Big Ten Basketball 2026-27 Standings Outlook

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60's Guy

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My thought is that this is a place we can find some information on what our conference opponents are doing. Standings Predictions in post numbers 10 and 11.

Indiana finished 10th and Iowa finished 9th. The Gophers finished 11th. I'll start with Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Indiana Portal Haul
Indiana is currently #2 in the 247 Basketball Transfer Portal Rankings. The other Big Ten team in their Top 10 is UCLA at #10. UCLA finished 7th in the Big Ten last year.
Maryland preview added with portal haul and the #9 freshmen class.
 
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Illinois won’t have an high portal ranking since retention was the goal.

Illinois has only added one player from the portal: 6-7 guard Stephan Vaaks. Averaged 16 as a freshman at Providence. Scheduled to run the point.

Have added five freshmen: 6-5 Quentin Coleman, 6-7 Lucas Morillo, 6-7 Zavier Zens, 6-4 Ethan Brown, 6-9 Landon Davis. Coleman and Morillo are both top 30 recruits and one will likely start at guard with Vaaks. Zens is Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball. Brown is one of my favorites. Athletic shooter.

The key for the team was retention. Returning: Mirkovic, Stoyakovic, T. Ivisic, Z. Ivisic, Jake Davis, Brandon Lee, Jakstys

There was talk of going after John Blackman whose dad played at Illinois. However, there are only so many basketballs and so much money, so I don’t think that will happen. I’d love to have him but understand why they won’t.

Hopeful for another good season.
 

Iowa returns 5 players who played 37 games last year. Taivion Banks is hoping to receive a waiver to player another year in college because he started his career at a junior college. Others were granted waivers last year to play 5 years within 5. If he receives the waiver...they'd return 6 guys who played 37 games.
They graduated their best player in Bennett Stirtz ... 20ppg
They lost Folgueiras in the transfer portal. He like Stirtz played in 37 games for the Hawkeyes and averaged 8.4 ppg.
The returnees:
Cooper Koch 6'8" RSFR - 37 games - avg 7.8 ppg - last 10 games 61.5% from 3 on uncontested looks. 40% overall from 3 on the year.
Tate Sage 6-7" FR - 37 games - avg 6.1 ppg - 43.8% on spot up 3's - 38.9% overall from 3
Cam Manyawu 6-9" JR - 37 games - 6.6 ppg - 4.6 rebs - 57.5 FT% no ability to shoot 3's
Kael Combs 6-4" JR - 37 games - avg 6.1 ppg - 33.3% from 3
Isaia Howard 6-5" SO - 37 games - avg 5.1 ppg - best defender -

Returnees: Trey Thompson 6'8" RSFR similar to Koch and Sage, practiced only last year and shot 45-47% on 3's in practice
Trevin Jirak 6'11" FR - 17 games 3.4 ppg
Joey Matteoni 6-9" FR -
Jacob Koch 6-2" SO
Peyton McCollum 6'2" FR

INCOMING FRESHMEN
Ethan Harris 6'9"
Jaidyn Coon 6'7"

LOST:
Bennett Stirtz 6'4" - 37 games - avg 19.8 ppg 4.4 asst and 1.8 to 1.4 steals
Alvaro Folgueiras 6'10" - 37 games - avg 8.4 ppg 33.3% from 3 - 3.6 reb
Brendan Hausen 6-4" - 21 games - avg 4 ppg but didn't play like last 10 games coaches decision
Taivion Banks 6-7" 37 games - avg 10.2 ppg 4.6 reb 44.2% from 3 (waiting on juco waiver)

TRANSFER PORTAL INCOMING
Ty'Reek Coleman 6'2" FR from Ill St in Big 12 - avg 10 ppg - 42.3% from 3 - 2.7 reb - "quick, talented"
Andrew McKeever 7'-3" RSSO from St Marys - avg 8.2 ppg - 9.8 reb 1.8 asst
Played for Randy Bennett at St Marys, who left to become the AZ ST head coach. Bennett recruited him hard at AZ St as did Purdue, U Conn, Michigan, and Ole Miss. So, he must have value but the knocks are he can't shoot or block shots. However, he is excellent at rebounding and should fit nicely when away from the basket in their offense on pick and rolls and the like.
But, he seemingly had to cost a lot. Bigs are getting paid and Iowa outbid some strong competition.

The freshmen are expected to compete to play. They are Top 100 level recruits.
Maybe 1 roster spot left...maybe 2? I think they'd like to wait on Banks.
Banks himself was 10.2 ppg, 4.6 reb and shot 44.2% from 3. So if they lose him, the guard production is a deeper hole to replace.
I think they need another point guard, scorer like the Coleman addition to equal Stirtz's production even if they got Banks back. So, this is the area of concern for Iowa. Do they free up another roster spot?

Excellent McKeever writeup: Story Includes video clips of highlights. He is active, he is left handed, not timid and I can see why teams would be pursuing him.
 
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Wisconsin finished 5th in the Big Ten last year. Their string of top finishes in the Big Ten the last number of years is remarkable.
Anybody suggesting their demise or fall in the standings may be disappointed. Yes, leading scorer Nick Boyd (20.7 ppg) graduated and his running mate John Blackwell (19.1 ppg) is one of the top names in the outgoing transfer portal. How could they possibly be any good?

Well, they return Minnesota's Nolan Winter at 7' for his senior year. He averaged 13.1 ppg, 8.5 reb and shot 32.6% from 3. Austin Rapp was 6'10" sophomore last year who shot 36.3% from 3 and scored 9.7 ppg with 4 reb. They also return 4 others who all averaged under 2.2 ppg but are young....3 FR - 1 SO.

To reload: Wisconsin has added Owen Foxwell from Australia. He will be a 23 year old point guard with 6 years of experience in the NBL league. He is friends with Rapp...who is also from Australia.
Foxwell averaged 11 ppg and 5 asst. He shot 37% from 3. He can score at all levels and do whatever is needed...he is crafty, experienced and talented. Some say best PG addition of the off season for college basketball.

Then in the transfer portal Wisconsin has added 3 more solid additions, so far. They have 5 more roster spots available to fill. Victory Onuetu 6-10 from Hofstra. 4.7 ppg but 6.9 reb.
Eian Elmer 6-6 from Miami Ohio - 12.7 ppg and 5.9 reb Rothstein says he'll replace Blackwell...explosive mercurial scorer.
Trey Autry 6-4 from Geo Washington U - 11ppg 39.3 from 3 - coaches' kid, all around solid instinctive player

Wisconsin lost/has 4 guys outgoing in the transfer portal. At first glance, Blackwell is the only guy...but Aleksas Bieliaskas at 4.9ppg, 4.4 reb for Wisconsin as a starter from Lithuania, Jeff Goodman and ON3 have him in their Top 100 Prospects. He signed with South Carolina. So this is someone else Wisconsin needs to replace. Otherwise zero and 1.0 ppg are the other two guys outgoing. And, Wisconsin graduated 5 guys but Boyd is the guy there. Carrington 8.3 ppg and Rohde 5.7 ppg also gone ... two others who total less than a point.

6 Returnees, 4 transfer additions ... they still have 5 roster spots open. But they have 6 solid guys in place. Plus, the other 4 returnees with Rapp and Winter are 3 FR and a SO who could elevate.
I think Wisconsin, unfortunately, will figure it out again and be among the top teams in the conference.
They might be even better, depending who the other additions are. They have a solid core already.
 
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I guess they realize we’ll be better than all three.

 




Maryland finished 17th in the Big Ten last year. Buzz Williams in his 2nd year is expecting to have them in the NCAA tournament in 2026-27. They have been very successful in the portal and have the 9th best freshmen recruiting class in the country coming in for the upcoming season.

Leading scorer, 6-9 Pharrel Payne is expected return with a medical redshirt he has applied for. He missed most of the season. He averaged 17.5 ppg to start the season. Payne and Andre Mills came with Buzz from Texas A&M. The 6'-4 Mills averaged 12.2 ppg. 6'-3 JR Myles Rice may return as well, he was also injured and averaged 5.6 ppg when he played. (Rice entered the portal on the last day April 21) Two other freshmen returnees round out those seemingly coming back.

The fire power is from the transfer portal and the freshmen class. Incoming from the transfer portal: DJ Wagner from Arkansas and Kentucky, Tomislav Buljan from New Mexico (13.1, 10.3 reb) and Croatia and Bishop Boswell from Tennessee (38% from 3) all rank in the Top 70 of Jeff Goodman's Top Portal Prospects. They also have added Robert Jennings and Maban Jabriel.
And on April 20th they add Mike McNair 6'-5" CG from Boston University. 16.9 ppg 5.1 reb and 44.4% from 3.

Incoming Freshmen
#11 Baba Oladotun 6-10
#43 Kaden House 6-3
#130 Adama Tambedow 6-7
#214 Austin Brown 6-8

Payne, Buljan and Oladotun could be one of the better front courts in the country. DJ Wagner as a senior should be able to mold Mills, House, Boswell, and now McNair with the others into a top backcourt as well. That's 5 guards who are capable of or who have averaged double figures in college. It would seem to be an upset if Maryland does not return to the Top 10 in the standings of the Big Ten. Maryland is now top 5 strong on paper.

Buzz took his last 3 teams at Texas A&M to the NCAA Tournament and his last 3 teams at Virginia Tech. Marquette, he took them to the NCAA Tournament 5 of his last 6 seasons. He has 3 Sweet 16 appearances in his coaching career. Maryland is going dancing....nice roster.

(And I think they got a roster spot left (McNair signed...are they full up?...they have 6 listed in the portal...with rumors a couple could return plus one or two of the lesser guys on the roster could get in the portal...idk...lots of speculation who is in and who is out from last years group...several guys were hurt)
 
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BIG TEN 2026-27 Conference Standings Predictions (April 21, 2026)
From ESPN, Fox, USA, The Athletic, SI, ON3, Yahoo, CBS Top 25 in the Country early Predictions and a couple others I pulled out the Big Ten ranked teams in those polls and made my own prediction.
#1 Illinois ( 2, 8, 1, 1, 4, 3, 6, 6, 2, 8, )
#2 Michigan ( 3, 4, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, ) April 25 Update: Michigan added 7'2" Moustapha Thiam from Cincy 18ppg and 10.4 reb over final 8 games last year. And 6'10" Jalen Reed joined from LSU...42.4% from 3 - 9.5 ppg and 5.7 reb - trouble staying healthy.
#3 Michigan St ( 1, 1, 6, 5, 7, 4, 1, 5, 3, 4, ) April 22nd added Anton Bonke 7'-2" 10.6ppg -
8.3 reb from Charlotte
Again, the numbers in parenthesis are what others see these Big Ten Teams ranked in the country NOT just in the Big Ten.
#4. Iowa ( 8, 22, 25, 19, 11, 20, 21, 21 ) (not in all polls)
#5 Purdue ( 6, 20, 14, 21, 16, 20, 10, 18, 13, 12 )
#6 Nebraska ( 7, 21, 18, 17, 18, 21, 20, 15, 10, 16 )
#7. USC ( 17, 17, 25, 22 ) April 22nd added Jalen Cox 17.9ppg 5.2reb Colgate
#8 Wisconsin ( 17, 19, 24 )
#9. Indiana ( nobody ranked in Top 25 )
#10 Maryland (nobody ranked in Top 25 )
#11 Ohio St ( 18, 21 ). Rothstein-Fanduel has Ohio St #23 in the country. (Link in post #17)
#12 UCLA ( 22, 19 )
#13 Minnesota
#14. Oregon
#15 Penn St
#16. NW
#17 Rutgers
#18 Washington
 
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Top 25 Big Ten
From the Seattle Times....their Big Ten Conference Predictions
I agree with the writer...the bottom 6 are way harder to predict. Tough to get higher than 13 for those teams, I think. But, for teams 13 through 18, are they 18 or 13 ? ... or any combination in between?
Top 12 in my poll and in his poll seem like they should finish Top 12 in some order...at least in the middle of April. Those 12 teams have the best rosters.
 
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GophersInIowa said:
I feel like that is Maryland in basketball and football just about every year. They recruit at a high level many years but are almost always mediocre at best.
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Yes and no in basketball. They keep switching coaches. In 24-25 they finished in 2nd place at 14 and 6. Coach leaves late and they are late to the portal with the new coach, guys get hurt and they were woeful in Buzz's first year. But he has a record of taking teams to the tournament as i mentioned. Time will tell.
 

combes1 said:
Illinois won’t have an high portal ranking since retention was the goal.

Illinois has only added one player from the portal: 6-7 guard Stephan Vaaks. Averaged 16 as a freshman at Providence. Scheduled to run the point.

Have added five freshmen: 6-5 Quentin Coleman, 6-7 Lucas Morillo, 6-7 Zavier Zens, 6-4 Ethan Brown, 6-9 Landon Davis. Coleman and Morillo are both top 30 recruits and one will likely start at guard with Vaaks. Zens is Wisconsin’s Mr. Basketball. Brown is one of my favorites. Athletic shooter.

The key for the team was retention. Returning: Mirkovic, Stoyakovic, T. Ivisic, Z. Ivisic, Jake Davis, Brandon Lee, Jakstys

There was talk of going after John Blackman whose dad played at Illinois. However, there are only so many basketballs and so much money, so I don’t think that will happen. I’d love to have him but understand why they won’t.

Hopeful for another good season.
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Illinois had a nice run. Having a huge team paid dividends, until they played an experienced team in UConn. Illinois big players could not guard them off curl screens. They ended up trading 2 pts inside and giving up 3 on the other end.

I would have tried to recruit more smaller athletic players to help with their one weakness. Now the only transfer is a 6-7 pg? Boswell their only athletic guard know, for his defense moves on. They will be good, but they probably will have the same weakness. They averaged 4.6 blocks and 3.8 steals. I can't imagine too many teams have averaged more blocks than steals? Coleman sounds like an ok athlete, and Morillo has a lot of "crafty" descriptions in his game, usually reserved for non-athletes. Either way they will be very good.
 

60's Guy said:
BIG TEN 2026-27 Conference Standings Predictions (April 21, 2026)
From ESPN, Fox, USA, The Athletic, SI, ON3, Yahoo, CBS Top 25 in the Country early Predictions and a couple others I pulled out the Big Ten ranked teams in those polls and made my own prediction.
#1 Illinois ( 2, 8, 1, 1, 4, 3, 6, 6, 2, 8, )
#2 Michigan ( 3, 4, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, )
#3 Michigan St ( 1, 1, 6, 5, 7, 4, 1, 5, 3, 4, ) April 22nd added Anton Bonke 7'-2" 10.6ppg -
8.3 reb from Charlotte
Again, the numbers in parenthesis are what others see these Big Ten Teams ranked in the country NOT just in the Big Ten.
#4. Iowa ( 8, 22, 25, 19, 11, 20, 21, 21 ) (not in all polls)
#5 Purdue ( 6, 20, 14, 21, 16, 20, 10, 18, 13, 12 )
#6 Nebraska ( 7, 21, 18, 17, 18, 21, 20, 15, 10, 16 )
#7. USC ( 17, 17, 25, 22 ) April 22nd added Jalen Cox 17.9ppg 5.2reb Colgate
#8 Wisconsin ( 17, 19, 24 )
#9. Indiana ( nobody ranked in Top 25 )
#10 Maryland (nobody ranked in Top 25 )
#11 Ohio St ( 18, 21 )
#12 UCLA ( 22, 19 )
#13 Minnesota
#14. Oregon
#15 Penn St
#16. NW
#17 Rutgers
#18 Washington
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I would put Mn at 11 ahead of Maryland and Ohio St. 3 returning starters. Maryland will possibly be better by January with all the new players. The bottom 5 have little hope on paper.

Probably the biggest superstar losses for the big ten in some time.
Frist team: Yaxel, Wagler, and Braden smith. 2nd teamers: Stirtz, Thorton, Martinelli, Wilkerson, and Boyd. 3rd team: Blackwell and Bilodeau.
TBD Fears, Mara, and Morez Johnson.
 

march madness said:
I would put Mn at 11 ahead of Maryland and Ohio St. 3 returning starters. Maryland will possibly be better by January with all the new players. The bottom 5 have little hope on paper.

Probably the biggest superstar losses for the big ten in some time.
Frist team: Yaxel, Wagler, and Braden smith. 2nd teamers: Stirtz, Thorton, Martinelli, Wilkerson, and Boyd. 3rd team: Blackwell and Bilodeau.
TBD Fears, Mara, and Morez Johnson.
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OSU lost Bruce Thornton, but they have their best recruit in a decade coming in to be the new star, the center position should be greatly improved & bench production is likely to be a lot better (can't really get worse than #355 in bench scoring). #34 transfer portal ranking according to 247, and 3/4 of those guys aren't going to start.

Maryland on paper has a more talented team but they have to switch from being a losing team to a winning one.

Rothstein does daily, up-to-date rankings, has OSU in his updated top-25 (behind only Michigan, Illinois, MSU, USC, IU and Purdue from the B1G), and I think his assessment of is pretty fair.
https://www.fanduel.com/research/jon-rothstein-45-2026-offseason-edition-college-basketball-rankings
 

ESPN UPDATED TOP 25 (April 27, 2026)
The ESPN Updated Top 25 basketball teams in the country includes the following Big Ten teams:
#3 Michigan
#4 Illinois
#9 Michigan St
#14 USC
#16 Nebraska
#22. Purdue
#25 Indiana
Next 5:
Iowa, Ohio St and UCLA
That is 10 of the Top 30 teams in the country from the Big Ten conference.
From my projections ESPN is leaving out Maryland and Wisconsin.
 

60's Guy said:
ESPN UPDATED TOP 25 (April 27, 2026)
The ESPN Updated Top 25 basketball teams in the country includes the following Big Ten teams:
#3 Michigan
#4 Illinois
#9 Michigan St
#14 USC
#16 Nebraska
#22. Purdue
#25 Indiana
Next 5:
Iowa, Ohio St and UCLA
That is 10 of the Top 30 teams in the country from the Big Ten conference.
From my projections ESPN is leaving out Maryland and Wisconsin.
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That's incredible. I need to "see it to believe it" for USC, seem a little over rated
 

Spottedmuskie said:
That's incredible. I need to "see it to believe it" for USC, seem a little over rated
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They likely are not overrated on talent but I like you am a little skeptical they are the 14th best team in the country. Musselman has had chemistry problems on his teams the last few years at Arkansas and USC and now he has probably his most talented team on ever on paper....can he get them to get along and play together? That's a lotta star player egos. I truly don't know.
 

Spottedmuskie said:
That's incredible. I need to "see it to believe it" for USC, seem a little over rated
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Agree that USC *could* underachieve. The parts are there for an elite season out of USC. Will the whole be as good as the sum of the parts? If so, this could be a top-10 team easily. A lot of new pieces, although Rodney Rice is returning & has proven himself to be a strong college player and Arenas has lived up to at least some of the hype. Lots to like about USC on paper, can tell they are spending big $ on NIL to get all that talent. Hard to imagine this USC team missing the tournament again, especially with the field expanding to 76. They should have made the tourney this season but went cold down the stretch and lost each of their last 8 ballgames.

On the flipside, Purdue is the B1G team that seems most overrated at this point. They're ranked on the backs of recent success, which most of the guys on that team haven't been top contributors to. Who are going to be the leaders at Purdue now? Braden Smith got star treatment in terms of perception, and certainly he had a number of strong accomplishments, but he's gone, so huge hit for Purdue, right? Of course, Smith is just one of the "big four" they lost along with Loyer, Kaufman-Renn and Cluff. Purdue's top returning scorer averaged 8.5 ppg this season. While Pierce is going to be good for them & they will have someone else step in and be decent, it's hard to fathom Purdue not taking a very large step back. IMO, recent track record is mostly responsible for Purdue being in the preseason top-25. If it was just based on the talent that each team has on paper, independent of recent team success, Purdue would not be in the preseason top-25.
 

Oregon ... starting over... Oregon Portal update (April 29, 2026)
Oregon has 8 guys in the outgoing portal and had 6 seniors on the roster last year. So, they probably have room for 4 or 5 more additions to go along with these 10 guys.
Fred Payne PG Boston College 6-1 Soph 15.8 ppg 4.2 reb 2.7 asst
Tyrone Riley IV G San Francisco 6-6 Soph 12.2 ppg 4.8 reb 1.2 asst NBA Prospect
Jasper Johnson G Kentucky 6-5 FR 4.9 ppg 1.6 asst 88% from free throw line
Jerry Easter II G USC FR 4.4 ppg 3.0 reb 1.1 asst
Pharaoh Compton F San Diego St 6-7 Soph. 7.5 ppg 2.8 reb
Taylor Bol Bowen F Alabama 6-10 SR PF 6.3 ppg 4.2 reb
Andrew Meadow F Boise St 6-7 JR 12.1 ppg 3.6 reb 1 asst

First Four Out
Despite coming off one of their worst seasons under coach Dana Altman, the Oregon Ducks are receiving high praise for their chances of having a bounce-back year. According to ESPN's Joe Lunardi’s Lunardi 26-27 of the offseason, the Ducks are projected to be the first team out in next season’s NCAA Tournament.

Other teams joining the Ducks in the first four out include the Oklahoma Sooners, Providence Friars, and Xavier Musketeers. This projection may come as a surprise to some Oregon fans, as last season the Ducks ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten, finishing with a 12-20 overall record and going 5-15 in Big Ten play.

3 Incoming Freshmen
Four-star forward Tajh Ariza, the son of former NBA veteran Trevor Ariza, is the headliner, as he's the No. 32 ranked player overall, per 247 Sports Composite. Four-star center Kendre Harrison also is committed, though he's a tight end for the football team and is currently focused on football first, per Dan Lanning's comments after the spring game. Three-star forward Steven Spurlock, the No. 200 player in the class, is also committed to Oregon.

Ariza is 6'9" and was recruited and offered a scholarship by Kansas, Arkansas, USC, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas, UCLA and others.
 

Joe Lunardi's 2027 NCAA Men's Basketball Bracketology ESPN
Joe has 11 Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament. With a 12th, Oregon in his First Four Out.
Michigan and Michigan St #1 Seeds
Illinois #2 Seed
Purdue and Nebraska #5 Seeds
USC #6 Seed
Indiana #7 Seed
UCLA, Wisconsin, Ohio St as #9 Seeds
and Iowa as an #11 Seed
Oregon: First Four Out
He whiffs on Maryland

Couple side notes: Joe evidently has St Thomas winning the Summit League as a #12 Seed
I think they lost a lot in the portal? Google does not like St Thomas so idk

First Round location...Minneapolis, MN
 



MNVCGUY said:
NCAA tournament predictions in April....the basketball equivalent to pre-season bowl predictions in football.
Click to expand...
Selection Sunday probably has an educated guess...how many of Lunardi's 11 seeded Big Ten teams in April won't make the NCAA Tournament? How many different teams of the 6 not named will get in?
My guess is he's not far off. Therefore I don't see the disdain...all we got in April is speculation.
 

MNVCGUY said:
NCAA tournament predictions in April....the basketball equivalent to pre-season bowl predictions in football.
Click to expand...
Just so they don't end up in the pinstripe bowl.
 


60's Guy said:
Selection Sunday probably has an educated guess...how many of Lunardi's 11 seeded Big Ten teams in April won't make the NCAA Tournament? How many different teams of the 6 not named will get in?
My guess is he's not far off. Therefore I don't see the disdain...all we got in April is speculation.
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I get why they do stuff like way-to-early predictions or try to project bowl games or things like the NCAA tournament before teams every take the field/court. Gotta put out content and there is very little to draw from this time of year.

It's low hanging fruit....they can put out basically anything knowing that nobody is going to remember or care once things get going for real.
 

Scottsdale Gopher said:

I'm willing to bet that most highly rated portal classes include multiple creators, which ultimately are redundant on the roster and can actually be net negative when played together.
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Fit is important in all sports but in basketball it is vital. It's why a team like Rutgers could have 2 lottery picks and miss the NCAA tournament 24-25 and it is also why our 6 man roster could compete in the Big Ten in spite of being out matched in nearly every way.
 

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