Is Illinois Basketball the favorite in the Big Ten?

Big Ten basketball is fully underway and Illinois basketball currently sits at 3-1. With so many new players on this roster, the Illini are certainly ahead of schedule in terms of their on-court chemistry and cohesiveness. They have impressed many with their young talent contributing at an extremely high level, and many are now considering them the favorite in the Big Ten.
Though it is still early, how does the rest of the Big Ten look compared to the Illini?

The Other Elite Teams?

Currently, it seems that Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue are the three teams that are vying with Illinois as the elite teams in the conference. Michigan State has an impressive 3-0 conference record and 2 losses on the season. However, they do not have any wins over top-25 teams in the NET rankings. They will certainly have that opportunity, and Tom Izzo always has his teams in the thick of things come March. Purdue has lost some games recently, most notably to Penn State and Marquette. However, they have wins over Alabama and Ole Miss.

The Michigan Wolverines are my team to watch out for. First-year head coach, Dusty May, has a veteran-heavy squad led by Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin. Wolf is arguably the best player in the conference and is virtually unguardable at the point-forward spot. The Wolverines are legit and have a squad built for March. All three of their losses were games that they could have won outside of some poor ball security and free-throw shooting.

Notes on other teams

Many people also bring up UCLA, however, the Bruins lost to a subpar North Carolina team and lost on the road this weekend to Nebraska. Indiana was the preseason favorite given what their NIL resources helped reeled in. Despite the noise and complaints surrounding Mike Woodson’s coaching, the Hoosiers are 12-3 with a 3-1 conference record. Another team to watch would be the Nebraska Cornhuskers who are doing extremely well on the defensive end and are led by veterans, Juwan Gary and Brice Williams.

Other than that, Illinois is clearly in a league above the next tier including Oregon, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Maryland. The Illini arguably have the highest ceiling in the group of Big Ten teams, however, they need to show that they can win games when their shots are not falling. Hopefully by season’s end, that loss in overtime vs Northwestern will not cost Illinois basketball a shot at another Big Ten regular season Championship.

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