Indiana basketball: Did Big Ten get All-Decade team right?
While Ferrell only made the third team, another Hoosier made the second team. That was none other than Victor Oladipo.
Oladipo came in as a less-heralded recruit but work his butt off and won the 2013 Sporting News player on the year over the aforementioned Trey Burke of Michigan.
Oladipo’s numbers don’t jump off the page at you, but he was still one of the best players in the country better yet the conference. He averaged just 10.7 points for his career, but the jump he made from when he joined IU to his Junior year was remarkable.
He averaged 13.6 points per game his last year but improved his shooting tremendously. He shot over 40% from deep after shooting just 20% his Sophomore year. That added a huge weapon to his overall game. We all know the type of dunker he was but when he added the deep shot he became one of the most complete players in the country.
Having Oladipo on the second team is not a slap in the face at all, because every first-team player was a national player of the year, but there was one name that many thought he should have been ahead of.
That person was Evan Turner from Ohio State. Turner was a great player and the fact that he was rated ahead of him was not the problem. The question many have is that he only played one year in the 2010s.
While that year in 2010 was a great one and he won national player of the year, most of his career was in the 2000s, so should he really be eligible for this All-Decade team? So could argue it’s like having a one and done player making the list and I would get that, but since he did play more in the 2000s that should be the All-Decade team he should be on.
If Turner was viewed that way, I think Oladipo should have been the one to slide into the first team.