In Reply to: Updated Nebraska Roster Preview posted by mh on June 16, 2024 at 12:22:13
Nebraska and Northwestern tied for 3rd in the Big Ten last season. It was considered a significant suprise, since they were picked 8th and 12th in the preseason poll.
However, it may not be that these two teams were better than expected. It may be that the rest of the league was worse than expected.
Purdue and Illinois were very good. They were both eliminated from the tournament by eventual champion UConn in the National Championship game and the Elite 8.
What about the rest of the Big Ten? The only teams other than Northwestern and Nebraska to even qualify for the tournment were Michigan State and Wisconsin. Michigan State went 1-1 in the tournament and Wisconsin lost in the first round to #12 James Madison.
Overall, teams other than Purdue and Illinois were 2-4 in the tournament.
It seems it is not that Nebraska and Northwestern were good. It is that other than the top two teams, the Big Ten was bad.
BTW, there was a pretty big gap between the top two teams and Nebraska and Northwestern. They finished 5 games behind Purdue and 2 games behind Illinois.
With both Purdue and Illinois taking a step back next season, I think the Big Ten is ripe for the taking.