The Big Ten will look drastically different during the 2024-25 college basketball season with Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington joining the league. The additions of the four West Coast-based programs will swell league membership to 18, tying it with the ACC for the largest power conference in the nation.
Because of conference realignment and expansion, the Big Ten Tournament will also look different, with the bottom three from the regular-season standings left out of the 15-team bracket.
Purdue reached the NCAA Tournament title game this spring but fell short to the juggernaut that is UConn in the final game of the 2023-24 season. The Boilermakers’ loss in the national title game extended the Big Ten’s national title drought to 24 years. Michigan State (2000) remains the last program from the Big Ten to win a national championship.
The Big Ten is wide open, which is reflected in our CBS Sports expert picks. While Purdue remains the favorite to win the regular season title for the second consecutive year, Indiana, UCLA and Illinois are popular picks to finish at the top of the standings.
The Big Ten received six bids to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and there is a strong possibility the number this season could be double-digits because of the expected parity in the new-look conference. The conference sent nine teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and 2022.
Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year
Braden Smith | Purdue | G | Junior
Zach Edey may be gone, but Purdue does have the luxury of returning one of the best guards in the country. Smith averaged 12.0 points, 7.5 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.6 steals last season and served as a perfect second option to Edey en route to the Boilermakers reaching the national title game.
Smith ranked second in the country (tied with former Minnesota guard Elijah Hawkins) in assists. With Edey gone, look for Smith to take on a more prominent role in scoring the…
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