Big Ten Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2019-20 season

By Adam Childs | Sep 5, 2019

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 17: Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany presents head coach Tom Izzo the championship trophy after the Michigan State Spartans beat the Michigan Wolverines 65-60 in the championship game of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – MARCH 15: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes talks to his team during a timeout in the second half against the Michigan State Spartans during the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 15, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

3. Ohio State

Chris Holtmann has done a great job with Ohio State since he took over two years ago. They surprised many two years ago in being near the top of the Big Ten and then last year after a little bit of sloppy play he was able to right the ship and pick up a first-round win against a tough Iowa State team.

The Buckeyes are going to be led by the talented Wesson brothers, Kaleb and Andre. Combined they averaged just over 23 points per game last year and will no doubt improve on that number. Kaleb is the more accomplished scorer at this point and is a matchup nightmare for most teams.

The big thing for the Buckeyes will be to clean up their turnovers from last year. It was almost comical how much they turned the ball over last year and it led to long stretches of not scoring and in turn led to many losses. When they didn’t turn the ball over they were a tough team to beat as evidenced by the first-round win.

Four-star point guard DJ Carton is expected to help with that and how he matures into the system will go a long way in how well the Buckeyes do this year. If he can become the player they think he can the Buckeyes should be one of the best teams in the conference.

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