So it's that time of year when media sites start posting their preseason picks for conferences. Thus far, the projections seem to be reasonably consistent, with CBS Sports putting Ohio State to finish 6th in the B1G, ESPN putting Ohio State 7th, and The Athletic has the Bucks at 9th in the B1G, along with the 'official' B1G Media Pool in early October that picked OSU at 8th. All of those finishes would likely put Ohio State in the NCAA tourney, but in none of them would the Bucks be favored to make the Sweet 16 or any deeper run.
I'm honestly kind of surprised there's so much unanimity because I have no idea what to expect from this year's team because there's so much turnover - Diebler's first season as a permanent head coach, new assistant coaches, and basically only one returnee who's played major minutes. Based on recruiting rankings, the raw talent is absolutely there, but it feels like it could go any way and I wouldn't be shocked.
Other points of interest:
- Purdue is picked as the B1G auto-bid in all of them. Purdue's been one of the most consistent B1G programs for a while and Braden Smith is probably the best returnee in the B1G, so makes sense. I think Purdue isn't going to be nearly as good as they were last year, but they also probably don't need to be because it doesn't seem like anybody's really stepping up to claim dominance here.
- *ichigan seems to be the team most split on, ranging from #2 in the B1G to #7. The blurbs express general confidence in Dusty May as a coach, but opinions seem to vary about the roster itself.
- For a team that brought two likely top-5 NBA draft picks, the media seems to be rather down on Rutgers, with them somewhere between 9th and 11th. Having two excellent players like that should be enough to at least drag a team to a firm NCAA berth, so it certainly surprised me a little.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5801296/2024/10/01/big-ten-basketball-rankings/
