Big Ten Basketball will be undergoing some off-season changes, affecting how the league will look for next season. How will it look for the 2018-19 season?

At the very beginning of conference play for Big Ten Basketball, Michigan State was considered the heavy favorite to win the league. The Spartans ultimately prevailed but was pushed all the way by both Purdue and surprisingly Ohio State.

They were a few of the five teams who had a winning record in the Big Ten, including a Nebraska team who finished strong with a 13-5 record. The other team was Michigan, who went on a hot streak to not only win the team’s second straight conference tournament title but kept winning to make it all the way to the National Championship game, before losing to Villanova.

Now comes the off-season, and a few draft decisions have already been made, affecting the outlook for some teams. The Big Ten teams have also used the transfer market to replenish the talent pool, making for some unique lineups.

It’s early, and there’s plenty of news to make, but teams are starting to separate from each other. Here’s an early look at the 2018-19 campaign for the Big Ten.

*All recruiting rankings listed are courtesy of 247sportsComposite

*All stats listed are courtesy of sportsreference.com/cbb

The losses of Corey Sanders and DeShawn Freeman hurt a Rutgers team trying to be relevant. They’ll start over with sophomores Geo Baker and Quinnipiac transfer Peter Kiss, along with four-star recruit Montez Mathis. At best, it’s net-even when the departures are taken into account.

The Buckeyes vastly outperformed expectations this past season, thanks to Keita Bates-Diop having an All-American season. But with him along with an underrated player in Jae’Sean Tate leaving, this team is going to take a big step back.

The issue is going to be the offense and finding consistent scoring outside of Kaleb Wesson and CJ Jackson. Chris Holtmann is the right man for the job, and Ohio State will have a really good team starting in 2019-20. I just believe that next year is a transition season for the program.