Big Ten basketball play is set to resume after the first of the year as the non-conference schedule just concluded on December 30. So how do the teams rank with two months of play in the books?
The Big Ten non-conference schedule is coming to a complete end. Each team played two Big Ten games in early December which brought some excitement right after Holiday Tournaments concluded. That was a great idea because following Big Ten play came a lot of dull contests because of finals week at universities and Christmas. But we’re all ready to dive into conference play and get ready for March.
The Big Ten has been controlled by the team who made the National Championship last season. Michigan is having its best start in recent memory and will wind up landing a better seed in the NCAA Tournament. This could be what gets John Beilein into the Hall of Fame. The Wolverines had no issue replacing Mo Wagner and Muhammed-Ali Abdur-Rahkman.
The other Michigan team has had a wild non-conference season. They kicked things off with a crucial loss to Kansas then went out and swept the Las Vegas Tournament. The Spartans lost to Louisville, but is now on a six-game winning streak. Chris Holtmann hasn’t missed a beat as the Buckeyes have only lost once. Romeo Langford and Juwan Morgan are a great duo at Indiana. Nebraska only has two losses and looks to not be sweating on Selection Sunday.
Wisconsin is back and has been a consistent top-five Big Ten team all season. Iowa is playing defense and hasn’t lost a non-conference game. Minnesota only has one loss in the non-conference slate and Maryland has reached the 10-win mark already. Purdue, Northwestern and Penn State all have less than 10 wins, but still rank inside the KenPom top-50. Rutgers and Illinois look to be basement Big Ten teams this year, but could cause a trap game at some point in the next couple of months.
Carsen Edwards is going to run away with the Big Ten scoring title. He leads the league at 25.8 points per game which is second to James Palmer at 19.6. Those two along with Ethan Happ will be duking it out all season for Big Ten MOP. Edwards has made almost 50 three-pointers so far, Palmer has 28 while Happ is averaging a double-double.
The freshman class is led by Langford as expected, but he isn’t running away with that title. He’s averaging over 17 points per game and almost six boards. Ignas Brazdeikis was the answer to the departure of Wagner as he’s averaging over 16 points and just under five rebounds. Two freshmen, Daniel Oturu for Minnesota and Jalen Smith for Maryland are averaging over seven boards per game.
The Big Ten certainly hasn’t disappointed. It wouldn’t come as a shock to anyone if they got 10 teams in the Tournament. Right now, all but two are at least on the bubble. This is going to be one of the most exciting Big Ten basketball seasons in recent history. We already got a taste about a month ago and we’re ready to go back into the full swing of things.
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