The state of Ohio has some elite 2019 players; not sure OSU gets any of them, though. That should be a sign to the AD when you aren't doing well recruiting in your home state.
I'm guessing they finish between 8th and 10th. A lot will depend on how good the grad transfers mesh together and if they can play in a more competitive conference. Big Ten is never a super strong conference, but the following teams on paper project to be better than Ohio State:
Maryland
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Michigan
Purdue
Michigan State
Likely stronger than Ohio State:
Indiana
On par with tOSU:
Rutgers
Penn State
Worse than Ohio State:
Illinois
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Just came across this after a crazy week of everything...
Agree with virtually everything you've put down, but have two caveats:
- Indiana will be stronger than Ohio State. This team, if you remember, just won the women's NIT and while they've lost Tyra Buss, they get a pretty good guard in Grace Berger and activate two transfers, Ali Patberg (ND) and Brenna Wise (forward from Pitt, whose was a solid ACC performer)
- Wisconsin. Coach Jonathan Tsipis started from below scratch in Madison and has a building-block recruiting base coming in. In 2019, he is finally starting to put a dent into the Wisconsin recruiting territory. The Badgers will trend upwards....
Just came across this after a crazy week of everything...
Agree with virtually everything you've put down, but have two caveats:
- Indiana will be stronger than Ohio State. This team, if you remember, just won the women's NIT and while they've lost Tyra Buss, they get a pretty good guard in Grace Berger and activate two transfers, Ali Patberg (ND) and Brenna Wise (forward from Pitt, whose was a solid ACC performer)
- Wisconsin. Coach Jonathan Tsipis started from below scratch in Madison and has a building-block recruiting base coming in. In 2019, he is finally starting to put a dent into the Wisconsin recruiting territory. The Badgers will trend upwards....
I like Tsipis and hope he can turn around a dreadful Wisconsin program, but I just don't see a 2-14 team making big strides ahead of Ohio State next year. Their 2018 class has 5 players but none are in the top 100. They've been pretty awful the last several seasons, and I don't see that changing a whole lot this year. As much as Ohio State has underachieved considering the talent they've had, McGuff has had top Big Ten teams every year, so I don't see them dropping past a team like Wisconsin unless something really strange happens.
Agree on Indiana though. Didn't realize how good Wise was.