cody-zeller-victor-oladipo

Indiana's Cody Zeller, far left, is reportedly going to declare for the NBA Draft today. Victor Oladipo, far right, did it Tuesday. The Hoosiers also are losing seniors Jordan Hulls, second from left, and Christian Watford, second from right, and will have to rebuild from a conference title team. Michigan should lose several key underclassmen as well.

(AP)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The first round of the 2013 NBA Draft could include several Big Ten players, the conference's best and brightest making reasoned decisions to leave school early for the pros. Despite Ohio State's Deshaun Thomas giving up his senior season, the Buckeyes very well may not have any of those first-round picks.



That would be a change.

ESPN.com draft analyst Chad Ford lists six Big Ten underclassmen among his top 15 draft prospects: Indiana junior Victor Oladipo at No. 6, Michigan sophomore Trey Burke at No. 7, Indiana sophomore Cody Zeller at No. 10, Michigan State freshman Gary Harris at No. 11, Michigan freshman Glenn Robinson III at No. 14 and Michigan freshman Mitch McGary at No. 15.

Then down the list are Michigan State junior Adreian Payne at No. 38, Wisconsin freshman Sam Dekker at No. 43, Thomas at No. 47, Ohio State sophomore LaQuinton Ross at No. 48, Michigan junior Tim Hardaway Jr. at No. 51 and Michigan State sophomore Branden Dawson at No. 53.

That's 23 percent of Ford's top 53 players made up of Big Ten underclassmen.

For a league that's been ridiculously low on first-round talent in recent years, outside of the Buckeyes, that's good news. And even though the rankings reflect the reality that Ohio State didn't have the best talent in the Big Ten this season – with Michigan and Indiana clearly at the top, probably followed by Michigan State and then the Buckeyes – this is good news for Ohio State, too.

At least 2013-14 Ohio State.

Because it's the Big Ten competition that will suffer the talent drain that has become commonplace in Columbus.

Starting with 2007 - when after Thad Matta's second season the Buckeyes lost three freshmen to the first round of the draft - there have been seven Ohio State players who have left eligibility on the table and went in the NBA Draft's first round. You know the names by now: Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequan Cook, Kosta Koufos, B.J Mullens, Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger.

In the six-year period between 2007 and 2012, the rest of the Big Ten combined lost two underclassmen to the NBA Draft's first round: Indiana's Eric Gordon in 2008 and Illinois' Meyers Leonard last year. Michigan also saw Darius Morris leave as a sophomore and go in the second round in 2011.

So that's seven early Buckeyes and three early Big Ten players from elsewhere. The rest of the 10 Big Ten draftees in that six-year period were seniors who won a lot of games for their teams before graduating and then taking the next step:

Wisconsin's Alando Tucker and Purdue's Carl Landry in 2007; Indiana's D.J. White in 2008; Michigan State's Goran Suton in 2009; Purdue's JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, Wisconsin's Jon Leuer and Ohio State's Jon Diebler in 2011; and Michigan State's Draymond Green and Purdue's Robbie Hummel last year.

So what's the point? Two things needed to happen.

One is that the rest of the Big Ten needed to get some high-end talent good enough to leave early. Coaching is nice. But the Big Ten needed some players.

Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State are obviously doing that right now.

The other is that Ohio State needed some more four-year players. All-Americans who leave early are great. But they're also hard on a program.

But Aaron Craft as a four-year player, who is the only one of the six first-team All-Big Ten players sure to be back next season, is one of the most valuable recruits in the Big Ten. Because he's good, but not so good he had to go. The same went for David Lighty, Jon Diebler and William Buford in recent years, and will go for Lenzelle Smith Jr. next year.

For now, Oladipo has announced he's leaving, and reportedly Zeller will announce the same today for the Hoosiers.

The Michigan players haven't made their decisions public, but the Wolverines should lose between two and four players from the group of Burke, Robinson, McGary and Hardaway.

Michigan State is less certain, but Payne will probably be back, and Harris, too, though the freshman certainly has the talent to go. And he's too good to be a four-year guy.

So the talent gave the Big Ten a great year of basketball in 2012-13. Now it needs to be replaced. With the Buckeyes no longer the only pipeline to the draft, the court has been leveled. All the best teams will have holes to fill.

In the early top 25 for next season from CBSSports.com, Michigan State was No. 2, a ranking the Spartans deserve if Harris doesn't go; Michigan was No. 5, which would go down if more than two guys leave; Ohio State was No. 9; Wisconsin was No. 13 and Indiana was No. 23.

ESPN had No. 3 Michigan State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 19 Indiana, No. 25 Iowa and Indiana on the outside looking in.

The Hoosiers have another strong recruiting class on the way. But they'll also learn that replacing great players who go early is hard work. Ohio State has been learning that for a few years.

(4:10 p.m. corrected Indiana player to Eric Gordon, not Ben Gordon)