Several highly-touted freshmen are joining Big Ten basketball for this coming season. Who did each program snag in their 2019 recruiting class?
Another college basketball season is approaching. With under two months remaining until the 2019-20 campaign, it is time to start previewing the year. As usual, Big Ten Basketball looks poised to be one of the best conferences in America. This is largely a result of elite returning talent but each program experienced some success on the 2019 recruiting trail as well.
There will be 40 new freshmen joining the conference this season and each will be looking to make an immediate impact for their respective teams. Returning talent is great but these newcomers can be the difference between finishing near the bottom of the league or skyrocketing past preseason expectations into the NCAA Tournament for some teams.
It is difficult to predict the contributions from new college players but there are definitely some that will emerge as stars right away. The 2019 recruiting class represents the next rising crop of stars for Big Ten basketball. Recruiting elite talent is always one of the most important parts to building a strong program and there are plenty of high-touted players joining the conference for the next few years.
All 14 teams in the league snagged commitments from this class and therefore it is reasonable for each fanbase to be excited about their newcomers. There are bound to be some players that immediately take the conference by storm with their play but there are others that simply fill necessary roles for their programs. Both of those results can have a drastic impact on the outlook of the league.
Now, without any further ado, let’s take a dive into each 2019 recruiting class in the Big Ten and examine which prospects might be the most productive and/or impactful right away and down the road. (All recruiting rankings used for this piece were found via 247Sports.)