Conference Number 6 - Big Ten

Today fans start my countdown of Men's college basketball conferences. I am doing the big 6 conferences and at number 6 is the Big Ten. That doesn't make this a bad conference but as a whole out of the six major ones I feel the Big Ten is the weakest. I only really see 2 or 3 good teams and a few mediocre teams and the rest is not much. A conference that has 11 teams in it should produce more good teams then that.

Just like Big Ten football, Big Ten basketball is sometimes hard to watch. Its very slow and methodical but just like in football the teams most definitely get after each other. Wisconsin won the league last year with a stellar 16-2 conference record. Bo Ryan and the Badgers always seem to right there at the end everything shakes out.

Now for the team by team breakdown.

11. Indiana Hoosiers- Who would've ever thought this was possible? I didn't. This team will probably lose more then it wins this year. The good news...ummmmmm...Tom Crean is the new head coach. To make matters worse, Kelvin Sampson left and now the school is on probation for something he did. Oh boy. This is an inexperienced team to say the least. The second most experienced player on the team has only 11 total minutes ever in college basketball. It's going to be a long few years in Hoosier land.

10. Northwestern Wildcats - This is the trendy pick as the big surprise in the Big Ten this year. They have their two best players returning and a good class coming in. Well, I am here to tell you, don't count on it. This is still Northwestern. One of those two players, Kevin Coble, was injured for the final 9 games last year. Guess what? The only Big Ten game they won last year, the last one against Michigan. I don't think they will be as much improved as people think.

9. Iowa Hawkeyes - It was Todd Lickliter's first season in Iowa City after leaving Butler. Lickliter was darn good at Butler but this is the Big Ten now and its a whole lot different. He will get this team back to where it should be soon but not this year. They only averaged 51 points a game last year and it's probably going to be right around that this year. I know this is a slow league but not that slow. This is a young team and will be much better in the coming years.

8. Penn State Nittany Lions - This here is my trendy pick to make a run at becoming a top tier team in this league this year. I know I have them at 8 so I don't see it working out but if a normally bad team makes a run this year it will be Penn St. They started off last year strong with two league road wins and then fell off. They have 4 returning starters, a couple of good transfers and two good freshmen. I feel like that could be a formula for success.

7. Illinois Fighting Illini - Remember 2005 when they had 37 wins. And for a long time were undefeated. Yea, last year they only had 16. That's 21 less wins in 3 years. That's 7 wins a season. That means they will only win 9 games this year. Well, all of that was true until the last line. This team will be better then last year. They have 4 returning producers in the backcourt which is one of the top backcourts in the league. That means a lot in the Big Ten. They also have some talent up front but that is definitely the weakness here. It wouldn't surprise me if this team finishes fourth in the league.

6. Michigan Wolverines - The basketball team will finish better then the football team did. Manny Harris may be the player of the year in the Big Ten. DeShawn Sims is a stud up front. This team already has a huge win over UCLA. It's going to be up to the other five or six players that play a lot for John Belien to really determine how far this team goes. This team will have a shot at a bid into the big dance.

5. Minnesota Golden Gophers - Did you know that Tubby Smith is the coach here now? Well, this will be his second year and last year he led this team from 9 wins the previous year to 20 last year. That is a huge improvement and this team will only get better. They lost in the first round of the NIT to Maryland last year. I know three starters are gone but I believe with Tubby's coaching experience, the Gophers will be right around 20 wins again. If they are lucky that will get them a bid into the tournament.

4. Ohio State Buckeyes - B.J. Mullens is the best recruit in the conference and a guy named William Buford might be the second. They both are in Columbus. Thad Matta and his staff seemed to be setting a trend. Don't count on Ohio St to be at the top of the experience list ever. This team does have some returning talent and it should be enough for them to contend in the conference. I don't know about the final game of the season or anything like that but as the season moves a long this team will get better and better.

3. Purdue Boilermakers - Most of the experts have this team as number 1 or 2 in the league. I think they are definitely good enough with Robbie Hummel, Keaton Grant and E'Twaun Moore. They were 15-3 last year in the Big Ten. They could finish that good again and I could see them ended up right here at number 3. This is a really solid deep team who could very easily win the whole league. They game between Wisconsin and Michigan St are going to be the deciders on who wins the regular season championship. I am obviously betting on the other two.

2. Wisconsin Badgers - Last year was supposed to be a rebuilding year in Madison. Alando Tucker went to the NBA and they weren't supposed to be anywhere near as good. 31-5 and 16-2. Those were the overall record and Big Ten record and on top of it all most of the guys are back. I'm not sure 30 wins is possible again but 27 or 28 definitely is. Definitely a contender to win the league again and Bo Ryan is one of the best coaches in the college basketball right now.

1. Michigan State Spartans - Tom Izzo has this team primed for a deep run in March. They just lost last night to Maryland but that will only serve as a wake-up call for Izzo and his boys. Kalin Lucas may be the best penetrator in the country and Raymar Morgan is very good also. Goran Suton is the anchor in the middle and he needs to stay healthy and active to really keep the balance for this team. This team is deep and will continue to stay hungry all throughout the season. I see a 16-2 in the Big Ten and probably 30 to 35 wins. This team is that good!

That's my Big Ten preview fans, check back tomorrow for my number 5 conference preview. Which conference is it? I am not telling you that, you have to come back and see!