Big Ten Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2021-22 season

The Michigan Wolverines come in at the top spot after winning the regular-season Big Ten championship and being the only conference team to make it out of the first weekend. They are going to lose Isaiah Livers, Mike Smith, Chaundee Brown, and probably Franz Wagner, but they still have a lot of talent.

Coming back is guard Eli Brooks and freshman of the year Hunter Dickinson. Those two right there are better than most of the rest of the Big Ten. They also will bring back Brandon Johns Jr who stepped up in Liver’s absence during the tournament. Terrence Williams also showed a lot of promise.

Juwan Howard is also bringing in the top recruiting class in the country. They are going to be very good again next year, but it will be interesting to see how they play when they are expected to be good.

Howard has done a great job of keeping this team hungry and the culture he has built is phenomenal. If the freshman buy-in early this team will be a top-five team and a favorite to win the whole thing.