there.
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