Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball questions: 2023 POY picks, under-the-radar storylines

By Tristan Freeman

Jan 11, 2019; Madison, WI, USA; The Big Ten logo on the floor at the Kohl Center before the game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Purdue Boilermakers. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 11, 2019; Madison, WI, USA; The Big Ten logo on the floor at the Kohl Center before the game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Purdue Boilermakers. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /
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Illinois Basketball
Big Ten Basketball Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Which team has been the biggest disappointment so far?

Kay

Illinois mainly because they started off the season with good victories over UCLA on a neutral court, a 29 victory over Syracuse, and a very solid victory against Texas at Madison Square Garden. Even their early season losses against Virginia and at Maryland were understandable and then the bad losses started to pile up. They lost to Penn State at home by 15, were beaten by Missouri by 22, and their last loss was to Northwestern at home by 13. The Fighting Illini were a preseason top 3 team favorite preseason in the Big Ten by many and their recent losses are making it difficult to stay in the conference race with a 1-3 Big Ten record.

Lidskin

Illinois. For a team that was one of the preseason contenders in the conference, Illinois has been extremely underwhelming. From transfers not fitting in, to comments from Brad Underwood, Illinois has some soul-searching to do. At times, the Illini simply look “out of it” in games.

Simberg

The league’s two preseason favorites, Indiana and Illinois, are both 1-3 in conference play. The Hoosiers can play the injury card a bit with Jalen Hood-Schifino and Trayce Jackson-Davis having missed some games, and Xavier Johnson and Race Thompson out for the foreseeable future.

I’ll tentatively say Illinois here given they have been healthier. No team has a better collective pair of wins than Illinois’ neutral wins over UCLA and Texas, but they followed that up with a double-digit loss at home to Penn State, a 22-point loss to Missouri, and a loss at Northwestern. I have more confidence in them turning it around than Indiana, but they should be better than 1-3 in the Big Ten.

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