The B1G, A Basketball Powerhouse

There are still some nonconference games to play before the heart of the B1G season begins, but one thing is certain: the Big Ten is ridiculous.  A 12 team conference has 9 teams with legitimate tournament aspirations.  It's going to be a long and brutal season in the Big Ten this year.  Road wins are going to come scarcely and playing Penn State may be the only possible reprieve.

A totally preliminary ranking of the 12 teams. 

1.  Ohio State

Easy to be pumped playing for the Buckeyes these days.

Despite losing @Kansas (without Sullinger),  the Buckeyes are the class of the conference.    Deshaun Thomas may be the most improved player in the league as he has turned himself into a star.  The Buckeyes are loaded with high end talent.  Aaron Craft is guaranteed to piss me off for 3 more years. (I think he's a hack but he always gets away with his reaching!)  The Buckeyes look destined for a conference championship and a #1 seed.
 
2. Wisconsin
Bo Ryan is good at coaching basketball and especially defense.   Playing in Madison will be the toughest road venue outside of Columbus for yet another season.

3. Michigan
Trey Burke has done a great job replacing Darius Morris.  This may be a bit high for Michigan but since it's my squad I believe I'm allowed to be optimistic.

4. MSU
Deep and athletic, if they can hit outside shots they can play with anyone because of their effort on the boards.  Will be interesting to see how young players deal with the tough Big Ten schedule.

5. Indiana
I may have them ranked too low.  I'm a believer in Zeller and the talent in Bloomington is enough for this team to make some serious noise.  The win over Kentucky was announcement to the rest of the nation that IU is back.

6. Illinois

Hi, I'm tall

What was that I said about Deshaun Thomas?  Yeah, that was wrong.  Meyers Leonard has been the most improved player in the B1G this year.  This 7'1 behemoth averaged 2 pts and 1 rebound as a freshman last year.  He's Illinois best player now, averaging 13 pts 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.  He's the main reason Illinois will make the tournament again this season.

7. Purdue
Could the B1G's 7th place team have the league's best player?  Another team I probably have ranked too low.  They lost so much from last year's squad but Hummel's return is a huge boost, the biggest any one player makes on a roster this season.

Another note on Hummel, does anyone think he'll be a good pro or a pro at all?  I have no idea how his game will translate.

8. Northwestern
Is this finally the year they bust through and make the dance?  If you didn't know, NW has never made the NCAA tournament in their history.  Ouch. 

9. Minnesota
Speaking of ouch.  Minny would be much higher on this list if their best player, Trevor Mbakwe hadn't suffered a season ending injury.  They'll still be tough to beat in the barn.

10. Iowa
I thought their modest amount of success at the end of last season would carry over into this year, but this team doesn't look much better than last year's squad.

11. Nebraska
I know nothing about you, Cornhuskers.  You get ranked ahead of PSU by default.

12. PSU
Hey, it's basketball season so the media and all you Nittany Lion fans can forget about the Jerry Sandusky scandal and just enjoy Penn State on the hardwood.  Yeah, this was sarcasm.  Your team is bad and the Sandusky cloud isn't going anywhere for a long, long time.


Top team, bottom 3

I can't say I'm confident about anything on this list other than Ohio State being the best team in the conference and Iowa, Nebraska and Penn State making up the basement. 

I'm serious about this, teams 2-7 could all end up as the #2 team in the conference.  I have no idea how to rank the middle pack.  It's one big jumble that will definitely be hashed out over the course of the season.  It will be a fun year in the B1G, the best conference in college basketball.