I would be the first to tell you that while I'm a huge sports fan. But I have somewhat lost track of Big Ten college basketball as a whole. I typically know who is doing well and who is struggling. But until this season, Big Ten college basketball has not really been a priority for me while checking scoreboards.
My mindset has completely changed this season. The rebirth of a couple programs (Michigan and Minnesota), as well as the continued excellence of others (Michigan State and Purdue), has kept me enthralled in the early goings of this season.
With conference play just around the corner, I thought I would take a crack at throwing some predictions out there for everyone to enjoy (or get physically ill over—guess it would depend on what team you support). For entertainment purposes, let's go backwards!
11. Indiana Hoosiers (Overall: 7-22; Conference: 2-16)
It's going to be an ugly year for the Hoosiers and their fans, but coach Tom Crean has the credentials and the passion to get this turned around quickly. This may be the one and only season we see Indiana at the bottom of the heap.
10. Northwestern Wildcats (12-17; 3-15)
If this team was playing in last year's Big Ten, I would give them a shot at winning 7-9 games. This year...not so much. Northwestern has improved, but it won't be enough to make any serious noise in the Big Ten this year.
9. Iowa Hawkeyes (14-17; 4-14)
This team hasn't really played anyone outside of Boston College and West Virginia in non-conference play, and they lost both of those games. Another team that should get better in the coming seasons.
8. Penn State Nittany Lions (17-12; 6-10)
Penn State is one of the harder teams to predict in this conference. I'm not too confident in this team getting ONLY six conference wins; in fact, they have an outside shot at getting to the Big Dance.
7. Illinois Fighting Illini (20-9; 8-8)
Here is where we really start to see how much stronger the Big Ten is this year. Illinois should win 20 games in total....yet they won't even sniff the Big Ten regular season title.
6. Minnesota Golden Gophers (21-7; 9-7)
Is Tubby Smith closing in on another Coach of the Year award? If this prediction holds true, it would be hard to give it to anyone else. No one predicted that Minnesota would be so good so fast. Perhaps Smith should get more credit than he's received.
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