College basketball’s offseason usually has a pretty clean finish line by now. Not this year.
With preliminary court injunctions opening the door for members of the 2022 recruiting class to return for a fifth season, rosters are still moving, and preseason outlooks for 2026-27 keep shifting with them. The Big Ten is right in the middle of it, with multiple programs showing up across a handful of updated national rankings - including Indiana.
Across the latest batch of preseason lists, Illinois keeps showing up near the top, but the rest of the league is crowded in behind it. Depending on whose board you trust, the Big Ten has anywhere from eight to 12 teams showing up in the national conversation.
Gary Parrish’s Top 25-and-1 for CBSSports.com includes eight Big Ten teams. Illinois leads the conference at No. 3, with Michigan State at No. 7 and Michigan at No.
- UCLA comes in at No.
17, USC at No. 20, Purdue at No.
21, Indiana at No. 22 and Ohio State at No. 26.
Jon Rothstein’s FanDuel rankings go deeper, with 12 Big Ten teams in his top 45 - and every one of them inside the top 38. His latest update has Illinois at No.
2, Michigan State at No. 5 and Michigan at No. 7.
USC is No. 13, UCLA No.
19, Purdue No. 23, Ohio State No.
28, Indiana No. 29, Nebraska No.
32, Wisconsin No. 35, Iowa No. 37 and Oregon No.
Jeff Borzello’s ESPN.com top 25 is a little tighter, but the Big Ten still has a strong footprint. Illinois sits at No. 3 nationally, followed by Michigan at No.
8, Michigan State at No. 9, USC at No.
11, UCLA at No. 20 and Nebraska at No. 23.
Purdue and Indiana are both listed in the “next five” group.
Seth Davis’ HoopsHQ.com rankings, updated July 20, break slightly from the others at the top of the league. Michigan State is his highest-ranked Big Ten team at No. 4, with Illinois right behind at No. 5 and Michigan at No.
- USC is No.
16, UCLA No. 17, Ohio State No. 21 and Indiana No.
Mike Rutherford’s SBNation top-35 list, updated in mid-July, again has Illinois near the front at No. 2.
Michigan State is No. 8, Michigan No.
11, UCLA No. 21, Nebraska No.
23, USC No. 25, Indiana No.
26, Ohio State No. 28, Purdue No. 29 and Iowa No.
Basket Under Review also put out preseason top 25s from Eamonn Brennan and Tate Frazier on social media, then discussed them on the latest podcast. Frazier’s Big Ten group includes Illinois at No.
3, Michigan at No. 6, Michigan State at No.
10, UCLA at No. 14, Indiana at No. 21 and USC at No.
- Brennan’s list has Illinois at No.
4, Michigan State at No. 8, Michigan at No.
14, USC at No. 19, UCLA at No. 20 and Ohio State at No.
For Indiana, the picture is steady across the board: the Hoosiers keep appearing in these preseason conversations, usually in the low 20s or just outside the top 25. In a year when the roster picture is still fluid, that’s enough to keep IU basketball in the mix.
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