Preseason Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings

New this year, the Big Ten basketball Power Rankings will come out once a month during the preseason (once in November and once in December) and every week during the Big Ten season. 

1. Indiana
The AP Poll has them at #1 in the country and, at least for now, I don't see any reason to disagree.  Cody Zeller leads a deep, talented, and experienced Indiana squad that should be a lock for the Final Four.  Still, the Hoosiers need to play better on defense if they are going to live up to the massive amount of hype they are bringing into this season.

2. Ohio State
Again, nothing special here.  The Buckeyes are #4 nationally and, while they did lose Jared Sullinger, are on paper the most likely team to challenge the Hoosiers for the Big Ten crown.  Key to this season is sophomore Amir Williams who was one of the team's best rebounders in limited minutes from a year ago.  If Williams can continue to dominate the boards and develop an offensive presence then the Buckeyes may be back in the Final Four.

3. Michigan State
This is where it starts to get tricky.  While I concede the SparWtans may have a rough go of it in the non conference slate with games against Connecticut (on Friday), Kansas, Miami, and Texas, this team always seems to gel in time for the Big Ten slate.  The question all off season was how this team will play without leader Draymond Green but I think Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne step up in the front court and the team will get a boost as soon as Branden Dawson returns to full strength.  They might not look terrific early, but I think this team will turn it on in time for conference play and challenge the top two.

4. Wisconsin
Bo Ryan has never finished outside the top four in the conference during his time in Madison and even with a season ending injury to starting point guard Josh Gasser I am not going to pick against the Badgers.  Obviously Gasser is the main story line at this point but I think there is enough talent in the front court to keep this team upright so that whoever steps in at the point will not be counted on to carry the team.  This is another team that will struggle early, particularly with Mike Brusewitz out for a few games with a leg laceration.

5. Michigan
There will probably be some disagreement here.  The Wolverines are more talented than ever under John Beilein with Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke back along with a highly touted recruiting class.  While this may be positive for Michigan in terms of rebounding and defense, anyone who knows the system Beilein has installed in Ann Arbor has to be a little concerned about the lack of outside shooting.  This team lost three of its best perimeter shooters to graduation and their production is going to be difficult to replace.  I think Michigan is a year away from really setting the conference on fire.

6. Minnesota
The return of Trevor Mbakwe his legal follies have grabbed most of the off season headlines but the real reason to buy into this team is their depth in the back court.  Andre Hollins averaged 16.6 points per game in March last season and he leads what should be a five man rotation in the back court.  The glaring problem is the post where Mbakwe is the only offensive weapon of note.  This team died in he post last season but with their star forward back and with the conference not being particularly strong up front the Gophers should be able to manage a strong finish in the Big Ten.

7. Iowa
The Hawkeyes will likely feature a 10-11 man rotation this season and have some exciting new talent with freshmen Adam Woodbury and Mike Gessell.  Still, this is a very young team with only one senior and there will be growing pains.  If this team can limit their bad losses (i.e. Nebraska, Penn State, Campbell) they should easily be on the NCAA tournament bubble which would set up a huge 2013 season when the Hawkeyes might develop into a legitimate Big Ten title contender.

8. Purdue
This is a rebuilding season for the Boilers and they will need several of last years role players (particularly DJ Byrd) to step up and take leadership of a freshman led squad.   To make matters more difficult, this is a team that will have to relearn the program's hallmark defensive mentality which was absent last year (Purdue finished in the bottom half of the conference on defense last season).  However, there is a lot of potential on this team and if Purdue can build some momentum in the non-conference (which won't be easy thanks to games against Villanova, Clemson, Xavier, and Notre Dame) this team could be very dangerous during conference play.

9. Northwestern
The good news is that the Wildcats return a solid nucleus with Drew Crawford, Dave Sobolewski, and Alex Marcotullio and they get Louisville transfer Jared Swoopshire who is a solid shot blocking forward.  The problem is that they lose John Shurna, Luka Mirkovic, and David Curletti to graduation and Jershonn Cobb to a season long suspension.  This team is going to be thin and relatively young in the front court which does not bode well for a school that was arguably the worst rebounding team in the conference and one of the worst in FG% defense.  The Wildcats could finish higher but I expect them to struggle this season as their young players learn to compete in the Big Ten.

10. Illinois
The Illini have a new head coach in John Groce and some talent still on the roster but there is a lot of rebuilding to be done in Champaign.  Do everything center Miles Leonard is gone and this team will be relying on a slew of new faces both in the front court and to build depth on what was not a particularly deep team last year.  The Illini simply weren't very productive on offense last season and without Leonard there is a huge question as to who will be generating points for them on a consistent basis.  This is probably the toughest team to pick since, based solely on raw talent, Illinois could jump as high as sixth or seventh.  The schedule isn't terrible (only one game against Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana, and Penn State) but I feel like Northwestern has a better chance of being consistent this season given the youth movement the Illini will be enduring.

11. Penn State
Tim Frazier returns as the teams top offensive threat but there are several new faces on this team that will need to step up for the Nittany Lions to get out of the conference basement this season.  I feel like this team would actually be pretty dangerous in most other conferences but the Big Ten is just so deep that I believe this team, while they will certainly not be an easy out for many teams, just won't be able to put a run together that would place them higher in the standings.

12. Nebraska
Only one returning starter and a new head coach.  This is a pretty easy pick as the Huskers have a better chance of going win-less in conference than they do finishing higher than this.  Tim Miles was a great hire and he should be have the Huskers competing in the next few years but this is going to be a slower rebuilding job as Nebraska has been struggling on the recruiting trail.  The Huskers will need to grab developmental guys and hope they pan out in two or three years from now but that means they may have a few rough seasons in the immediate future in the incredibly deep Big Ten.