Big Ten Basketball: Updated way-too-early rankings after the NBA Draft
It is simply not a Big Ten basketball preseason rankings without Michigan State at the top. Whether or not the Spartans live up to this expectation remains to be seen but they are consistently one of the top programs in the conference. Head coach Tom Izzo has had some issues with postseason success in the last three years but that should not take away from his Big Ten regular season dominance. Michigan State has not had a losing season in conference play since the 1992-93 campaign and they have won double-digit conference games in 20 of the last 25 seasons. I think it is fair to say that the Spartans deserve preseason honors. Of course, this is largely due to the fact that their roster is tremendous as well as their history.
Even though Jaren Jackson and Miles Bridges are gone, Michigan State returns a lot of talent from last season, including three double-digit scorers. The leader of this group, Cassius Winston, put up 12.6 points and 6.9 assists last year as the second-leading scorer and the main catalyst of the offense. In addition, Nick Ward (12.4 points, 7.1 rebounds) can more than hold his own in the paint while Joshua Langford (11.7 points) can score alone the perimeter. The return of deadly shooter Matt McQuaid also doesn’t hurt matters.
There is also an elite group of freshmen coming in. The Spartans’ 2018 recruiting class comes in at No. 17 in the nation and is led by three top-100 recruits, including 6-foot-10 Marcus Bingham Jr.
Big Ten basketball looks poised for an incredible season in 2018-19. There are multiple teams who should be contending for NCAA Tournament bids and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the league doubled its number of bids from last year (4).