What Under The Radar Big Ten Player Could Make A Braden Smith Leap This Year?

um hoops and inside the hall do their annual collaboration of ranking the best Big 10 players for Big 10 Basketball and their list is finally out now uh before we get too much further with this we were blessed to have the opportunity to work with both Alex and Dylan Alex from inside the hall and Dylan from um Hoops for our upcoming Big 10 top 50 players countdown those videos are recorded we're working our way through a bunch that have not been recorded yet that's the number one reason you haven't seen them but uh they will come out before the season gets here and you will see some long form thoughts from both of these experts so all that to say I really respect uh these guys I think they are really great at what they do and I think nobody knows their teams better than the two of them do so when they collaborate together they bring their special powers together to uh do something on Big 10 players I think it's really worth listening to them and hearing what they have to say so uh their players list is out and there are some unique takeaways from it we're going to do a short video on it uh tomorrow we'll record that so you can get our long form thoughts on some things on the list in general I'm not going to reveal every single player on the list because you should go subscribe to um hoops and inside the hall to see the full list but it did get me thinking of one specific angle here last summer we did videos on this at the time they collaborated and we didn't have a relationship with these guys at this point we might have covered it a little little differently now that we do but they left Braden Smith off the list and we called it out at the time and said it was crazy we were upset about it now back then it was just their top 25 players not top 40 because they were less teams in the league but they did not view Braden Smith coming into the season as a top 25 player in the league well guess what fast forward a year later they have BR Smith as the number one player in all of Big 10 Basketball for next season so I think Alex and Dylan would tell you that they messed that one up and they've now corrected the ship uh i w to do some thinking here and I want to come up with a player who could pull a Braden Smith who's a guy who is outside the projected top 25 players in the Big 10 for this season that a year from now when we fast forward to 2025 could be number one on the big 10's best players countdown next year so for this exercise uh we can either use Dylan and Alex's list or we can use our own list since we have own version of this as well but just give me a guy who's outside the top 25 you think could end up being number one a year from now I'm going go off their list just to give an O to them actually you know I guess uh a birthing this topic that we're going to have um now there's a couple different ways you can go about this like my initial reaction I'm just walking through my thought processess here I was thinking one of the Purdue or Indiana guys that are even outside of their top 50 they do not have Cam Heidi in their top 50 they do not have miles covin in there also Canon carile is not in there I think those are three players that could be very successful I don't know if those players gonna be able to make a jump enough or have enough talent to be number one like Braden Smith so here's where I'm going to go with this Gregory and spoiler alert you're gonna like this Daniel wolf o it is Dan it is Daniel wolf Daniel wolf has the size he has the ability he has the versatility to be a first team all big 10 player a big 10 Player of the Year player it's about whether he puts it together and maybe whether Michigan is successful enough but if you're talking about pure skill he's got two years left to play too on top of this I don't think you can argue that he's a guy that could I think inside the hall has him right in the 283 range I could see him making a jump and maybe not next year but maybe also next year depending on how well he plays he could find himself easily top 15 maybe even better yeah that was one of three names that I circled four names that I circled um I'm glad you made the case because I didn't want to make the Homer case for it but I I do think Danny wolf is a guy who will be like considered an all big 10 player a year from now when Vlad Golden Leaves and like roll opportunity much like it works with Braden here of like oh you're Zack Ed's sidekick to become oh you're the centerpiece that's probably gonna happen with Danny wolf and I think that's exciting um I'll return the favor I'm going to give you two names from your team Xavier Booker on this list is uh let's see where they have him they have Xavier Booker 36th in the Big 10 now they do talk about why he could overperform this ranking and it's good points but uh Xavier Booker is 36 Jeremy fears is not in their top 40 I don't think either of those are improperly rated for the record like our our rankings are going to come out but I I don't think they are lower on either Booker or fears than we will be from our top 50 and now you got to get a third year of Xavier Booker and you will get a third year of Jeremy fears but I think if all goes to plan this year and those guys do take a leap forward we're looking at guys who are expected to be all big 10 players next year the hard part of this mental exercise is Braden Smith's going to return to Puro so you're you're if we're talking like who could be the number one player on the list you got to be on paper as good as Braden Smith and uh spoiler alert Danny wolf and Jeremy fs and zavier Booker are not going to be as good as Bren Smith no matter what they do this season so right maybe we should imagine a world where this is just like top five or or a world where Braden Smith is no longer at Purdue for whatever reason um but I I do think like I out of B Booker and fears I think there's actually a better chance that ear is the guy who is supposed to be a top five player in the league a year from now do you think I'm crazy for that no I I I don't think you're crazy especially because I think you are for sure guaranteed more time with fears fears is technically coming back he's going to be a freshman next season or this season so uh eligibility to go I don't know if I I don't think there's the fear of him leaving early right like I think we are going to get four years of Jeremy fears as well um and look if the scoring can come around I think the passing is there I think the intangibles are there um obviously he needs to clean some things up get better as far as taking care of the ball but uh I do think that is a good shout for two guys uh from from Michigan State's team did you who was the other one was it Danny wolf the other one on my list is Will Riley who they have out of the top 40 they have out of the top 40 they have will Riley and Derek Queen out of the top 40 which we'll we'll talk about in another video but to me given that will Riley reclassified there's a chance where they convince will riy to come back and if you get year two will Riley I'm projecting that dude is a top 10 player in the conference for sure so I you think they're gonna get him back though probably not as long as he's good but that's kind of you're you're banking on guys who have that level upside and there just aren't that many in the lower half of this so you got to choose a guy like L riy who again to me I would fight pretty harshly on Dylan and Alex here there aren't that many five-star talents in this league like we know will Riley's gonna play for a coach who consistently puts really good offenses on the floor like it just feels like we're we're kind of overlooking the dude's talent to me now they did they bought into casparis not as highly as we're buying into casparis but it's interesting to me that casparis is high enough on their list and will Riley's barely there um and then one other I just want to throw a shout to um o where was it oh yeah uh this one I mean it's highly unlikely but given how they rated people here Josh dicks is 38th on this list for Iowa pton Sanford is second on their list we're going to we're going to have separate thoughts on that part in a moment but if if pton sford is second on the list you're telling me a year from now Josh dicks couldn't be second if you're gonna pick an Iowa player Why not pick Owen Freeman though they picked pton Sanford because Owen Freeman's in their top 25 I think is he I think oh okay I thought he was just outside I thought they had him at like 20 2 like six I thought he was in the top 25 maybe not but that was mostly just a joke I can't believe Sanford was picked second man that's crazy that's we're not discussing it yet you're right on the other video I love it uh shout out to Dylan and Alice they did a great job with this list uh you should go subscribe to both inside the hoops and um or sorry inside the hall and um Hoops these guys do the most fantastic job with both of these teams