What Big Ten teams are moving up?

[MichaelRR]

What Big Ten teams are moving up?

And who is moving down in peoples opinions?

My guesses:

Up:
UWisc Massive recruiting class, two redshirts that were highly rated as recruits and a solid transfer mean they could be the surprise team of the conference. 6'5", 6'4", 6'4", and 6'3" posts as frosh
IU Holmes back and a couple of great transfers and a good recruit or two finally gives them depth
Rutgers Any coach is better than nothing, which is what they had last year.

Down:
UMich Hard to replace Hillman
UMinn too many defections
UMary same as UMinn
MSU lost best player to portal and they didn't have much to begin with

Even or unknown:
Purdue almost everyone back and 5 new players means lots of possibilities..... could be better, could stagnate if the new pieces are not integrated well and Hardin plays 35 minutes a game again
NU
NU
OSU hard to get much better from where they are
Iowa ditto to OSU
UILL
PSU

 

[destewart]

Watch out for Illini. New coach. Have added 6-6, 6-5. New coach came from Dayton. She has time ( 6 year contract) money ($800K a year base)
and more than adequate staffing. Will recruit nationwide. She winn72% of her games in six years at Dayton with five Atlantic 10 titles and four NCAA appearances. It give you some idea of how far we have fallen in the last 15 years.

 

[illiniboiler]

Maybe she has got some new good recruits, but her cupboard is really bare. If she succeeds early on, I will be surprised. It is really hard to turn around a bad program and Illinois was really, really bad. Most of the decent players she had returning had already left. But the portal can do wonders we know.

 

[MichaelRR]

Watch out for Illini. New coach. Have added 6-6, 6-5. New coach came from Dayton. She has time ( 6 year contract) money ($800K a year base)
and more than adequate staffing. Will recruit nationwide. She winn72% of her games in six years at Dayton with five Atlantic 10 titles and four NCAA appearances. It give you some idea of how far we have fallen in the last 15 years.

I had not paid any attention to Illinois, but going over their roster, their new coach got busy right away. two guards followed her from Dayton, including a nearly 15 point a game scorer that went off for 18 against us. A couple of other girls from the portal that look to be mostly depth players, and a couple of JUCOs. Added to who they have back, they could easily be a middle of the pack BT team, or if the chemistry is not great, only a little better than last year. I am guessing they move up and win 5-9 games in conference play and in 5 years are back in the upper tier of the BT. I think UILL and UWisc both made great hires and the rest of the Big Ten better be ready to take it up a level.

 

[purduedavie]

I’d put Purdue in the slightly moving up category, I think they get a tourney birth as a 8-10 seed, maybe even a playin game.

 

[MichaelRR]

I’d put Purdue in the slightly moving up category, I think they get a tourney birth as a 8-10 seed, maybe even a playin game.

Play-in games are usually small conference schools, and we may well be improved and get a tourney bid in the 8-10 range.

How CKG handles Hardin's PT will tell a lot IMO. If Hardin plays almost as much as last year ahead of the frosh, Smith, and Petree then I don't think we improve at all; and maybe get worse due to chemistry issues from the coach playing favorites.

 

[DavidBoiler]

Play-in games are usually small conference schools, and we may well be improved and get a tourney bid in the 8-10 range.

How CKG handles Hardin's PT will tell a lot IMO. If Hardin plays almost as much as last year ahead of the frosh, Smith, and Petree then I don't think we improve at all; and maybe get worse due to chemistry issues from the coach playing favorites.

Bingo That would be a real tragedy if that happens. Nothing against her but Katie needs to really limit her minutes this upcoming season for this team to continue to improve, and the development of players like Smith.

 

[illiniboiler]

Hardin is a glue player with tons of experience. I do not expect her to play as much but more situtionally and at times can give a break to others. If she were not going to contribute much KG would have told her.