Big Ten Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2023-24 season

We’re two months into the offseason and many teams have made changes to their respective rosters. That includes several in Big Ten Basketball, where a few teams have become some of the hottest topics overall.

There’s still plenty of time for teams in the Big Ten to add for the 2023-24 campaign but right now, some programs are starting to separate themselves from others. Here’s a current snapshot of the conference heading into June.

14. Minnesota Golden Gophers

2022-23 season record: 9-22 (2-17)

For a team that ranked in the bottom-15 nationally in scoring, it’s hard to say that Minnesota’s offense got much better. They lost two of their top three players in wing Jamison Battle and starting point guard, Ta’Lon Cooper. The good news is that they return their best player in forward Dawson Garcia, who led the team with 15.3 ppg and 6.7 rpg.

The Gophers did add a couple of guards via the portal. Mike Mitchell averaged 11.4 ppg and 5.0 apg at Pepperdine, while Elijah Hawkins produced 12.9 ppg and 6.0 apg at Howard. These are two of the better passers from the transfer portal but are there many weapons to pass the ball to?

Any hope for Minnesota could come down to having forwards Parker Fox and Isaiah Ihnen finally healthy. In a bizarre circumstance, both players have missed the past two seasons due to injuries. Having them will give Minnesota some kind of depth next season, while Pharrel Payne and Joshua Ola-Joseph will need to have breakout sophomore campaigns in order for them to be competitive.