2005 Big Ten Basketball Preview

The Big 10 is composed of eleven teams. The conference name went out of balance when Penn State joined the league many years ago making the total number of teams in the Big 10 one more than its name.

Last season five Big 10 teams went to the NCAA Tournament and one, Illinois, went all the way to the Championship game where they lost to North Carolina. The fact is this is a high quality conference that includes Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Iowa.

Michigan State is favored over Illinois this season with Iowa and Indiana being much more competitive than they were last year. Iowa has managed to return almost every one of its players from last season while Illinois is without three major contributors. A league championship in this conference can be the difference of one point in one game or one foul at the end of a knock them down, drag out contest.

Some of the best news for this league is based on the fact that so few of its players made early exits for the NBA. That means most Big 10 clubs have formidable starting lineups and solid reserves for the 2004-05 season. This is a conference on the rise.

All the teams are covered in depth below this conference preview where it says "2005 Big 10 team previews." For the official Big Ten conference website click here.