Fresh off sending 4 teams to the Sweet 16, the B1G tops our pre-season rankings of conferences. From top-to-bottom, it should be the best conference again. Indiana, Michigan & Ohio State all are Final Four capable and Wisconsin, Minnesota & Michigan State are all solid choices fo the NCAA tournament.
Iowa and Illinois will be bubble teams. Iowa is definitely on the upswing behind head coach Fran McCaffery but they do lose G Matt Gatens. But, McCaffery brings in FR. PG Mike Gesell and 7'1' local big man Adam Woodbury who was being heavily recruited by North Carolina. This is a good sign for the Iowa faithful who watched Harrison Barnes leave. Illinois brings in new coach John Groce. Groce is a former Ohio State assistant and is familiar with the territory. If the roster buys in, there's enough talent for them to get a bid.
Wisconsin loses Josh Gasser for the season and Sideshow Mike for a month or so but have more than enough talent to compensate. Computers still like them and Sam Dekker may end up being the best player Bo ever recruited. But like other Badger teams, consistent scoring will be an issue. MSU loses Draymond Green but are a very deep team. And never bet against Izzo. Minnesota's entire season revolves around whether or not Trevor Mbakwe's knee holds up and he stays out of jail. Big year for Tubby Smith.
Ohio State loses Jared Sullinger and William Buford but retain gritty PG Aaron Craft (gritty = Craft, get use to it) and explosive Deshaun Thomas who some think could be among the nation's leading scorers. Thad Matta keeps getting older but the talent level stays the same.
Michigan is a trendy pick but there are legit questions about their offense which struggled mightily at times last season. Getting SOPH PG Trey Burke back was the key to the off-season but they need more consistency out of Tim Hardaway, Jr. The frontline has been soft under Beilein but FROSH Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson, Jr. should alleviate some of those concerns. They also get Jon Horford back who missed last season with injuries. Hardaway, Horford, Robinson. You're old.
Finally, Indiana is back. Cody Zeller is a consensus All-American and pre-season Player of the Year. The talent level in Bloomington is the deepest it's been since the early 1990's. Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford are the SR's who played through the dark years and now are reaping the benefits. Both will be looking to go from the bottom to the top. Don't bet against them. As for their head coach...well, a trip to the Final 4 would cement him amongst the nation's best but should they fail to do that this year...Keep an eye on Yogi Ferrell, a FROSH PG.
The blue bloods have risen. Kentucky and Indiana are back on top. UCLA might be back and Kansas will be the favorite in the Big 12. Carolina and Duke will be forces in the ACC. For that, college basketball fans should be excited for what shapes up to be a potentially great season.
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