Michigan

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The University of Michigan men's basketball team knocked off fourth-ranked UCLA, 55-52, Thursday night in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden.

Junior forward DeShawn Sims came off the bench to lead the Wolverines with 18 points. Sophomore guard Manny Harris added 15 and freshman guard Stu Douglass  chipped in a career-high 10.

Duke

Michigan

Southern Illinois

UCLA

 

Big Ten Player Grades

 

 

This is the fourth of six annual fantasy stats projections of BCS conference starters. The lineups are based on the Starting Fives series of articles released two weeks ago, along with a couple of changes due to recent developments.

 

Park Ridge, Ill. - Purdue swingman Robbie Hummel was named the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year by a 22-member media panel, the conference announced today. Hummel's Boilermakers were tabbed as the preseason favorite for the 2008-09 men's basketball season by the media panel.

Hummel was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year after earning first-team All-Conference and All-Freshman Team accolades last year. He led the Big Ten in three-point field percentage in conference games while averaging 11.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists in all games.

 

Despite Michigan State and Purdue looking like they will be among the nation’s best teams this season, it appears that it’s a down year coming up for the Big Ten.  Additionally, talent-wise the league doesn’t have the boatloads of “superstar” prospects the other BCS conferences do.  Because of this, a freshman has snuck his way into number one on this list.