VSiN Coast to Coast Hoops: The College Basketball Betting PodcastGreg talks to Greg Waddell of Sleepers Media and the Field of 68 about the Big Ten landscape, how the conference used the transfer portal, if a wider range of styles can help the Big Ten in March, & teams he is bullish on entering the season.
It warming for the low Welcome and love you buzs Vegas because he's with myself. Craig Epspeederson now part of the Vson Family podcast. We've got an excellent podcast for you as we have a short segment number one, so I once again begg you to send in some Twitter slash TXs questions that you want to see at the top of the show. But we've got a great chat coming up here in the next few minutes with Greig Woodell, who does an absolutely amazing job over at Sleepers Media. We're going to be chatting with him about the Big Ten. He is based out there in the lovely state of Michigan. I thought that the Big Ten did a little bit of a better job here in the off season in terms of being able hit the transfer portal. As we know there's a few new coaches over at Michigan Ohio State. We'll take a look at that dynamic. What to expect the Pac twelve teams they're going to be coming into the conference as well. They are very much going to be an intrigue guy and a man from the great state of Wisconsin. So I have to touch upon that team. And now I think that might be a little bit of a lesson saver year for the old Wisconsin Badgers. And on top of that, we are going to be taking a little bit of a look at the line escape of college basketball, just how different styles of play can really benefit the Big Ten and how they might be able to get a few of them for this upcoming season. And if you do have a question comment segment idea, what have you for this podcast that you want answered in? I beg a few, I plead a few. I implore you please send these in anything that you just want to hear to be able to get set for the upcoming season. Now I do conference previews, so I don't necessarily go team my team with regards to this, but just anything that you want me to do a little bit more of a deep dive on. Send it in one of two ways. First one and the preferred one, the one that I checked the bost my Twitter slash check simeline at gen and underscorey one. Keep in mind lard GM may mean, as I'm advertised, per usual, please you send these into the timeline. And the other way is find an Apple podcast for few. If you rate this podcast, I starts it is very much appreciated from there here, able fire and whatever you'd like to hear on this podcast via that five star review. And when it comes to just this time of year, we are certainly in the dog days of college basketball is late July getting into early August. We saw the peachham a week or two ago, but I really don't dive in too much air because this is a college basketball betting show. I'm doing my best to be able to make you money for the twenty twenty four to twenty five season. When you're not going to be seeing a lot of these guys for two plus years, well, it doesn't make a lot of sense when there's so much money to be made on this upcoming year. And personally, I have to try to play a little bit of catch up when it comes to gauging these freshmen for the upcoming season as well. Fortunately, with the transfer portal, freshmen see a fewer minutes in this same age than they did even just a few short years ago. But that's something that I do find myself doing because when you're doing the day in and dale grind of taking a look at three in sixty fourty one teams, it's hard to be able to watch tape of freshmen as well while you try to catch up on those one or fifty college basketball games from the previous Saturday. So that something that I'm doing right now, and obviously the conference previews they are going to continue to roll along. I plan on doing the meck within the next few days. So be on the lookout there, and be on the lookout next for a great chat with our good friend Greg Withell right here on because it's with myself Greg, You Peter said.
No hard that we've got that.
Ever rag here love you Las Vegas, because gutsu's with myself, Greg ands Peterson now by the Visa Family podcasts, and it is great to get a fellow Greg on the podcast. Greg Woodell much like myself, hey man from the great Midwest holding it down in the wonderful state of Michigan. I know that he's doing such tremendous work over at Sleepers Media, he Carter Elliott. I know that we've been seeing a lot from a few of our other friends as well, such as Tristan Freeman, who's been joining us a lot this offseason. They're doing an excellent job just keeping you guys informed throughout the off season. Looking at these recruits looking at the FEBA under eighteen standouts over the last few days as well to be able to follow Greg on Twitter slash x that is at g wizzy the number twelve altogether and Greg, it's great to get you a board. Thank you.
Yeah, great to be Backgreg.
It's been a couple of months, and I gotta be honest, I hate July.
I'm ready for August. July is too boring.
With all due respect to peach jam, there's not enough happening for my liking. I feel like we're getting closer to the season. College football is right around the corner, which means college basketball is two corners away.
And I like that.
Yep, I'm right there with you, because, well, the peach Sham is really nice. If you're a recruiting guy looking at like Class of twenty twenty five, class of twenty twenty six, if you're looking to make money for the twenty twenty four to twenty five season, there's really not a lot for it to offer. But now we're starting to get close. Now we're getting into the season where you see all the outrageous lists, the way too early top twenty five, what have you. But I know your Brian Butter is out there in the Big Ten, So do you want to get your thoughts as to just the landscape of the conference right now? Because when I take a look at it, certainly I think that Purdue is once again going to have a nice year, though obvious fall off without having Zac Geedy in the fold for them. But it just feels like it's a conference that's going to be very open, and it's going to be full of a lot of teams that I would deem to be in that category of good but not great.
Yeah, I think you're right. There's also just as a starting point, there's eighteen teams. Now, it's there's two conferences here and we're trying to combine them, and I've struggled with it. I'm still relatively new in the content side, but like mentally, for over a decade, I've done like, who do I think my top five players are? What are the all Big Ten teams? And it's impossible to do There's eighteen teams, So you know, I think there's going to be a lot of prognosticators at the national level and even at the local level that have no idea what to do with this league, But I think you're right, Purdue is probably worth either the first or second shout depending champions two times.
And the question is how are they going to replace Zach Edie.
But you know, I've got a seven foot four freshman that was seven to a month ago and started for Team USA's U eighteen team, Daniel Jacobson. He's going to be good defensively. Trey Hoffman Renn I think is ready offensively for a future role. So you know, the champs kind of got to stay champs until somebody can unseat them.
And I think it's fair in state rival that might have the best chance.
Oh absolutely, It's a Rick Flair mentality, my friend and I love it. In order to be the man, you've got to beat the man. And I do think that it is so interesting to look at the moves that we see into the offseason, because you mentioned it with perhaps Indiana being one of their biggest competitors, and I'm not sure how you viewed the offseason for the Big Ten, but I would say they're not quite fully there with the likes of the SEC the Big Twelve in terms of the way that they use the transfer portal. But I think the best way that I could describe this offseason across the board for the Big Ten is it felt like they took baby steps into the transfer portal and are starting to get with the times of twenty twenty. If they were stuck in nineteen seventy in the last offseason, they graduated till like the mid nineteen eighties early nineteen nineties this offseason, I.
Think that's fair.
I think you saw some small tweaks, for example, Jake Diebler taking over for Chris Holtman, and love it now that Chris Holtman was anti the transfer portal, but Jake Diebler has certainly made a splash dealing a five star from Duke, a five star from Kentucky that just couldn't crack the rotation. So no, you've view Sewan Stewart and Aaron Bradshaw is essentially five star recruits that just didn't play in your one and roll the dice and see if they're good. Then you've got Michigan who replaces Juwan Howard, who you know, I wanted to use the transfer portal. He just wouldn't read his own university's rules and wouldn't recruit within them.
So Dusty May has had no issues.
I mean, he made a splash with Danny Wolf obviously brings blag Golden with him, and then I think your run. Tom Izzo has historically been the anti transfer portal guy, and even he got a little bit of front court help with Simon z Apolla and from the sounds of it, Frankie Hidler may be their best offensive player. So I do think there's teams that have taken baby steps, But I keep going back to Indiana because if there is one team in this league that's operating as if they're not a Big ten team, it's them. And you know, Mike Woodson has been criticized rightfully so, but man, he almost got ran out of town at the end of March. And the reality is, I don't know there's a better team that had a better offseason than the Hoosiers this year, and similar to last year, I think we all looked at Illinois as a team that was doing things differently than the rest of the league, and whether that's good or bad, it meant they were talented. I view Indiana as that This year, the back court of Miles Rice and Cannac Carlysle's going to stand out. Mackenzie and Bacco back is huge. Bomarbalo is one of the best bigs in the country, is a walking double double. So I really do think that's going to stand out much like Illinois did last year en route to a Big Ten Tournament championship and an e lead eight run. I think the doors open for Indiana to have a similar season.
And I do think that Indiana did a nice job of not neglecting guard play this offseason as well, because as we know, last year they were very stout down low. But when you're relying upon Xavier Johnson to essentially be the entire backcourt, that's a little bit of a role that Ice. Bringing in Miles Rice, I think was so big for that. As Greig Woodell, who does such amazing work over at Sleepers Media along the field of sixty eight showing me right here on costcos suits, and I'm so glad that you were mentioning a little bit before Ohio State because as we know, we've got a few new teams coming into the conference as well via the PAC twelve, the likes of ore again uscu CLA coming in and one of my biggest gripes with the Big Ten and a big reason why I feel like they've had the lack of success that they have in March is that they don't see enough different styles during the season. And how big do you think that it is? For one, that we got a few coaching moves like what we're seeing over there at Michigan, I think that Dusty May is going to bring a different dynamic to Michigan, and two bringing in those packed both teams, I think is going to lead to a little bit more diversity in style, which I think in the long run will help the Big Ten make bigger runs of March.
Yeah, I hope.
So if the Big Ten could play less like the Big Ten, that would be fun aesthetically at least. And part of that, by default is going to happen because Zachi he's gone. And I've talked about this before on our show, But over the last six or seven years, really back to the Isaac host years, I think we've seen teams that aren't Purdue in the Big Ten make decisions based around trying to be prepared for Purdue. That's some of the highest praise I can give Matt Payner in the world. But if you know one of the contenders in your conference, is going to start a seven foot four center, whether or not he becomes the National Player of the Year.
I mean, you've got to prepare your roster physically for that.
And you know, I think we've seen teams traditionally go big in the Big Ten, and whether that has worked or not over the course of the season can be debated, but it certainly hasn't worked in March. So I think you're right. A little new blood is good. It reminds me of a couple of years ago. Kevin Willard was brand new to the league. He took over Maryland, he took over from Mark Turgen, and you know, I think there was an unfamiliarity from everybody else, from these coaches who had known each other for decades. That benefited Willard because he played a much different style than everybody else in the league. They overachieved his first year. They wontily underachieved in year two. But I do think there's a real effect to that. To me, a team like Oregon, who does have a lot of talent. Jackson Shelstad's a guy that I really think is going to break out, and they've got a great offensive coach in Dane Altman. That's gonna be a hard team to prepare for for all of these other Big Ten opponents, and you know whether or not long term that means Oregon is a contender in the Big Ten.
I think they're gonna have a chance this year to rocket up the standings.
Yeah, I'm right there with you. Out of the teams that are entering into the Big Ten, I put Oregon the highest regard as well. They bring in Supreme Cook to be able to help themselves out down though, granted needs work on the defense a little bit from what we saw over at George shown a season ago. But guy that's able pulling quite a few rebounds in. I do think that those four teams coming in from the Tag twelve are going to be interesting because expectations for me quite long Washington. But I really feel like USC might be a little bit of a wildcard team with Eric Musselman coming in because as we know with his days over at Arkansas, we saw them be absolutely awful. Typically in like November December they would round in to form this season and this is just a classic Eric Musselman team with a bunch of moving pieces that I could see sort of fitting that mold once again where they have a tough time finding their chemistry early, but late they're able to surge with that talent just being able to get on the same page with one another.
I'm very aware of must would be the word like.
I think long term, Muscleman would prove himself to be one of the best, most valuable coaches to have at a Big ten program. How long he stays in the Big ten will be a question for me, but I think there's no question his unique style will benefit them in a way. That not to say that it didn't work in the SEC, but there were other guys playing by the Muscleman rules in the SEC, and I think he will stick out a little bit in the Big ten. But as far as this year goes, I'll be honest, I am a usc skeptic, not because of anything Muscleming related, just because I don't really love the combinations of players they brought it in this offseason. I think des Claude has approven high major, very good starter, but they're shooting concerns there and to me, he's a guy who needs the ball in his hands, as is Saint Thomas, who was great last season, but two seasons ago he couldn't cut it at Loyal in Chicago, and I think the world of Drew Valentine, and I mean he did not speak highly of Saint Thomas playing at that level. So you know, we'll see. They've got a lot of moving parts. As you mentioned, I think Terrence Williams, the Michigan transfer, is going to end up in a big role for them. I just don't know how good of a thing that is, because usually the more minutes Terrence Williams is playing for your team, the worst things that means for your team.
Yeah. That has certainly been the case over the last few years. So no disagreement there, and I'm with you there as well. I do think that I could take a year or two for Eric Musselman to be able to really find his footing into Big ten as it is going to be a very fascinating conference this year, as our good friend Greg Woodell of Sleepers Media is going to be right here on Cosco Soups. And you know me, I'm a guy from the great state of Wisconsin. So do I have to ask about this program because I've got a lot of question marks for them now with Wisconsin. The last move that they made, I felt like was their biggest move. The fact that they bring in John tone Jay at the last minute. That was something that I really liked. They bring back Stephen Crawl, they bring back Max Fleesman. But I'm not sure how you'd be this team. But I've got all sorts of questions with them banking on xavier A. Moos and Cameron Hunter to really take strides forward in the backcourt. And even though I was not necessarily the biggest stand for the backcourt, then we saw a season goal. A lot of these losses I think are going to come back to bite Wisconsin.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I mean, it's hard not to feel bad for Greg Gard. And I said that I was a Michigan fan who quite frankly, has made Gregard an enemy over the last few years after the Hampson line saga. No, he's had a spot where it just doesn't seem like they are the resources to keep players. And yeah, I'm talking about aj Store, but you could probably criticize the idea of bringing in a guy in aj Storre who had played at so many different schools along.
The last eight years.
For him, Yeah, it's like, you know, if you expect to keep aj Store for three years his Wisconsin's head coach. Maybe you missed the scouting report on him, but I don't know. At the same time, like when you watch a guy like CHUCKI Heppern, who was a fine big ten point guard, he certainly hit big shots the year they won the league with Johnny Davis, he went for way more money than he's worth. That's just the reality, you know, if you're a head coach of a program like that and you're put in a position where you either need to way overbid for your own players just to retain them or look elsewhere. It's hard to blame Greg Guard for anything that happen this offseason. But I think you're right. I mean, the talent on the team took a step back. I like Cameron Hunter. I think he can be pretty good. I'm not expecting them to be a factor in the conference race. If they can be a bubble team, there's a chance to make the NCAA tournament. I think that would be a win. You still got Stephen Crowell. I love Nolan Winter Like long term, I think he's going to be fantastic, and he's a guy that probably deserves to be on some breakout lists this season, but to me, maybe the forgotten name would be Connor Siegen, who, again, if we're going back to criticizing guard, the Stiegeon was out of the rotation entirely last year after a pretty promising freshman season the year before. I don't think he deserves to play over a j store, but I think you could have kept Connor season if you did play him. And instead he's going to be playing the case a Tominaga roll for Nebraska. It'll be really interesting to watch how his season goes versus how Wisconsin's season goes.
Yeah, if he's able to bust out in Nebraska, that might be a little bit of a rough one for Greg Gard to be able to come back from. Because I'm right there with you. I loved what I saw from as a freshman before. He recognize that some guys who regress a little bit as a sophomore, but as we know, typically that freshman to sophomore leap is supposed to be your biggest one as well. So very curious to see what's going to be happening there and very curious to get your thoughts on this, Greg, because I know you're doing such a great job covering this great game of college basketball. This can be Big Ten related, this can be Midwest related, this could be any of the three N sixty four D one teams. But know that you guys over there at Sleepers Media Field of sixty eight doing a great job getting set for the upcoming season. Just over the last few months, as you've been data mining, as you've been taking a look at these teams, Who's the team or two that you just keep coming back to. And the more that you dive in on them, the more that you research them, the more you feel bullsh on them for the upcoming season.
You know, I'm gonna go the Homer route here in the Big Ten. And by Homer, I don't mean what you'll probably think. I mean as a Midsten fan. I think it's Illinois, Greg, I really do. I think at this point we have reached a checkpoint where you have to give Brad Underwood the respects he deserves to just expect him to win games in this league.
And I don't mean make.
A Final Four run. He hasn't done that. They just made the Elite Eight. It's his first second weekend of parents at Illinois. But man, you go back the last six years he's been coaching this program. They're perennial contenders. They don't take a year off. Even the years they do take off, they're in the NCAA Tournament, winning twenty five games. So you know this is a wide open league. Everybody keeps coming back to that. And they only brought two players back. Those two players combined for seven points a game last season. I mean, it's an entirely new team, but they've got one of the best rushman classes in the country.
I think it's the best rushman class in this league, and that.
Does include a Rutgers class that has two top five picks. It sounds crazy, but casparraz Jakin Shonas is going to be the first option on the team, and he's dominating with Lithuani's U eighteen team right now. He just looks like a pro. Will Riley's the highly strated recruit in Illinois history. Morez Johnson is one of the hardest working, most productive rebounding bigs I've seen at the prep level in a long time.
And then you've got guys like Kylan Boswell.
Who you know, have played huge minutes on thirty win teams a couple consecutive seasons looking for a fresh start.
I think a lot of people have overlooked them.
Not to name names with throw shots, because he does a great job, But like I saw John Rostein's Big Ten report the other day, Scott Illinois eight. That's like six spots too low. Like this team is going to factor into the race deep into the season. I think people would be wise to take notice of some of these names they haven't heard of yet.
Yeah, and I'm so glad that you do bring up Illinois as well, because they're one of the few teams out there where I feel like when it comes to that Bran Underwood's system and when next time he plays against you, Gott, he needs to take a little bit of a different tactic there. I think that that's a fair criticism. But when it comes to Underwood and his teams himself, he just always seems to curate to what he has on the roster. Like back when he had Kofi Kolburn, they played a little bit more pack line. Last year when they had Terren Shannon in company, they were taking a few more threes. That's something that I really like about Illinois and that Underwood system. So I'm right there with you. And something else I absolutely love is getting you on the show. Greg, You do such an amazing job taking a look at this wonderful game of college basketball. I know that you and Carter Elliott do such great work over there at Sleepers Media, So love the good people at them. Know it's all on to that for you and how people can follow on on social media and other platforms.
Yeah, I appreciated, Greg. We're just rocking five days a week Monday through Friday. We're on the Sleepers channel right now. Sleepers Podcast hour long episodes out every single morning wherever you get your podcasts. We do roughly six to ten shorter videos reacting to all of today's biggest news around lunchtime every single day on the YouTube channel, and coming up next in August, we're gonna be doing a lot of player specific countdowns, Top twenty five back Courts, top twenty five front courts, duos, and more. We're working with the Heat Check guys brought right off in Riley Davis, who have been a huge help to us this summer, So stay tuned for that.
Follow us at Sleepers Media.
And our good friend Greg is doing such an amazing job, take it a look at this great game that we all know. In love with college basketball all twelve months out of the year. So big thanks to Greg for joining me right here on cost go Seeps now part of the Visa Family Podcasts. And if you do, like with Jeering from this fine podcast Gus Goozeeps, you're able to subscribe wherever your podcast Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Citre and June and if you have a question, comments, sigment idea you for this podcast. You have one of two ways to be all fur thos in. First one is by Twitter slash k timeline at g and er s thirty one. Keep in mind learn CM they meet us on matter so as per usual, please send us into the timeline and then the other ways by in an Apple podcast review. If you ate this podcast five starts, it is very much appreciated. From there, you're able fire and whatever you'd like to hear on this podcast via that five star review. And please do send in those Twitter slash ks questions because we're currently in the dog days of summer, but we're keeping this podcast going every single day. We're with you all three and sixty six days of the year. I will be back with you once again tomorrow and conference reviews with those that are continuing to roll along. I plan on doing the Mac within the next I would say forty eight to seventy two hours, so that'll be on tap for you guys within the next few days, if not tomorrow. So appreciate you tuning in today and I'll be back with you once again tomorrow. Thank you.
