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The early look at Big Ten basketball 2013-2014




Now that the early entrant list is finalized, the Big Ten did not take a huge hit. Pretty much everyone on the first team (Burke, Oladipo, Zeller, Hardaway, and DThomas) is gone, but the Michigan squads were the most fortunate with guys maintaining their eligibility. So chime in with how you would rank the teams in terms of tiers:

Top tier:

Michigan State -- loaded with depth and Tom Izzo

Ohio State -- a ton of wing players and senior Aaron Craft

Michigan -- best sophomores (McGary, Robinson, Stauskas) with prized freshmen

Next NCAA-likely bound tier

Wisconsin -- never pick against them; Sam Dekker is legit

Indiana -- still have Sheehy and Ferrell plus a ton of freshmen

Iowa -- primed to move up with major returning talent

Could go either way

Minnesota -- new coach, excellent perimeter players, lousy bench

Purdue -- a lot of defections but a good nucleus

Unlikely to be NCAA-bound

Illinois -- a lot of graduations and sold their soul to State Farm

Northwestern -- the odds are against us but better than bottom

Penn State -- get back Tim Frazier; coach is crazy on sidelines but a lot of pundits like them

Nope

Nebraska -- not their sport