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CBS Sports updated their Top 25 and 1 rankings this week and six different teams from the Big Ten were featured on the list:
- #5 Iowa Hawkeyes
- #9 Wisconsin Badgers
- #10 Michigan State Spartans
- #16 Ohio State Buckeyes
- #20 Rutgers Scarlet Knights
- #23 Indiana Hoosiers
One of the more interesting parts of the list was Iowa being ranked at fifth, with Gary Parrish having the following to say about the Hawkeyes:
Luka Garza will be the obvious preseason national player of the year if he returns to Iowa for his senior season, which is among the reasons he’s expected to return to Iowa for his senior season. Presumably, he’ll be joined by the four other starters from a team that finished 23rd at KenPom. And don’t forget: Iowa will get Jordan Bohannon back after a redshirt season. So Fran McCaffery should have the best team he’s ever had in 22 years as a Division I head coach.
The interesting wrinkle here is the assumption that Garza will return next season. On one hand it makes a lot of sense as Garza isn’t a sure thing to land on an NBA roster next season and could rack up plenty awards and attention if he returns to Iowa this season. On the other hand...will we even have a season this year? If college basketball ends up not playing, or has a shortened season, returning could be for nothing.
Parrish also notes that the Spartans, ranked at 10th currently, will likely go up if Xavier Tillman decides to return to school.
Absent from the list are several notable schools including Illinois, Michigan and Purdue, though that’s not entirely much of a surprise for the latter two.