Big Ten Basketball: Illinois, Michigan leads rankings heading into NCAA Tournament

Wins

VMI
VCU
@Virginia Tech
*Rutgers
*Northwestern
*Wisconsin
*Maryland (twice)
*Nebraska (twice)
*Minnesota

Loses

*Seton Hall
*@Michigan
*Illinois (twice)
*@Indiana
*Purdue (twice)
*Ohio State (twice)
*Wisconsin (twice)
*@Michigan State
*Nebraska
*@Iowa

Net ranking: 42

KenPom ranking: 35

AP ranking: N/A

Post-Season Tournament: None

Brief Season Summary

The Nittany Lions lost a ton of players from last season. Penn State did, however, brought back a very solid and dependable group back from last season in Seth Lundy, Izaiah Brockington, Myreon Jones, and Myles Dread. However, Penn State did not have the success that they desired prior to the start of the season.

Penn State has gone through a transformation as Pat Chambers resigned back in late October and interim head coach Jim Ferry had taken over the program. After a decent start with some nice wins, the Nittany Lions and Ferry were like Indiana, unable to make a post-season tournament.

Ferry is no longer the head coach as Penn State officially hired former Purdue assistant Micah Shrewsberry as its full-time head coach. Then six players entered the transfer portal that included Seth Lundy, John Harrar, Myreon Jones, and Isaiah Brockington. Hopefully, the Nittany Lions can rebuild and look forward to the 2021-22 season.

Wins

*Eastern Michigan
*Notre Dame
*Detroit Mercy
*@Duke
*Western Michigan
*Oakland
*Nebraska (twice)
*Rutgers
*Penn State
*Indiana (twice)
*Illinois
*Ohio State
*Michigan

Loses

*@Northwestern
*Wisconsin
*@Minnesota
*Purdue (twice)
*@Rutgers
*@Ohio State
*Iowa (twice)
*@Maryland
*@Michigan
*UCLA

Net ranking: 70

KenPom ranking: 57

AP ranking: N/A

Post-Season Tournament: NCAA Tournament

First Round Opponent: Lost to UCLA in Overtime

Brief Season Summary

Spartans lost two very productive and valued players in Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman who were selected in last years’ NBA draft and welcomed back this season previously injured Joshua Langford and transfer Joey Hauser who had to sit out last season. Michigan State expected to not be as good as they were last season but no one expected the outcome that they had to end this season.

Aaron Henry was the best player for the Spartans this season but he did not have a teammate that was at least consistently, a big-time scorer this season.  The Spartans were too inconsistent and lost by too many points in too many games to earn a higher seed in the NCAA tournament despite great wins against Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio State.

Izzo now has the longest current streaks in all of college basketball among division one coaches for most consecutive appearances but he and his loss to UCLA in the opening round of the tournament was disappointing.

However, they are still a blue blood program like Duke who didn’t make the Tournament this year and the Spartans have won at least a share of the regular-season Big Ten title the past three years despite their ninth-place finish in the Big Ten this season. If there are a positive that can come out of this season, the Spartans did beat two No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 seed from this year’s NCAA Tournament in the regular season.

Wins

*Sacred Heart
*Fairleigh Dickinson
*Hofstra
*Syracuse
*@Maryland
*Purdue
*Illinois
*Indiana (twice)
*Michigan State
*Northwestern (twice)
*Minnesota (twice)

Loses

*Ohio State (twice)
*Iowa (twice)
*@Michigan State
*@Penn State
*@Michigan
*Maryland
*Wisconsin
*@Nebraska

Net ranking: 37

KenPom ranking: 33

AP ranking: N/A

Post-Season Tournament: NCAA Tournament

First Round Opponent: Clemson

Brief Season Summary

The good news was that Rutgers had key players returning including Geo Baker, Montez Mathis, Ron Harper Jr., and Jacob Young prior to the start of the season. Harper is played well this season and Young and Mathis were solid contributors for the Scarlet Knights this season.

Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell is in his 5th season at the head of the Scarlet Knights and the program going in the right direction. This team was not expected to compete for the Big Ten title this season and even though they have a lower seed than wanted in the NCAA tournament, there are still those who don’t expect much from the Scarlet Knights.

However, Rutgers may surprise many in this years’ tournament and they will have another opportunity coming up when they play Clemson in an attempt to advance to the Round of 32.