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3 MICHIGAN 31-8, 12-6 (tied fourth) The Wolverines' two biggest pieces to their national championship game run are gone with standouts Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. — and their combined 33.1 points — bolting for the NBA. Burke was the pivotal point guard, the player who had the ball in his hands the majority of the time in the half court and controlled the offense. The options to replace him aren't experienced, though freshman Derrick Walton Jr. is highly touted and thought to be college-ready after averaging 26.1 points and seven assists as a high school senior. The good news for the Wolverines, though, there still are superstar-type players on the roster. All eyes will be on sophomores Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III, one of the more versatile frontcourts in the league. They're both making position shifts, McGary bouncing from center to the 4, and Robinson returning to his more natural spot at small forward after playing the 4 last season. McGary brings a physicality, great motor and a nice mid-range jump shot, though he was slow to start practices this fall while nursing a back injury. He averaged a double-double in the NCAAs. Robinson (11.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg) added about 10 pounds in the offseason while maintaining his athleticism. Their presence should be enough to help the Wolverines fight for a conference title, but they'll also need Nik Stauskas to continue to drill shots from the perimeter at a high clip (44 percent threes, 11.0 ppg) and have Walton settle into the point guard role quickly. 4 IOWA 25-13, 9-9 (tied sixth) It'd seem that the Hawkeyes have the talent mix to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006. But they'll likely need to be better in close games to finish to do it. Iowa had seven losses last season in games decided by four points or fewer, including a pair of losses in overtime, all in Big Ten play. But it returns four starters from the team that advanced to the NIT championship and has a freshman f that could help improve its biggest weakness from last season, three-point shooting. Senior point guard Roy Devyn Marble emerged as one of the conference's best scorers, averaging 15 points and boosting that to 20.6 in the NIT. He needs to cut back on turnovers and improve his three-point shooting (33 percent, three percent above the team's percentage). The Hawkeyes will need freshman Peter Jok, Iowa's Mr. Basketball, to boost its perimeter numbers. Jok made 42 percent of his three-pointers as a senior in high school. There are versatile options in the frontcourt with junior Aaron White, Wisconsin transfer Jarrod Uthoff, Adam Woodbury and Melsahn Basabe. Those should help the Hawkeyes continue to defend at a high level — they limited opponents to 39 percent shooting, 30 percent on threes and held a plus-4.7 advantage on the boards last season. 5 PURDUE 16-18, 8-10 (tied seventh) The physical transformations are obvious: Slimmed-down forwards A.J. Hammons and Jay Simpson, bulked-up guards Terone Johnson and Sterling Carter. But the Boilermakers' success this season likely will hinge on its mental toughness. The program suffered through its first losing season since 2005-06 in 2012-13, largely because it didn't have a mature pulse. Painter couldn't find guys who wanted to work hard on a consistent basis or give all-out effort every night. It appears, though, that losing shifted this group's focus. Players talked about how successful the offseason was, from increased workouts on their own to developing a much-needed chemistry off the court. Those intangibles combined with the skill set of the roster should mean a significant boost. "We have a good talent level. There's no doubt about it," Painter said. "We have a couple guys at the point guard position that are very talented. We have a couple guys who can post that are very talented. We have some guys in between I think can be very good players. For us, it starts with just being better on the defensive end and that's where I feel better about this team is the fact I think we could be a really good defensive team." IllustrateD volume 24, issue 2 49