The more I think about this upcoming season and the more excited/optimistic I get, the less I see the reasoning behind having Purdue/Michigan nearly unanimously above us. Michigan lost more than we did, and we were - for all intents and purposes - equal teams last year (we smoked them head to head, they had a better Tournament run). Purdue was a markedly worse team than both, gaining a 4-seed and losing in the First Round, and I think people are falling into the "everybody back" phenomena ... not saying Purdue won't be good (they have as good of a chance to win the Big Ten as anyone), but the idea that there is a clear favorite out of those three is asinine to me. All three have different pros and cons compared to the other two, and they will likely be three very evenly matched teams, with OSU honestly not far behind.
I honestly think part of this was that the prognosticators got so accustomed to Kofi for sure being gone and let a mental "domino effect" take hold with Ayo, Miller and then Kofi leaving in succession, leading to most of our preseason predictions being in the 8-seed category. Thus, even with desperately needed additions that make our team more complete and the essential development of Kofi returning, the jump from "8-seed" to "equal to Purdue and Michigan" was mentally too much for some people. In other words, they got used to crowning Purdue and Michigan as the class of the league, and the monumental addition of Kofi to Illinois hasn't been enough to shake that perception for some. However, when I think about our roster breakdown of talent and experience and depth and balance compared to anyone else in the league ... we are just as entitled as anyone to be Big Ten favorites. Let's go prove it!!