You might look at the title of this piece and say, “FALSE ADVERTISING! Michigan State is the clear-cut best team in the 2020 Big Ten basketball world, so not EVERYTHING is up in the air in this conference.”
Maybe… but do we know for sure?
I don’t even think we can say with total certainty that Michigan State is going to completely run away with the Big Ten. Is it possible? Of course it is… but if you look at Michigan State’s schedule, I don’t think that assertion holds up.
Michigan State is 4-0 in the Big Ten, yes. However, the Spartans have played three home games, and only one of those three has been against an especially good team (Michigan). The win against Illinois might look good at the end of the season, but I don’t think Illinois is a top-four Big Ten team (though that, too, is up in the air and a genuine point of uncertainty, which reinforces the central thesis of this article). Michigan State’s only Big Ten road game to date: Northwestern, easily one of the two worst teams in the conference alongside Nebraska… and if you had to put one NU against the other, Northwestern probably loses to Nebraska. The Huskers thumped Purdue earlier in the Big Ten season.
Genuinely, everything in the Big Ten is a big unknown right now. Do we all have our thoughts or leanings on what we think will happen? Sure. I think Wisconsin will continue to move in the right direction. I think Illinois will be an NCAA Tournament team. I think Maryland is going to be a six seed in the NCAA Tournament and not get out of the first weekend, as usual. Yet, while many of us THINK any of several things will happen, the idea that one can KNOW how this Big Ten season will unfold is dubious.
This college basketball season is a large-scale version of the Big Ten. If anyone tells you they know what will happen (other than stating that this season will be chaotic — duh!), they’re being very foolish.
Are Penn State and Rutgers really going to hold up? Maybe, but this is relatively new territory for those two teams. Will Ohio State fail to regain its winning edge? Will the real Purdue please stand up? How about the real Michigan?
Imagine Penn State getting a No. 4 seed at the Big Ten Tournament while Indiana has to play on day one (Wednesday) as an 11 seed. That sounds patently ridiculous in the context of college basketball history… but it seems entirely possible as a measurement of what those teams have brought to the table thus far.
Will that happen? Maybe… but who the heck knows? Uncertainty is the word of the day — and the week, and very possibly the whole season — in 2020 Big Ten basketball.