Maybe?

Yeah, it's crazy-early to be able to tell all that much. However, I think we got an indication on Friday for sure that the potential top of the league might be pretty good.

We all know what MSU has done, so no need to repeat that here.

IU went into Xavier and came away (barely) with a 2 point win.  Xavier isn't anticipate to be as good as some of their best teams over the past 25 years, but they're considered to be a solid upper middle of the pack Big East team this year.  On top of that, winning in that building is always a tough deal.  Then add in that IU hasn't done anything recently to justify viewing ANY road win like this as a ho-hum affair.  I still have questions about the guard play, and late in that game it was again highly suspect...Xavier Johnson, to me, is the veritable king of empty stats.  His numbers will consistently look fine to very good but when you watch him play, especially in late game situations, it's another story.  Everyone knows about TJD and they've got enough around him down low to be a load in the paint.  It's going to come down to guard play (again).  Johnson as the decision  maker is a question mark and 4-12 from 3 doesn't yet suggest that their shooting woes of the past 4-5 years has necessarily been solved.  Still, the bottom line is that's a road win against a quality opponent in a tough environment.

Illinois was, to me, THE mystery team entering the season because of the massive turnover in their roster.  On paper, they looked to have real potential but that's a lot of new faces to work into a lineup, and then they lost one of the returnees who would have played a big role in Goode.  They were down 9 at the half in Vegas against UCLA but then turned it up behind pressure defense (forced 15 TOs, many in the second half) and an insane shooting night from Shannon Jr. to pick up a top 10 neutral court win.  I still think there's a bunch of TBD about this team (they had 21 turnovers for starters, which will be a problem if that continues to be that kind of issue...and it might, with young guards and a lack of familiarity in general), but I have to admit, this was an impressive win I didn't see them getting.  They get Virginia today in the championship game of that event and that will be a stiff test...UVa just took out Baylor with a second half run of its own.  Homecourt games against Syracuse and especially Texas also loom before Big Ten play kicks in for good in January, so they have a few more opportunities to show exactly how seriously they should be taken.

Maryland is intriguing to me.  New coach and some transfer guards but not much in the way of high level expectations.  They're 4-0 and though they don't have any wins quite like the first three teams we mentioned, they did just absolutely wax a Saint Louis team that's expected to contend for the A10 title and to be a Tournament team. They get Miami today and then have home games against Tennessee and UCLA in December, but considering that few if any had the Terps as a Tournament quality team coming into the season, they at least rate as a mild surprise thus far.

Iowa is expected to push for another Tournament bid but might they be underrated as well? They blew out a Seton Hall team expected to at least be a bubble candidate and mid level Big East squad in a road game, so that was a good early indicator.  They'll get Duke and Iowa State at home and maybe a neutral court game against TCU next week, but so far, so good for the Hawks.

Teams like Purdue and OSU and Wisconsin haven't really played anyone significant yet (Wisconsin beat Stanford by 10, but I'm not sure how big a win that really is at this stage) but they'll have chances coming up soon to prove their worth.

Maybe the biggest factor is that as we see teams playing from all around the country, one starts to perhaps reach the conclusion that there really aren't any true heavyweights out there.  That alone might help the Big Ten in terms of perception.