Big Ten men’s basketball is right around the corner, with the conference looking to move on from a rough NCAA tournament that saw only one team make it past the Round of 32. Here are three big questions I have about teams in the conference heading into the season.   

Can Rutgers keep building on its success?

You may think leading this article with Rutgers seems kind of silly, but allow me to make my case for why I’m honestly more interested in them than any other school in the conference.

I think the most notable thing for Rutgers is that last year, they had the happiest tournament outcome of anyone in the conference besides Michigan. For the first time since 1983, the Scarlet Knights won a tournament game, defeating #7 seed Clemson 60-56 as the #10 seed. And then, they battled #2 seed Houston for all 40 minutes, even leading by as much as ten points with 8:45 left in the second half before losing 63-60. Houston then went on to make the Final Four, which meant that Rutgers went into this offseason knowing that they had built their team into one that was able to almost beat a Final Four team.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Seeing a #10 seed almost beat a team that made the Final Four is always a notable outcome, but the progress Rutgers made for this to happen was pretty remarkable. In their first four seasons in the Big Ten, they failed to win 20 percent of their conference games. Then, in the 2018-19 season, they made modest progress with a 7-13 performance in the Big Ten and then began to build on that. They improved to 11-9 in conference play during the 2019-20 season and spent two straight weeks ranked in the AP Top 25, a remarkable upgrade from the 2017-18 season. BracketMatrix.com also projected Rutgers as a #9 seed in the NCAA tournament that was tragically canceled.

After five losing years in the Big Ten, Rutgers seems like it has successfully removed itself from the conference’s basement under head coach Steve Pikiell and will look to put together another strong season with two of their key players returning. Ron Harper Jr. is back for his senior season after leading Rutgers in both minutes and points and he’s joined by a super senior: Geo Baker. He is using the fifth year of eligibility granted to players because of the pandemic in an attempt to get Rutgers to back-to-back tournaments for the first time since the 1970s.

Rutgers doesn’t have the biggest fanbase, the most historic arena or the most talented roster in the conference. However, it feels impossible to ignore how quickly Rutgers has gone from an easy win for the rest of the conference to a tournament team. Another tournament appearance this year would further cement them as a Big Ten team to be taken seriously, just a few years removed from failing to win 20 percent of their conference games.

How will Indiana begin the Mike Woodson era?

After four uninspiring years in Bloomington, Archie Miller and Indiana parted ways. Miller didn’t have a winning record in conference play in any of his four seasons with the Hoosiers, getting a Big Ten victory just 42.9 percent of the time. BracketMatrix.com projected Indiana would’ve made the 2020 tournament but in the three seasons where there was a Selection Sunday, Indiana went 0-for-3 hearing its name mentioned in the Miller era.

Miller’s lack of success also offered an interesting contrast to his predecessor, Tom Crean. From 2011-12 to 2016-17, Crean led Indiana to the NCAA tournament four times in six years, including a trio of Sweet Sixteens and a Big Ten regular-season title in 2015-16.

Now, Indiana will be led by Mike Woodson in his first college head coaching job. Woodson is returning to his alma mater, having played for the Hoosiers under Bob Knight. Woodson has been the head coach for over 700 NBA games between the regular season and postseason but also hasn’t been in charge since 2013-14, providing an intriguing profile for a head coach at one of the sport’s historic schools. Indiana hired Tom Crean from Marquette and Archie Miller from Dayton, so hiring someone from the NBA is a new direction for how the school picks a head coach.

The first big chance to see how Indiana will look is a November 30 trip to the Carrier Dome against Syracuse for the ACC–Big Ten Challenge. One of the biggest arenas in the sport combined with an infamous defense could give Indiana an early chance at a signature win but if they lose, I suspect Woodson won’t be on the hot seat from it.

It’s hard to think of many jobs in college basketball that have more pressure than being at Indiana. We’ll have to see how an alum who has already been an NBA head coach handles it compared to Tom Crean and Archie Miller, starting with year one.

How does Illinois rebound from a dream season ending with an early tournament exit?

Illinois entered the NCAA tournament riding a seven-game winning streak that included a 4-0 end to the regular season and winning the Big Ten tournament, earning them a #1 seed. Everything looked like it was trending towards the Fighting Illini making the Final Four for the first time since 2005.

And then, they ran into #8 seed Loyola-Chicago.

Illinois lost 71-58, getting sent home before the second weekend by another school in their own state. It was an underwhelming game from the otherwise reliable Ayo Dosunmu, seeing him fail to get double-digit points for the first time that season while going 4-for-10 on his field goals. Illinois also allowed a double-double from Loyola’s Cameron Krutwig with 19 points and 12 rebounds to send them home with just one tournament win.

People argued that Loyola was underseeded and that a #8 was harsh for them, but either way, it was an immensely disappointing tournament for one of the Big Ten’s best teams.

Now, Illinois will look to produce another strong season without Dosunmu. While I did just mention his weak game against Loyola, he was a huge reason for Illinois being a #1 seed in the first place. He led Illinois by averaging 20.1 points per game and scored at least 30 points against a Big Ten opponent three times last year. Dosunmu only trailed Iowa’s Luka Garza in the Big Ten for points per game and was one of two players in the conference to average 35 minutes per game. He was scoring a lot and playing a lot and now he’s in the NBA, staying local as a member of the Chicago Bulls.

While Dosunmu is now a pro, Illinois did keep a pivotal part of their team in big man Kofi Cockburn. He barely missed averaging a double-double last year with 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game and did so with incredible efficiency, making over 65.4 percent of his field goals. That field goal percentage not only led the Big Ten but was also fourth in the country.   

Illinois enters this season ranked #11 in the AP Top 25, so there’s still plenty of expectations in Champaign. We’ll just have to find out how much losing Dosunmu and keeping Cockburn will impact them this year.

Rose Katz
Rose Katz

BSL Analyst

Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).

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