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

By Adam Childs | Apr 24, 2021

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 17: Matt McQuaid #20 of the Michigan State Spartans cuts down the net after beating the Michigan Wolverines 65-60 in the championship game of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at United Center on March 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

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Big Ten Basketball Armaan Franklin Minnesota Golden Gophers Liam Robbins Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /

. Golden Gophers . 12. team. 487. .

No Big Ten team has had a worse offseason than the Gophers. They fired their head coach Richard Pitino. Then there best player Marcus Carr entered the transfer portal. Most recently role player Jamal Mashburn Jr. decided to transfer to New Mexico to follow Pitino to his new stop.

This all happened to a team that really struggled to end last year. After a huge win against Michigan at home, they fell apart, missed the tournament, and basically looked like they quit on the season.

New head coach Ben Johnson has a lot of work to do and this first year may be rough. They don’t have a lot of talent coming back and will have to replace their most dynamic player and top scorer.

The Barn will always be a tough place to play, but if the Gophers don’t have a lot of talent it won’t matter much. Johnson looks like a good hire but he needs to prove that he can recruit to Minnesota and get them back to the top of the Big Ten. This year won’t be that year.

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