Last season, the Indiana Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular season championship, matching the title earned exactly four decades prior. In the conference tournament, the Iowa Hawkeyes prevailed, winning a second-straight Big Ten tournament crown before a NCAA tournament run that would take them all the way to the national championship game.
Led by Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year Caitlin Clark, Iowa is expected to finish the 2023-24 season atop the 14-team Big Ten. Coaches only were asked to assess the expected top five finishers in the conference standings, providing the following predicted order:
- Iowa
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Illinois
Media offered a slightly different perspective of how the top of the conference might shake out:
- Iowa
- Indiana
- Ohio State
- Maryland
- Michigan
The pair of preseason polls present a clear top four, with Illinois and Michigan forming a second tier. From there, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin will aim to exceed prognostications.
Here are our thoughts on the best of the Big Ten—Iowa, Ohio State, Indiana and Maryland—and the rest of the Big Ten:
Iowa
