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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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DETROIT, MI – MARCH 18: McQuaid #20 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI – MARCH 18: McQuaid #20 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Is there a strong title contender?

As already mentioned, the Big Ten should be a vastly improved conference this season. Even though many of the top players graduated or departed for the NBA this offseason, the league should be much better from top to bottom. However, how strong will the top of the conference really be this season? In my opinion, the preseason top two teams in the league will be Michigan State and Michigan. Having said this, though, I am not sure that either team will be a top-10 team in the nation.

And if this is the case, the conference could be in for a crazily competitive year. In my opinion, there will not be a huge gap in talent between the top teams in the conference and those at the bottom. I believe that the league will be extremely deep and, without a few teams a cut above the rest, this could be the most unpredictable year in some time.

Many (including myself) are projecting that the Big Ten will send a bunch of teams to the NCAA Tournament this season but there might be only one or two that look to be second-weekend teams. However, in order for the league to really put together an outstanding year as a whole, then a couple of teams will need to emerge as top-15 teams and true national title contenders.

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