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Big Ten Basketball: 5 questions facing the conference for 2018-19

By Lukas Harkins

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 04: The Michigan Wolverines celebrate after defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 75-66 during the championship game of the Big 10 Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 04: The Michigan Wolverines celebrate after defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 75-66 during the championship game of the Big 10 Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 04: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 04: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

As the new season approaches, there are several questions facing the Big Ten basketball conference. Here are a few of those Q’s.

College basketball is only about one month away. After a long offseason of recruiting and preseason projections, the new season is nearly upon us. Having said this, conference previews are cropping up across the interweb. In regards to Big Ten basketball, there are several questions facing teams in the league that will determine how successful the conference will be.

Before fast-forwarding to this new season, though, let’s take a brief look into the past to examine the success level of the conference in 2017-18. In summary, the league was extremely top-heavy. Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue were simply a step ahead of everyone else throughout last season and they were the only teams to receive NCAA Tournament bids. And, considering how dominant these teams were during the regular season, it was no surprise to see all of them win their opening round games.

After this, only Michigan advanced past the Sweet 16 but they made the entire conference proud by reaching the national championship game before falling to Villanova. In the end, the postseason successes of the four tournament teams helped to cover up an altogether down year for the conference. Yet, as we look ahead to this upcoming season, the Big Ten projects as a much deeper league.

Without any further introduction, let’s dive into some of the most important questions facing Big Ten basketball heading into the 2018-19 season.

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