2023-24 college basketball conference previews: Big Ten

TMZ EXCLUSIVE: Large Fourteen That Was Going to Be Larger Sixteen Now Largest Eighteen

PREVIOUSLY: Intro: Parallax, Previews Part One, Previews Part Two, Previews Part Three, Previews Part Four, Previews Part Five, AAC, WCC, Mountain West, ACC, Pac-12, Big East.

Hello! This is Part Eight of our multi-week conference preview series, which is nine parts long. Today’s previews cover the Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12, which are ordered using KenPom’s conference rankings. These are all separate posts, because we are finally to the portion of these that are both pretty long and require their own address. This one is for the Big Ten, which requires no introduction.

The difference between these three conferences and the other 29 is that all three will be genuinely deeply disappointed if they do not produce a single Final Four team. Like it or not, these three are a slight level ahead of the competition. Each is going to produce anywhere from 7-9 NCAA Tournament teams, meaning they’re going to constitute over a third of the future field of 68. Any of the conferences producing fewer than six Tournament teams would be an unmitigated disaster, the likes of which would force everyone to look in the mirror for a very long time.

I talked yesterday about why these three conferences separate themselves from the remainder of the Big Six. Here’s a reminder: together, they represent half of the current top 12 teams on KenPom. They also collectively have one team - Minnesota - below 100th. The other three Big Six conferences have eight between them. These are deeper, more competitive groups all the way down. That’s why they matter most.

Lastly: as has been outlined a few times now, all conference previews are behind a paywall. If you have a financial issue that keeps you from paying the $30/year for the subscription ($20/year for people with .edu emails), let me know and I’m happy to give you a discount. Alternately, I think you can use a free trial for a week or whatever. Just get in touch.

I saw the sign, I opened up my eyes I saw the sign…