Thoughts on the Big Ten in the Preseason Polls
Posted by Brendan Brody on November 3rd, 2014Both preseason polls have now been released as the AP Poll officially made its appearance on Halloween. The Big Ten placed five teams in the AP and six teams in the the USA Today/Coaches Poll. Here’s how all of the teams ranked in each poll, followed by some quick analysis as to what this means going forward.
Bo Ryan and Wisconsin are ranked in the top four of both major preseason polls. (AP)
(AP ranking followed by USA Today/Coaches Poll ranking)
- Wisconsin (#3) (#4)
- Michigan State (#18) (#18)
- Ohio State (#20) (#20)
- Nebraska (#21) (#21)
- Michigan (#24) (#23)
- Iowa (#28) (#25)
- Minnesota (#31) (#32)
- Maryland (#46) (NR)
- Illinois (#46) ( #42)
Wisconsin is Getting a Good Deal of Love
The Badgers have already been named a unanimous favorite to win the B1G by both the coaches and the writers, and they are also getting a good deal of respect nationally. Wisconsin received eight first-place votes in the AP Poll, and it also garnered three more in the USA Today/Coaches Poll. Returning four starters from a Final Four team along with the fact that Bo Ryan’s teams are typically better when they have experienced players played a key role in how these writers and coaches voted. But as we saw last season when Michigan State was ranked in the top five to start the season, it’s wise to not crown the Badgers as the Big Ten champs just yet. Even with Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig poised to take bigger roles in the rotation, depth could hinder the Badgers if they get hit with key injuries.
Next Four Teams Are Very Close
This was mentioned the other day in our post discussing the preseason KenPom rankings, but there’s really not much difference in the voters’ eyes between Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska and Michigan. The two Michigan schools and Ohio State probably get a bump because of their coaches and how successful they’ve been 0ver the past five seasons, but they all have suffered key personnel losses that leave question marks for this season. Nebraska made a run out of nowhere to a fourth place Big Ten finish last season, and returns almost everyone. It seems as though there’s an element of “you did it one year, prove you can do it again,” regarding the Huskers in the voters’ eyes.
Four More Teams to Keep an Eye On
Iowa was ranked #25 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll and just missed making the Top 25 of the AP Poll. Meanwhile, Minnesota and Illinois each received votes from the coaches and Maryland got a few votes from the media. Right now there really isn’t a consensus as to which of these teams are better than the others, but the voters are intrigued. All of these teams have enough talent on their rosters to make an NCAA Tournament run, but right now voters see too many question marks to justify putting them into the preseason Top 25. Stay tuned as we at the microsite will unveil our own preseason B1G rankings during the week of November 10-14.
Brendan Brody is in his fourth season covering the Big Ten for RTC. Email him at brendan.brody@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @berndon4.
