Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2022-23 season

By Tristan Freeman

Jan 30, 2022; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers center Zach Edey (15) shoots a free throw during the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Mackey Arena. Boilermakers won 81-78. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 30, 2022; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers center Zach Edey (15) shoots a free throw during the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Mackey Arena. Boilermakers won 81-78. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /
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Big Ten Basketball Minnesota Gophers forward Jamison Battle Harrison Barden-USA TODAY Sports
Big Ten Basketball Minnesota Gophers forward Jamison Battle Harrison Barden-USA TODAY Sports /

It was another strong regular season for Big Ten Basketball, getting nine teams to the NCAA Tournament. However, it was also another poor postseason performance collectively, with several teams taking bad early losses.

Some poor results included Wisconsin falling to Colgate, Iowa losing to Richmond, and Indiana getting dominated against Saint Mary’s. But the biggest letdown had to have come via Purdue, who made the Sweet 16 but lost to 15 seed Saint Peter’s and missed out on a great chance to make the Final Four for the first time in Coach Matt Painter’s career.

Like every conference, the Big Ten is going to go through a ton of changes in the offseason, including via the transfer portal and the NBA Draft. This is a rough draft essentially but this is a very, very early look at how the conference could look for the 2022-23 season.

14. Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Huskers weren’t able to take any positive steps, especially once veteran guard Trey McGowens went down. His brother Bryce led the team in scoring with 16.8 ppg on the season and is off to the pros, along with senior point guard Alonzo Verge. This means the team won’t return a single double-digit scorer on the roster.

The good news for Nebraska is that they’ve already landed a former hometown player in Sam Griesel, a four-year transfer from North Dakota State who averaged 14.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, and 3.3 apg on 38% shooting from deep. A healthy Wilhelm Breidenbach and JUCO transfer Blaise Keita should improve the frontcourt but on paper, this team is several pieces away from competing.

13. Minnesota Golden Gophers

After a strong start to the season, Minnesota fell back to Earth in Big Ten Basketball play, tied with Nebraska at the bottom of the conference. And they’ll have to essentially start over again, losing 5th-year seniors, Luke Loewe, Sean Sutherlin, EJ Stephens, and Payton Willis all leaving.

That leaves leading scorer and rebounder Jamison Battle (17.5 ppg and 6.3 rpg) left from the old starting lineup, with a solid recruiting class coming to join him. They’ll need several newcomers from either the freshmen or transfer portal to have an impact to be more competitive but for now, they have more proven talent on the roster than Nebraska.

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