All the big media websites will be waiting to post their Way Too Early Power rankings the second after the National title ends. Here at the Floor Slap, we finished early… So here are the Premature Power Rankings for the 2023-24 Big Ten season. Make sure to check out the Premature Power Rankings for the Top 16 teams of the country too!
Another College Basketball season has passed and another year where the Big Ten does not win a National Championship.
Will the Big Ten drought end next season? Probably not.
Can we still cheer on our favorite team and pretend they will? Absolutely.
Today, I rank all the Big Ten teams before all the players have entered the transfer portal, before the transfers are settled in, and before most of the NBA decisions are made so this list is obviously going to be 100% correct.
So, here are the Big Ten teams ranked from top to bottom for the 2023-24 season.
1. Michigan State
Michigan State made it the farthest in March Madness of any Big Ten team and they also could bring back the most in the conference while adding it’s best class. Tyson Walker and Malik Hall have decisions to make on whether they’ll be super seniors. Hauser seems to be gone. Guys lower on the beach like Pierre Brooks might transfer, but that won’t hurt. Jeremy Fears and Xavier Booker will be impact guys right away. Booker will almost certainly start at 4 for this team. Add in any leaps from Hoggard, Jaden Akins, Tre Holloman, Mady Sissoko, etc. and Final Four is a fair expectation for Sparty.
2. Purdue
No one will be excited about this Purdue team. This isn’t a sexy pick. Still Painter and the Boilers won 29 games the past season and could return the NPOY in Edey. The freshmen guards Loyer and Smith will be a year older. Myles Colvin is a top recruit who (due to AAU visibility) might be ranked too low. Purdue could also grab an impact player out of the portal to round out the roster. If Edey doesn’t come back this team drops only one or two spots. Painter and Purdue just stay at the top of the conference. Trey Kaufmann-Renn and Caleb Furst could step right into the Center role if Edey does leave.
3. Maryland
There is a big step down after Purdue and Michigan State, but Maryland is next up. Maryland is this high because Jahmir Young is back. Julian Reese will slot next to him and is due to be an All-Big Ten big this year. Kevin Willard has a top recruiting class coming in and they will be a factor in the transfer portal to fill in the gaps. And I’m not even including the Hunter Dickinson to College Park rumors. I trust this core to be in the top tier of the Big Ten.
4. Illinois
Picking Illinois here might be presumptuous. Coleman Hawkins is testing draft waters. Terrence Shannon will too (and will leave). Skyy Clark and Jayden Epps are both transferring (add in RJ Melendez). Matthew Mayer is out of eligibility. With those guys gone, it is Dain Dainja’s time to shine. Dainja could be surrounded by all wings with Sencire Harris, Luke Goode, and Ty Rodgers. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Niccolo Moretti will fill out the guard spot, but the reason Illinois is this high is because of the portal. The Illini and the Hoosiers are best positioned to be players in the portal. Expect Illinois to grab some more experienced guards in the portal to be competitive right away. Brad Underwood’s Illinois teams are usually too good to rank lower than this.
5. Ohio State
Ohio State would’ve been higher if Holtmann had a better record with freshman. Don’t tell me Sensabaugh and Branham. I’m looking at top classes for years with multiple transfers after each year (see Jaedon LeDee, Meechie Johnson, Alonzo Gaffney, Luther Muhammad, etc). I expect Sensabaugh to leave. I don’t think Bronny is coming.
Despite all the hate, Ohio State still has an awesome class. Taison Chatham and Scotty Middleton could be some of the best guards in the Big Ten in year 1. Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, and Felix Okpara should be due for leaps. The Buckeyes don’t have too many openings to grab transfer guys, so this team will be young. I still expect Holtmann to grab one older guard out of the portal. Holtmann will need to really hit it big next year to help keep his job. 5 might be too low if he really coaches the kids up.
6. Iowa
The Murray brother era is over but the Sandfort brother era can begin. Pryce Sandfort will join his older brother Payton who is poised to break out. I would maybe put the Hawkeyes higher if it wasn’t Iowa.
They lose Kris Murray, Filip Rebraca and 11th year senior Conor McCaffery. Ahron Ulis and Josh Ogundele transfer, but I don’t think Iowa fans will care too much. I like the idea of addition by subtraction and time being opened up here. I like Payton Sandfort and Patrick McCaffery getting more minutes. Expect Josh Dix and Dasonte Bowen to make more of an impact in year two. Keep an eye on Fairdaws Aimaq as a transfer as Iowa was close to landing the big last year in the portal. Iowa likely will grab multiple players from the portal.
It is a safe bet that Fran McCaffery will mold this team into a top 10 offense in the country again. If he can nail the portal and add someone capable of blocking shots, it could go a long way for Iowa to have a defense and be higher in the standings than 6.
7. Wisconsin
I had the Badgers lower than this orgininally. Then Tyler Wahl announced he is coming back. The Covid year has officially made me lose track of who has how many years left. Connor Essegian, Chucky Hepburn, Max Klesmit, and Steven Crowl are all back too. The Gusbus is coming. Wisconsin will have some of the best roster continuity in the Big Ten.
Don’t let the NIT performance fool you into thinking this team didn’t suck this year. Wisconsin won’t be a factor in the portal. I’m sure they will grab a player or two, but they won’t land program changing players. Last year the best player the Badgers got in the portal was Kamari McGee.
Wisconsin has an opportunity to move up in what figures to be a weak 2nd tier of the Big Ten. Could them bringing everybody back be enough to move past unproven teams/players in Ohio State and Iowa?
8. Indiana
Nobody loses more than IU this off-season and nobody could recreate their team more in the off-season. With Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jalen Hood-Schifino gone, putting IU here is more of a placeholder before the transfer window rolls in.
Miller Kopp, Tamar Bates, and Race Thompson are all gone. I don’t know what is happening with Xavier Johnson. Trey Galloway, Malik Reneau, Kaleb Banks, and CJ Gunn are the current core for the Hoosiers… Yep. Jakai Newton and Gabe Cupps are nice additions, but I’m not rushing to put this team at the top of the conference because of them.
Every name in the portal will be connected with IU. They already landed big man Payton Sparks from Ball State. Caleb Love rumors are strong, and maybe IU skyrockets up this list after a few more commitments. For now they check in at 8.
9. Michigan
Nobody is harder to predict than Michigan.
The first draft of this article had them at 3, but that was before Hunter Dickinson entered the portal and Kobe Bufkin entered the NBA draft and said see ya to his eligibility too. Jett Howard was expected to leave.
Now, Michigan will build around Dug McDaniel and Tarris Reed?
I am excited for George Washington III, Papa Kante and cult hero Youssef Khayat. Although what does that group of players really get you? Michigan will take big swings in the transfer portal, but until they make contact I can’t put them higher.
10. Rutgers
Rutgers lost as much as IU did and won’t replace it with as much. Derek Simpson and Cliff Omoruyi (if he comes back) will be cornerstones. Aundre Hyatt and Mawot Mag need to prove more to me before I can be excited for bigger roles for them.
How much of a player can this team be in the portal? Coach Pikiell has been recruiting really well recently. Gavin Griffiths figures to be a rotation guy in year one, and there is more on the horizon with 5 star Ace Bailey coming in 2024.
This season might be more of a transition from the Mulcahy-McConnell era into the next era. Rutgers should continue to define itself on its defense, but they have an opportunity for their offense to evolve. Can Pikiell change his offensive system to include more dynamism?
11. Nebraska
Nebraska could end up much higher than this. In reality this should be their floor. Nebraska found something at the end of last year and could be next season’s Northwestern.
Big Red does lose a lot. Derrick Walker, Sam Griesel, & Emmanuel Bandoumel are all gone. It’s unclear if Keisei Tominaga will return. But, Nebraska will be a team to watch in the portal with Hoiberg’s NBA pedigree. Jamarques Lawrence, CJ Wilcher, and Sam Hoiberg will return. Ramel Lloyd Jr. will be coming out of his redshirt year ready. Freshman forward Eli Rice will have a shot at meaningful minutes. Overall, this is more of a bet on Fred Hoiberg figuring it out at Nebraska. I do think Hoiberg and the Huskers finish higher.
12. Northwestern
Last year was historic for the Wildcats, but now Chase Audige and Boo Buie could move on. Julian Roper has already moved on. I’m not super excited for the Brooks Barnhizer and Ty Berry core for Northwestern.
It’s hard to gage Northwestern with recruits and transfers given their academic standards. It is fair to expect a return to the mean for Northwestern Basketball.
If Robby Beran, Audige and Buie do come back, Northwestern would obviously move up. But I think those guys might see this as a good time to walk away.
13. Penn State
The Nittany lions hired VCU’s Mike Rhoades last week. Rhoades will have to go into full salvage mode as Penn State has lost all their recruits and might have 0 scholarship players soon enough. PSU is this low because they’re a blank slate and we don’t know what Rhoades will bring in. It looks like he will be bringing almost a handful of players from his former team in VCU. Such is life in transfer portal as we might get VCU – Happy Valley branch campus next year. Penn State might move up after the portal dust settles but for now they clock in at 13.
14. Minnesota
Minnesota is in a tough spot.
They lost 16 games in conference last year. Now they will lose All-Big Ten guy Jamison Battle, promising freshman Jaden Henley, & starting point guard Ta’Lon Cooper to the portal. Coach Ben Johnson only has one recruit coming in next year in Cameron Christie.
The Gophers will once again look for a big haul in the transfer portal. Johnson has grabbed 10 players the past two years from the portal. Freshmen like Braeden Carrington, Josh Ola-Joseph & Pharrell Payne bring some optimism for Minnesota as well as Dawson Garcia settling into a role. Get ready for more talk of Isaiah Ihnen in the off-season, who hasn’t played in two years now.
I need to see something before I can move Minnesota out of the basement.
There you have it! The Floor Slap’s Premature Power Rankings of the Big Ten.
If that didn’t fully scratch your off season content itch… we will be releasing exit survey articles for each team in the conference.
It will go in reverse order of the standings so Minnesota will be up first and it will end with Purdue (who I kind of already wrote their obituary).
Make sure you check in on the website for your favorite team’s exit survey and follow us on twitter (@thefloorslap) to stay up to date on all articles and all the transfer portal news!
Thanks for the support!