By John Fanta
FOX Sports College Basketball Writer
We’ve hit media days season on the countdown to the 2022-23 college basketball season, and the Big Ten programs take center stage at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The lead storyline in the conference heading into the season comes from Bloomington, as Mike Woodson enters his second season at the helm with a loaded Indiana team projected to be at the top of the league. That theme followed suit in the release of the preseason All-Big Ten team on Thursday, as Hoosiers senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was named Player of the Year. The 6-foot-9 Indiana native is back for another ride at Assembly Hall after testing the NBA Draft waters and comes off a season that saw him average 18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game while guiding the Hoosiers to the NCAA Tournament.
The other takeaway from the preseason selections? Returning big men headline the league, just as they do in the rest of college basketball entering this season. Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson and Purdue’s Zach Edey joined Jackson-Davis as the only unanimous selections.
With media days on the horizon, what are some of the top storylines that provide intrigue around the conference? We go rapid-fire with a list of 10 topics on the Big Ten.
[Who will be at Big Ten Media Days?]
We know Dickinson will lead Michigan. But what about the Wolverines’ backcourt? Could this team be getting overlooked nationally?
Juwan Howard has led his program to back-to-back trips to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, with an Elite Eight in 2021 followed by a Sweet 16 last season. With Dickinson back, the Wolverines could certainly make a March run again, but many preseason projections have them as a fringe AP Top 25 team.
The key in Ann Arbor is what happens in the backcourt with Eli Brooks and DeVante Jones gone. Princeton transfer Jaelin Llewellyn should occupy a starting role, and there is serious buzz surrounding four-star freshman wing Jett Howard. Both of the Wolverines’ newest options on the perimeter will join Dickinson to meet the press, and it will be interesting to see how things are faring for a program that’s been so consistent in recent years but might be getting underrated across the country.
How’s small ball working for Tom Izzo, and what’s the latest with Jaden Akins?
For Michigan State, playing a traditional center has been the normal practice over the years, but the Hall of Famer on the sideline is…
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