Good morning, Illini Nation: Big Ten schedule

Sept. 16 – There are only 50 days left until the start of the 2024-25 season — the 50th day was actually Sunday — and we’re still waiting for a full Big Ten schedule. If the release of that information matches last year’s, we’ll expect it this week. Not too soon, if you ask me.

Of course, it is known who the teams will be playing against in the new, expanded league with 18 teams. This has been known since May 1st. Since then, a lot has changed throughout the conference. In Illinois, these changes included the addition of Tomislav Ivisic, Ben Humrichous, Kaspar Jakucionis and Will Riley to the squad. That’s probably four starters.

The rest of the league is in a similar situation. The way Illinois’ Big Ten slate was viewed on May 1 has changed.

To refresh your memory, it looks like this:

* — Iowa, Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, USC

* — Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Rutgers, Washington

* — Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin

The double plays aren’t bad. Michigan State is the toughest team on this bunch and one of three Big Ten teams ranked above Illinois (Purdue and Rutgers are the others). Northwestern, like the Spartans, relies largely on the players it uses as running backs. Wisconsin made some moves in the transfer portal but was unable to sign a truly game-changing player in my opinion.

Individual home games against Maryland, Purdue, UCLA and USC are positives. Just facing Indiana, Michigan and Rutgers on the road is a bit difficult. Especially Rutgers. This is a team that will rely heavily on a pair of five-star freshmen. Beating them in Champaign would have been an easier task than in the Trapezoid of Terror.

The teams that I think have made significant moves since May 1st are Ohio State, Nebraska, Washington and Oregon.

The Buckeyes acquired former five-star recruit Sean Stewart from Duke and then got a veteran guard in Ques Glover as a walk-on (plus NLI) after Taison Chatman tore his ACL in summer practice. Nebraska also picked up a needed backup, as UCLA transfer Berke Buyuktuncel gave the Cornhuskers some of the stretch-big vibes they would have lacked without Rienk Mast this season.

New Washington coach Danny Sprinkle completed most of his most important tasks after May 1. Getting Great Osobor to follow him from Montana State to Utah State and now to the Huskies was a big (and expensive) deal. And Oregon’s Dana Altman has bolstered his roster with transfers TJ Bamba and Supreme Cook while also signing four-star guard Jamari Phillips from Arizona.

There’s been a lot to digest in the four-plus months since the Big Ten announced who will play who in 2024-25, and now we’re still waiting to see when that happens.