Projected finish (first-place votes in parenthesis):

Teams in bold arguably (or in-arguably) finished much better than predicted; teams in italics underperformed expectations.

1. Illinois (16) - high expectations with performance as predicted ...well, aside from a conference title banner (perhaps a banner the Illini deserved if not for the conference granting Michigan an assumption of a 3-0 performance in 3 games they failed to play).

2. Iowa (6) - high expectations with performance nearly as predicted.

3. Wisconsin (6) - though a solid season, Wisconsin undoubtedly significantly underperformed expectations and was 0-8 against the 5 teams atop the conference standings.

4. Michigan State - significantly underperformed expectations, finishing 8th in the conference and unranked, though arguably playing up to the expectations the last two weeks with 3 wins over top 10 teams.

5. Rutgers - slightly underperformed expectations, but a solid year for a program that has historically not been a factor. Some nice wins in December, but zero quality wins since the calendar year changed.

6. Michigan - very significantly out-performed expectations with the Big Ten title.

7. Ohio State - though the place in the standings is only slightly exceeding the predictions, finishing 5th instead of 7th, the Buckeyes certainly significantly out-performed expectations, finishing top 10 in the country heading into the tournaments.

8. Indiana - hard to underperform when predicted 8th or lower, but the Big Ten school that prizes basketball season above all others finished 10th.

9. Purdue - significantly out-performed expectations, finishing 4th in the conference and ranked nationally. The Boilers undoubtedly benefited from a more favorable schedule than the Bucks and went 0-3 vs Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa, but ultimately the Boilers swept what seems like a superior OSU team.

10. Maryland - benefited from a light schedule and did have an impressive win over Illinois, but finished in line with predictions.

11. Minnesota - as of January 3, Minnesota was ranked and had beaten Iowa and throttled MSU and Ohio State. Since then, the Gophers are 3-12. The 13th place finish was below pre-season predictions and certainly below the false hope in early January. 

12. Penn State - finished nearly as predicted.

13. Nebraska - finished nearly as predicted.

14. Northwestern - finished slightly better, but nearly as predicted.

Of the 15 players to receive pre-season votes for 1st-team all Big Ten, zero were Buckeyes.

SI had their own predictions and cited Michigan as a dark horse to win the conference, however they didn't put down much money with their bet, picking the Wolverines to finish 7th (and Wisconsin to finish as champion).

https://www.si.com/college/2020/11/17/big-ten-basketball-preview-ranking...