8. Illinois (Tier IV) I have to begin this post with an apology. When putting together my tiers, I... uh... forgot Northwestern. I do not, in fact, believe that the Wildcats will shoot into the top half of the Big Ten. I'm sorry to the readers for the omission. I also want to state that this isn't an apology to Northwestern basketball for reasons I shouldn't need to get into. sorry, also not sorry Let's take care of their section, fix these rankings, and get on to the real top half of the conference. Northwestern. The good news is Chris Collins' squad returns most of their production. The bad news is that they're mostly the same team that wasn't very good last year. Once opponents got the scout on Northwestern's revamped five-out offense, which Michigan laid the blueprint for shutting down, they were cooked. They should improve by virtue of player development and familiarity in the system but I'm not convinced their team experience will translate to as many wins as Torvik's early projections, which have them 8th in the Big Ten.