Big Ten Basketball: One big question for every team entering 2019-20

Minnesota: What’s Daniel Oturu’s ceiling?

The Golden Gophers, like Rutgers, mostly played junkball last year. Without a true point guard, Minnesota ran much of its offense through its unique big-man combo: senior Jordan Murphy and freshman Daniel Oturu. Murphy, at 6’6 and 260 pounds, was a human bowling ball, which complemented Oturu’s more skilled playing style. The Woodbury, Minn. native averaged 10.8 points and 7.0 rebounds on 55 percent shooting, displaying a nice touch from midrange. He also made an impact on the defensive end, blocking 46 shots in 35 games.

Foul problems and physicality are often the main things that limit freshmen, especially freshmen bigs. It’s hard to count those struggles too much against them. Oturu was no exception, averaging 2.7 fouls in 23 minutes per game while measuring at 6’10 and just 225 pounds. Still, the four-star recruit lived up to the hype in his first season.

Without Murphy (and guards Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer) the Gophers are counting on Oturu to make The Leap as a sophomore. Assuming he continues to mature and add strength, Oturu has the potential to become a night-in-night-out double-double threat, anchor the team on both ends and maybe earn All-Big Ten honors.

Indiana: Will Devonte Green put it all together?

The Hoosiers’ needs are simple. They need to replace the production of Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan, a duo that scored 43 percent of their points last year.

There’s one obvious candidate to fill some of that void. Green, the brother of Los Angeles Laker Danny Green and Indiana’s third-leading scorer in 2019, has swagger. In droves. In Green’s three seasons in Bloomington, he’s never met a shot he didn’t like — just as you’d expect from a guy who has the “Unlimited Ammo” cheat code from Grand Theft Auto tattooed on his arm. Archie Miller recently called Green Indiana’s most talented offensive player.

But tied to all that talent has been a maddening inconsistency. Before last March, Green had strung together multiple double-digit scoring games just twice as a Hoosier. Over Indiana’s last seven games, though, he averaged 15.4 points on 51 percent shooting from deep, including an eight-trey outburst in the Big Ten Tournament against Ohio State. It’s not a coincidence the Hoosiers went 5-2 in that stretch.

With Green now as a focal point and elder statesman, rather than a talented role player, Indiana’s hopes rest on him building on his finish to 2019.

Penn State: Can Mike Watkins play a full season?

Like Green, Watkins is a talented senior whose career has been marked by ups and downs — many of them self-inflicted.

Watkins had multiple run-ins with the law early in his career before breaking out as a sophomore. In 2017-18, he was averaging 12.1 points, shooting 68.5 percent from the field and on his way to an All-Defensive Team when he left Feb. 21’s game against Michigan with a knee injury. He didn’t play again that season. Then, in June 2018, Watkins was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia, and three months later was cited for disorderly conduct after punching a man at a McDonald’s. In October 2018, he detailed his mental health struggles in a post on The Black Cager, revealing he had previously been hospitalized with suicidal thoughts.

For both Watkins and his team, 2018-19 was a lost season. Watkins started just 14 games and his scoring and rebounding averages both dropped.

By all accounts, however, Watkins is in a better place, both mentally and physically, than he was one year ago. If the 6’9, 254-pound bully on the block returns to what he was two years ago, Penn State might be the Big Ten’s biggest sleeper.