No Hoosiers on First Team of Big Ten's All-Decade Team
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Big Ten released the last bit of its All-Decade team on Wednesday, and there were no Hoosiers on the final five.
First team selections were Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky, Michigan's Trey Burke, Michigan State's Draymond Green and Denzel Valentine, and Ohio State's Evan Turner.
That means only two Hoosiers made their 16-team roster — there was a tie for the last spot, so the third team included six players instead of five. Indiana's Victor Oladipo was a second-team selection and Yogi Ferrell was a third-team choice.
Here's the entire roster of the All-Decade team:
The Player of the Decade and Coach of the Decade will be announced on Thursday and Friday. The five finalists are Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Michigan's John Beilein, Purdue's Matt Painter, Ohio State's Thad Matta and Wisconsin's Bo Ryan.
Now that the complete team has been announced, there's been plenty of bickering about who was left off, with a lot of harping of fan-base injustice on all social media platforms.
Indiana's Cody Zeller had two great seasons with the Hoosiers from 2011 to 2013. (Photo courtesy of IU Athletics)
The most obvious omission on the Indiana side was Cody Zeller. The 7-foot center from Washington, Ind., was the Hoosiers' leading scorer (16.5) and rebounder (8.1) on the 2013 IU team that won the Big Ten and was ranked No. 1 in the country at one point. He was on several All-American teams that year, and he was the fourth overall pick of the Charlotte Hornets in the 2013 NBA Draft.
He averaged 15.6 points a game as a freshman as well, and it would seem to many that his two-year career at Indiana was impressive enough to be included on this team.
The other Indiana argument was whether Oladipo deserved to be a first-team selection instead of a second-team choice. The argument certainly can be made, especially when comparing Oladipo to Evan Turner in THIS decade.
Granted, Turner was a great player at Ohio State, but his career ended in 2010, so he really only played half a season in this decade. Oladipo had three years at Indiana, and his last two seasons, he was one of the best players in the country. In 2013, he was National Player of the Year from some sources.
Your thoughts? Please feel free to weigh in on the comments section below.
Big Ten All-Decade First Team
- Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
- Trey Burke, Michigan
- Drayman Green, Michigan State
- Denzel Valentine, Michgan State
- Evan Turner, Ohio State.
Big Ten All-Decade Second Team
- Victor Oladipo, Indiana
- Carsen Edwards, Purdue
- Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
- Cassius Winston, Michgan State
- Ethan Happ, Wisconsin
Big Ten All-Decade Third Team
- Yogi Ferrell, Indiana
- JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
- Caleb Swanigan, Purdue
- Aaron Craft, Ohio State
- D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State
- Jordan Morgan, Minnesota
