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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 95 f game last season, to step up the scoring now. "I think this year's team will be by far one of the most athletic teams we've had in my 12 years at Maryland, just our team speed, being able to get up and down the floor the way we like to play in terms of transition, and I think we're going to be able to do a lot of great things defensively in the full court as well as in the half court," Frese said at Big Ten Media Day. Maryland seems to understand its situation, being the new kid on the block while also the league favorite. "I do think our players understand the expectation and the standard when they come to Maryland and it's some- thing that we really welcome," Frese said. "We want to play and get everyone's best shot. We want to play against the best possible competition that we can play against. We re- ally try to embrace it." MICHIGAN STATE 23-10 OVERALL, 13-3 BIG TEN I njuries are nothing new to the Spartans. And yet again, they're dealing with them as they head to the 2014-15 season, looking to repeat after being Big Ten co-champions (with Penn State) last season. Oft-injured center Madison Williams is out again, af- ter having her seventh knee surgery in mid-October. The 6-foot-7 Williams, a former McDonald's All-American, has played only sparingly during her career, having torn an ACL four times. A bigger loss, or at least a more unexpect- ed one, is that of Branndais Agee, who averaged 11 points in March, but who tore her ACL during the summer. The duo is out for the season. "We've had some kids nicked up a little bit, couple concussions here and there," MSU coach Suzy Merchant said. "I don't know, maybe it's something in the water in East Lansing, I'm not sure. We've had our share. But we're coming back." The Spartans still have other weapons, led by sopho- more Aerial Powers. Only a redshirt freshman last sea- son, the 6-foot guard averaged a team-best 13.4 points per game and was named first-team All-Big Ten, the first-ever Spartan freshman to be so honored. She should again lead a balanced scoring attack, as re- turnees Tori Jankoska, Becca Mills, Kiana Johnson and Jasmine Hines all averaged between 12.4 and 5.6 points per game. The group helped the Spartans be more offensively minded last season — they averaged 73.3 points per game — to go with their defense, which has led the Big Ten in three of the last five seasons. "The versatility in our system and the balance that we need in order to have a really strong offensive attack is im- portant to be able to move people around," Merchant said. "And they've been able to do that in the first week or so of practice. That's been really impressive." ALL BIG-TEN Gold and Black's best guess at this year's All-Big Ten teams: Name Yr./Pos. School First Team Rachel Banham Sr./G Minnesota Samantha Logic Sr./G Iowa Rachel Theriot Jr./G Nebraska Lexie Brown So./G Maryland Aerial Powers So./G Mich. State Second Team Michala Johnson Sr./F Wisconsin Nia Coffee So./F Northwestern Ameryst Alston Jr./G Ohio State Whitney Bays Sr./F PURDUE Amanda Zahui B. So./C Minnesota Third Team Emily Cady Sr./F Nebraska Bethany Doolittle Sr./C Iowa Cyesha Goree Sr./F Michigan Tyler Scaife So./G Rutgers Shatori Walker-Kimbrough So./G Mary- land Player-of-the-Year Logic, Iowa Coach-of-the-Year Brenda Frese, Maryland