What Should I Expect This Season?

[Go Gophs]

I'd love to say NCAA tourney, but their non-con schedule again looks bad. Doesn't mean they can't make it, they just have to get their wins in the B1G.
We should expect tourney or close to it, every season. This is a Big Ten program that has built in advantages over lots of other leagues/teams.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

We should expect tourney or close to it, every season. This is a Big Ten program that has built in advantages over lots of other leagues/teams.

Making the NCAA tournament every year, or almost every year, isn't as easy as many seem to think even for a Big Ten team.

Here are the current Big Ten teams who have made at least 8 of the last 10 NCAA tournaments (not counting the cancelled 2020 postseason year):

Michigan State
Wisconsin
Purdue

It's a short list and doesn't include some teams that generally are regarded as perennial basketball powers (Michigan, UCLA, Maryland, Illinois). Indiana isn't on there either but I'm not sure they can be considered a perennial power anymore.

 

[SplitDecision]

I can be just as wrong as the media experts/coaches are every year, so here is my summer dead time Big Ten preseason prediction in order/hope of conference finish. Barring injuries, etc, picking the 5th team was way more difficult than any other. The top 4 should be pretty solid. Most teams have a weakness to nitpick, and the next 10 are interchangeable middling teams. The bottom 4 will imo be weak by Big Ten standards. We'll see. Really hope Indiana stinks. (Could never stand them going way back. My order of least likeable teams historically--Ind, Wisc, Mich, Iowa, OSU, ILL, MSU, Pur, NWU. Apathetic about addn's later

Purdue
Michigan
Illinois
UCLA

Wisconsin
Mich. St.
Ohio St.
Maryland
Washington
Minnesota
Oregon
Iowa
USC
Indiana

Nebraska
Northwestern
Penn St.
Rutgers

 

[formerlybis]

I can be just as wrong as the media experts/coaches are every year, so here is my summer dead time Big Ten preseason prediction in order/hope of conference finish. Barring injuries, etc, picking the 5th team was way more difficult than any other. The top 4 should be pretty solid. Most teams have a weakness to nitpick, and the next 10 are interchangeable middling teams. The bottom 4 will imo be weak by Big Ten standards. We'll see. Really hope Indiana stinks. (Could never stand them going way back. My order of least likeable teams historically--Ind, Wisc, Mich, Iowa, OSU, ILL, MSU, Pur, NWU. Apathetic about addn's later

Purdue
Michigan
Illinois
UCLA

Wisconsin
Mich. St.
Ohio St.
Maryland
Washington
Minnesota
Oregon
Iowa
USC
Indiana

Nebraska
Northwestern
Penn St.
Rutgers

I think putting yourself out there is commendable, of course, so kudos for that. With all the roster turmoil for almost every team, the confidence interval is so much wider than it used to be.

 

[TwistingMyMelon]

I can be just as wrong as the media experts/coaches are every year, so here is my summer dead time Big Ten preseason prediction in order/hope of conference finish. Barring injuries, etc, picking the 5th team was way more difficult than any other. The top 4 should be pretty solid. Most teams have a weakness to nitpick, and the next 10 are interchangeable middling teams. The bottom 4 will imo be weak by Big Ten standards. We'll see. Really hope Indiana stinks. (Could never stand them going way back. My order of least likeable teams historically--Ind, Wisc, Mich, Iowa, OSU, ILL, MSU, Pur, NWU. Apathetic about addn's later

Purdue
Michigan
Illinois
UCLA

Wisconsin
Mich. St.
Ohio St.
Maryland
Washington
Minnesota
Oregon
Iowa
USC
Indiana

Nebraska
Northwestern
Penn St.
Rutgers

I'm fairly confident PSU and Rutgers will be in the cellar. PSU might have been able to avoid that had Niederhausen not stayed in the draft but they look pretty weak by conference standards now. I don't know what to think about Nebraska. They lost four of their top five players but they have big man Rienk Mast returning from injury and got a pretty decent big man transfer from Central Michigan so they could be better upfront than they were last year. Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort (Payton's brother) could have a breakout year for them.

 

[howeda7]

I'd love to say NCAA tourney, but their non-con schedule again looks bad. Doesn't mean they can't make it, they just have to get their wins in the B1G.
We should expect tourney or close to it, every season. This is a Big Ten program that has built in advantages over lots of other leagues/teams.

Sounds like the NCAA is going to moronically plow ahead with a 76 team field, so I guess a 9-11 B1G team will probably be a lock.