The deadline for NBA Draft prospects to decide if they wanted to return to college or stay in the draft was on Wednesday night, so we now have a clearer picture of rosters for the 2026-27 college basketball season. Two of the most notable decisions was Jeremey Fears Jr. returning to Michigan State, and Andrej Stojakovic returning to Illinois, which adds to an already loaded Big Ten next season.Player compensation, more European players and the transfer portal have resulted in college basketball being more talented than ever. Michigan finally snapped the Big Ten's streak of 26 years without a national champion, and the conference looks like it could be historically good next season.Fears could be the preseason favorite to win Big Ten Player of the Year, and I'd argue he's Tom Izzo's best college player at Michigan State since Cassius Winston in 2019-20. That immediately makes the Spartans a team to watch next season.You can add Michigan's quest to repeat as Big Ten and national champions under new superstar head coach Dusty May. The Wolverines will return Elliot Cadeau, and they had a productive portal cycle with players like J.P. Estrella from Tennessee and Moustapha Thiam from Cincinnati. You could make a strong argument that Illinois should be the preseason favorites to win the conference after Stojakovic's decision to return. The Fighting Illini also return David Mirkovic alongside the Ivisic brothers in the frontcourt. Providence transfer Stefan Vaaks is a more than capable replacement for Keaton Wagler as a primary ball handler. The conference will have at least three national title contenders next season, and the Gophers will face Michigan twice. They will get Illinois at Williams Arena and Michigan State on the road. The next tier of teams highlighted by USC, Ohio State, Nebraska, Indiana, Wisconsin, UCLA, Purdue and even Maryland will all have NCAA Tournament expectations next season. Even the most optimistic Gophers fan would have a hard time putting their roster above any of the 11 teams mentioned. Fortunately for the Gophers, games are not played on paper. There were nine teams from the conference to make the NCAA Tournament last season, but this year's field will be expanding from 68 to 76 teams. Nebraska proved last season that teams can thoroughly outperform preseason expectations. They were viewed as low as the 14th or 15th-best team in the preseason, and they advanced to the Sweet 16. Can the Gophers have a similar run in Year 2 under Niko Medved? It's certainly not impossible, but they will have to face a gauntlet in conference play this season.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow