What are the TOC writers thinking now?
A couple months back, the TOC staff shared our predictions for the 2025-26 basketball season. Two months later, with the non-conference portion of the schedule complete, we will look back at those predictions and see if our beliefs have changed. All four of us share our new predictions for Big Ten record, Big Ten finish, performance in the B1G Tournament, and performance in the NCAA Tournament. We also tell which of our original predictions we are most proud of and which one we were clearly way off on.
MIKE
B1G Record: 14-6 (originally 14-6)
B1G Finish: 3rd (originally 4th)
BTT: Lose in semifinals (originally lose in semifinals)
NCAA – Elite 8 (originally Sweet 16)
Best Prediction: I had Fears with top assists but, really, as long as he stays healthy, that one is pretty obvious. It’s hard to claim credit there. I had Kohler as the top rebounder and he has 134 so far. Cooper is next with 90.
Worst Prediction: I had Trey Fort leading the team in 3 pointers but he’s hitting just 29.5% on 44 attempts (the third most on the team). Kur Teng, with 47, has attempted the most and has hit 38%. Kohler is next with 45 shots, hitting 47%. I didn’t see that coming.
STEVE
B1G Record: 12-8 (originally 12-8)
B1G Finish: 3rd (originally 5th)
BTT: Lose in quarterfinals (originally lose in quarterfinals)
NCAA – Sweet 16 (originally Sweet 16)
Best Prediction: Teng is in position to be take the top 3pt position
Worst Prediction: I had State losing to Kentucky, NC and Duke
LUCAS
B1G Record: 15-5 (originally 12-8)
B1G Finish: 2nd (originally 4th)
BTT: Lose in finals (originally lose in finals)
NCAA – Final Four run as the 2-seed, dramatic win over Duke that avenges the December loss in the Elite Eight to get Izzo to his 9th. (originally Sweet 16)
Best Prediction: Fears being the most improved. He went from a reliable ball handler to arguably the top passer in the country, and one of the top point guards overall. His leadership cannot be overstated.
Worst Prediction: I should have had more confidence in the guys for this non-conference schedule. The wins over Kentucky and UNC especially have shown us how high this team’s ceiling can be when they shoot the ball well. Even the Duke game was more competitive than I initially would have expected pre-season.
O
B1G Record: 16-4 (originally 15-5)
B1G Finish: 2nd (originally 2nd)
BTT: Champs (originally lose in semifinals)
NCAA – Final Four (originally Elite 8)
Best Prediction: Finishing the non-con with just 1 loss, though I thought it would be to Kentucky in the Champions Classic and that we would beat Duke at home.
Worst Prediction: Maybe saying Ward to be the best new player. While he does have a higher scoring average than the other newbies – Scott, Fort, and Ugochukwu – a lot of that is bolstered by his monster game against Arkansas. Unfortunately for everyone, his wrist injury has really limited his production over the past five or so games and his FT shooting is a bit of a liability. At this point, it feels like both Scott and Ugo are bigger parts of this team’s success.
In general, the TOC staff has higher expectations than we did two months ago. None of us are predicting a Big Ten season championship, but 3 of us are now seeing the BTT and NCAA Tournament runs going further. Two of us are calling for a trip to the Final Four.
Have your thoughts changed? Here is the template for you to paste into your comment.
B1G Record:
B1G Finish:
BTT:
NCAA Tournament:
Happy New Year, TOC Nation!
Category: General Sports
