Big Ten Hoops has a lot Riding on Tomorrow's Decisions

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[Update 5-8-09: And there it is all five of the players discussed below decide to return to school making the Big Ten arguably the toughest basketball conference going into next year.]

The Big 10 still has probably more than any other conference riding on tomorrow's draft decisions. Most of the other conferences have had their best players decide one way or the other regarding the draft, but the Big 10 still has "undecided" next to 5 key players.

Illinois
McCamey and Davis are two very important pieces of the puzzle for Bruce Weber's Illini next season. While Davis would be easier to replace, because of the emergence of freshman Tyler Griffey this year and incoming Top 50 recruits Jereme Richmond and Meyers Leonard, he was the Illini's leading rebounder and a go-to scorer at times during the season. However, without the return of McCamey at the point, the Illini might drop from a Top 15 team to unranked. The Illini do not have a proven replacement for McCamey at PG and would have to rely on a committee of Jeff Jordan, DJ Richardson and Joe Bertrand. The Illini have a lot riding on that decision tomorrow.

Penn State
All indications are that Talor Battle is likely to go undrafted this year and should return to school. However, we have seen kids make unwise decisions in the past and Penn State would be in a world of hurt without their proven playmaker. Like Evan Turner, Battle led the Lions in points, rebounds and assists. His 18.5 ppg are irreplaceable from the remaining roster and the Lions would take a major step back in their quest to climb a couple of rungs in the Big Ten.

Purdue
No team probably has more riding on tomorrow's decision than the Boilers. with JuJuan Johnson and E'Twan Moore, Purdue is again a Top 10 team and probably one of the favorites to reach the Final Four. Without one of them, Purdue probably falls to the bottom of the Top 25 and without either the drop out of the rankings all together. Painter has a great recruiting class coming in and Robbie Hummel returns to provide Senior leadership, however, without Johnson and Moore the Boilers would be far too reliant on unproven freshman. As we have seen time and again, even brilliant freshman can turn out to be very frustrating. Just ask Calipari.