Big Ten Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2024-25 season
4. Illinois Fighting Illini
Perhaps there is no bigger wild card in the Big Ten than Illinois basketball, which lost the bulk of its veteran-laden roster after making a run to the Elite Eight. Entering the 2024-25 season, talent is not an issue for Brad Underwood’s young group.
According to BartTorvik’s preseason rankings, the Fighting Illini rank second in the country in talent, only behind the reigning back-to-back champs. Five-star freshman Will Riley and Lithuanian G Kasparas Jakucionis have generated NBA Draft buzz. Kylan Boswell (Arizona), when clicking, can be among the best guards in the country. Ben Humrichous may be Illinois’ best shooter at the four. A pair of four-star freshmen Morez Johnson and Tomislav Ivisic alongside Carey Booth is a tantalizing frontcourt.
Because chemistry may be its most consequential hurdle to jump, the question now is if Brad Underwood can fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Illinois has the most wins in the Big Ten over the past five seasons, so I’ll take the latter on this one.
3. Indiana Hoosiers
One bad season in Bloomington will find you squarely on the hot seat. Mike Woodson -- among the top coaches facing the most pressure this season -- is going all-in, revamping Indiana into a Big Ten title-caliber team.
To start, Indiana returns three double-digit scorers in Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako and Trey Galloway. Then Mike Woodson went to work in the portal, landing a pair of ultra-talented guards in Myles Rice (Washington State) and Kannan Carlyle (Stanford) as well as one of the top bigs in the portal, Oumar Ballo (Arizona).
The main question for Indiana: did they do enough to fix its perimeter shooting? Adding sharpshooter Luke Goode (Illinois) was a promising start. Both Myles Rice and Kannan Carlyle were freshmen last season. With a year of experience, I’m betting both can take that “sophomore jump” with their three-point shooting percentages.
The Hoosiers have clearly established themselves as a top-tier Big Ten team in 2024-25. And now? Its window is wide open.