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The Big 10 is coming off of a great season that culminated with Michigan State making it to the 2009 NCAA championship game before ultimately losing to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Many preseason college basketball rankings have the Spartans in the top 5 in the 2009-10 preseason polls.

Only two Big 10 teams finished the 2008-09 season with losing records: Iowa at 15-17 and Indiana at 6-25. Every other team in the conference was over .500 with 8 teams amassing more than 20 wins, two of those 8 being over 25 wins, and Michigan State finishing at 31-7. State returns a solid core lineup for the 2009-10 NCAA basketball season, led by guard Kalin Lucas with Purdue, Ohio State, Illinois, and Michigan being close behind the Spartans in the race for the 2010 Big Ten championship.

2009 Big-10 Basketball Rankings

#1 2009 Big-10 Basketball Team – Michigan State

State made it to the NCAA championship game last season. They bring back a solid core with Kalin Lucas back to lead the Spartans this season. Lucas will be looked upon to score at or above his 14.7 ppg average last season and has Raymar Morgan coming back for his senior year after averaging 10.2 ppg and 5.3 rbg last season to help State in their quest to make it back to the Final Four and NCAA title games.

#2 2009 Big-10 Basketball Team – Purdue

Purdue had a great 2008-09 season finishing second in the Big 10 at 11-7 in conference play and 27-10 overall. The Boilermakers leading scorers from last season were JaJuan Johnson at 13.4 ppg, E’Twaun Moore at 13.8 ppg, and Robbie Hummel at 12.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg. With the number of returning upper classmen returning, there is plenty of talent on the squad this year to compete for the Big 10 title and potentially run deep in the 2010 NCAA tournament.

#3 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Ohio State

Ohio State wants to get back to their 2007 form when the Buckeyes went 15-1 in Big Ten play and made the NCAA title game. State returns three players who averaged more than 10 points per game last season in William Buford, Jon Diebler, and Evan Turner. Turner coming back this season after averaging 17.3 points per game last year gives the Buckeyes an outside shot at up-ending Purdue or Michigan State for the Big 10 title this season.

#4 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Illinois

The top three scorers return for the Illini and they have an extremely strong recruiting class coming in. The top three scorers from 2008-09 were Mike Davis at 11.3 ppg and 8.1 rpg, Demetri McCamey at 11.5 ppg, and Mike Tisdale at 10.2 ppg and 4.0 ppg. After being a bit of a surprise to everyone last season, the Illini will have a higher standard to live up to this year to meet or better their tie for 2^nd in the Big 10 from 2009.

#5 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Michigan

DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris come back having averaged 15.4 and 16.9 ppg las season respectfully. Last year, the Wolverines lacked a robust upfront presence which hurt them at times. They finished the year at 9-9 in Big Ten play, but are expecting to improve on that record in the upcoming season with having a deeper roster.

#6 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Minnesota

Coach Tubby Smith brings his top 9 scorers back from last season’s team that finished 22-11, and 9-9 in Big 10 play. He has a deep bench, although he only has two senior’s on the squad this year. The leading scorer from last year’s squad is guard, Lawrence Westbrook who scored at a 12.6 ppg clip.

#7 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Wisconsin

Coach Bo Ryan will likely have trouble exceeding 20 wins like he did last year with the Badgers. Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes return having averaged 10.3ppg and 12.1 ppg last season. Look for Wisconsin to end up in the middle to lower portion of the Big 10 this coming season.

#8 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Northwestern

Kevin Coble is the lead returning scorer on this year’s squad having averaged 15.5 ppg last season. They made the postseason for the first time in a long time last year getting to the NIT. The team has improved, but not at the pace of the rest of the conference. Look for another solid year out of the Wildcats, but they will not likely finish above seventh in the Big 10 this season.

#9 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Penn State

Its worth watching Penn State just to see Talor Battle run the point. He averaged 16.7 ppg and 5.0 assists per game last year. The Nittany Lions won the 2009 NIT for the school’s first national tournament title in basketball ever. They will be looking to try to make the NCAA tournament this year after setting a school record for victories last year with 27. A lot will depend on how quickly this year’s team develops after losing Jamelle Cornley and Stanley Pringle from last year’s squad.

#10 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Indiana

The good news is that Coach Tom Cream’s twitter account should not be the main attraction for Hoosiers fans this year. The bad news is that the upgraded talent he has been bringing in to IU will not likely be enough to break back into familiar Hoosier territory in the upper portion of the Big 10. New recruit, Maurice Creek should be exciting to watch this season, and IU will definitely improve on their 1-17 Big 10 record from last year. Look out for IU in the 2010-11 season at this point.

#11 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Iowa

Iowa lost most of their core players from last year’s team that finished 15-17. Matt Gates and Anthony Tucker averaged 10.8 ppg and 10.4 ppg last year respectfully. Look for another down year for Coach Todd Likliter’s Hawkeyes this year.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Big 10, NCAA Basketball Rankings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.