This has been the heart of the discussion, directly or indirectly, since the roster turnover began after Ben was hired. No one knows for sure what happened. He may have taken a shot at players who could have prevented this season from being a complete disaster on the court and failed. Or, he may have made the conscious decision to bring in guys to help establish a culture with little regard to on-court success this year from the beginning. Most likely, in my opinion, is that culture was the highest priority, and he missed on some guys with more talent who could have been the culture base, thus ending up with what we have. A group of mostly low major guys who he trusts to establish the culture he wants to build.
He may have had the opportunity to bring in talent that would not be last place quality, but it may have not helped establish his culture. No one knows that for sure. For what it's worth, at this stage of the rebuild, taking chances on guys who don't fit to get us into 10th instead of last would not have been worth it, in my opinion.
I would have preferred a roster that had a chance to be more competitive, like you, but Ben went in a different direction, chosen or imposed. The jury will be out for three years or so before we determine if the strategy works long term. I was disappointed that he could not land guys that he had a previous relationship with and to me that is the biggest red flag in his execution of head coaching duties so far.
Until then, this is what we have, and success will be determined by growth, glimpses of possible future success, and culture establishment, and not wins and losses. I am not excited about this season, but I bought my season tickets, will get to as many games as I can, and look for reasons to be hopeful about the future. Analyzing how bad they are in relation to other B1G teams seems like a fruitless task for now.