Big Ten Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2024-25 season
12. Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers endured a busy offseason after being gutted by the transfer portal. Bucky lost leading scorer AJ Storr (Kansas) and three-year starting PG Chucky Hepburn (Louisville).
To subdue its high volume of losses, Greg Gard added a trio of transfers: PG Cam Hunter, PF Xavier Amos and veteran CG John Tonje. However, recent rumblings out of Madison suggest the returners may do the heavy lifting early as its transfers adjust to speed in the Big Ten.
Max Klesmit, John Blackwell and Kamari McGee return in the backcourt. Steven Crowl is the frontcourt anchor andsophomore Nolan Winter is primed to take a second-year jump, notably at the PF spot in Gard’s recent interview with Jon Rothstein.
The question with the 2024-25 Wisconsin Badgers is how quickly Greg Gard can get its core of transfers up to speed as all three transfers have faced season-ending injuries of some sort. There is no question the Badgers lost a lot, meaning Wisconsin may need some time to gel, which makes it hard to envision Wisconsin as a top-half Big Ten team come March.
11. Ohio State Buckeyes
Entering the first full season of the Jake Deibler era, one aspect of this group that immediately stands out is its frontcourt potential. Former five-star recruit Aaron Bradshaw (Kentucky) and former four-star recruit Sean Stewart (Duke) enter the fold, replacing Zed Key (Dayton) and Felix Okpara (Tennessee). Length? Check. Rebounding? Check. Upside? Check.
Moving away from the frontcourt, Bruce Thornton -- among the Big Ten’s top point guards -- returns and will be supplemented alongside Meechie Johnson, who spent two years in Columbus from 2020 to 2022 before transferring to South Carolina. San Diego State transfer Micah Parrish expects to be a stable presence on the wings.
So why 11th?
I’m not entirely sure if the Buckeyes can be a consistent threat on the perimeter unless Ques Glover can establish himself into the rotation early. The Buckeyes have an upside. With Bruce Thornton leading the way, this group expects to improve from last year’s NIT team, but they still need to prove it.