Five Big Ten Teams Set To Take A Step Back In 2023-24

Indiana

Mike Woodson has done a great job since arriving in Bloomington prior to the 2022 season, especially considering the state of this Indiana program prior to his arrival. The Hoosiers had not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2016, but were able to advance in the big dance under Woodson in each of the last two seasons. This upcoming season however, will be Woodson’s biggest challenge yet considering who will not be returning from each of Indiana’s last two teams that advanced in the big dance.  

Indiana will lose Trayce Jackson- Davis, who scored over 2200 points and collected over 1100 total rebounds throughout his career. Woodson changed the trajectory of the Indiana program by convincing guys like Jackson-Davis, alongside Race Thompson, Trey Galloway and others to return to the Hoosiers, despite being brought into the program by a different coach in Archie Miller. Now, Galloway is the only remaining member of the Miller era still with the Hoosiers, which will be a major test in Year #3 under Woodson.  

The Hoosiers also will miss Freshman sensation Jalen Hood-Schifino, who shined on the biggest stage for Indiana last season and b became the first Hoosier to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft since Romeo Langford in 2018. Indiana does return their starting Point Guard in Xavier Johnson after he missed the final 24 games of the Hoosiers season with a foot injury. In addition, Indiana will bring in a former Top 20 recruit from the Transfer Portal in Kel’el Ware and a Top 10 Freshman in MacKenzie Mgbako.  

Despite the fact Indiana has one of the more talented rosters in the Big Ten, it will take some time to develop chemistry after losing such a significant core from last season’s team that finished tied for second place in the Big Ten.  

Michigan

It is no secret that the 2023-2024 season is setting up to be the worst season for the Wolverines since Juwan Howard arrived prior to the 2019-2020 season. Although Michigan missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 last season, Juwan was able to lead the Wolverines to a pair of Sweet 16’s and a Big Ten Regular season title in his first three seasons back in Ann Arbor. The thing that is extremely noticeable about this version of Michigan is the fact that the overall talent level is just nowhere close to what we’ve seen since Juwan took over.   

While a lot of that has to do with the talent Michigan lost, that makes the fact that Michigan missed the NCAA Tournament last season even more perplexing. The Wolverines no longer have the consensus best player in the Transfer Portal this offseason in Hunter Dickinson, alongside two first round picks in the NBA Draft with Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin. In addition, it looked like Michigan added one of the more polarizing high risk/ high reward players in the country with Caleb Love committing to the time earlier this offseason. Opinions do differ on Love, however his upside would have been something that at least gave this Michigan team hope. Michigan ended up losing his commitment due to an admissions related conflict, which continued the not so good vibes around this Wolverines program in the last 9 months. 

Michigan will return some young players that showed some flashes last season including Dug McDaniel and Tarris Reed Jr., alongside a high-quality transfer in Olivier Nkamhoua. With that being said, this will likely be the worst Michigan team of the Juwan Howard era, which will only rev up the pressure after missing the big dance last season.  

Iowa

Fran McCaffrey is one of the more difficult coaches in College Basketball to evaluate due to the fact that he’s had a ton of very impressive Regular Season Success, but still just can’t break through in the NCAA Tournament. Following Iowa disappointing noncompetitive Round of 32 loss to Oregon in the 2021 NCAA Tournament as a #2 seed to close out the Luka Garza era, I thought there was a good chance that Iowa had missed their window.  

That was until they developed a pair of first round picks in both Keegan and Kris Murray, but still Iowa couldn’t find a way to advance in the big dance. McCaffrey’s coaching job over the course of the last two seasons should be praised, considering how many games Iowa was able to win, right after losing arguably the best player in program history.  

Now, both Murrays’ are gone and there isn’t necessarily a ton to work with for the Hawkeyes. Iowa will return a very experienced top three in Tony Perkins, Payton Sandfort, and Patrick McCaffrey that makes up a nice nucleus for the Hawkeyes. The question is how much do they have around them, with not a ton of experience.  

Younger players like Josh Dix and Dasonte Bowen will have major opportunities for a bigger role, however it is never easy to replace four of your top seven leading scorers from an NCAA Tournament team. With the amount of talent Iowa has lost in the last three seasons, this may be the time we see it finally affect them in terms of their on-court results.  

Rutgers

The hiring of Steve Pikell prior to the start of the 2016-2017 season, was the start of a new era for the Rutgers Basketball program. The Scarlet Knights had not made the NCAA Tournament since 1991, and had only appeared in consecutive big dances in 1975/ 1976. In the Pikell era however, Rutgers has made the big dance twice already and won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1983.  

There was a solid core group of players that came in under Pikell that really helped establish a winning culture in Piscataway. These players included Geo Baker, Ron Harper Jr, Caleb McConnell, Paul Mulcahy and others that really helped get this program going. This will be the first time that Rutgers has entered a season without any of those four guys on the roster since 2016-2017. Rutgers does return some key pieces including one of the premier big men in the conference in Cliff Omoruyi and a really good young Guard in Derek Simpson, yet similarly to Iowa there are still some concerns about the amount of experienced players this team has lost.  

Rutgers looked like they were bound to make another NCAA Tournament last season, when they started Big Ten play with an 8-4 record. That was when their season turned for the worst after their best defender Mawot Mag suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the season. This injury had a grueling effect on the Scarlet Knights, as they finished the season 3-7 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Mag should be ready to go at some point this season, however it is unknown whether Rutgers really has enough to get back to the big dance.  

Penn State

Penn State was one of the best stories in College Basketball a season ago, making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and winning a game in the big dance for the first time since 2001. Unfortunately, that core group that made up last year’s team is entirely out the window, as Head Coach Micah Shrewsbury left for Notre Dame in the offseason and each of the Nittany Lions top five leading scorers also left.  

While this is a less than ideal scenario especially after how well last season went, there are plenty of scenarios much worse for Penn State. Primarily, the Nittany Lions brought in a Pennsylvania native that has won a ton at the Division I level in Mike Rhoades and this roster is in solid shape considering the circumstances. It never hurts to build your roster around the reigning Atlantic 10 Conference Player and Defensive Player of the Year in Ace Baldwin. Penn State also added Puff Johnson and D’Marco Dunn from North Carolina, who have both been in a locker room that went all the way to the National Title Game in 2021.  

With quality experienced players in Zach Hicks, RayQuwandis Mitchell and Qudus Wahab also coming in from the Transfer Portal, Penn State is in position to be much better than people expect. However, the Nittany Lions will also take a step back from last year’s NCAA Tournament team.