Next season, the Big Ten's name will grown even more deceptive, as the conference expands to 14 teams with the additions of Rutgers and Maryland. The Scarlet Knights and Terrapins both come to the Big Ten with the advantage of having fertile recruiting grounds in their backyards, as well as being in areas that no other Big Ten school directly touches. Heading into next season, Rutgers has yet to make much of an impact on the recruiting scene in the league, but Maryland has assembled the Big Ten's second-best fall class, and a top 10 class nationally.
The top two classes in the Big Ten are built not just on quality, but also on quantity. Both the Buckeyes and the Terrapins signed four prospects, with Maryland landing four four-stars and Ohio State getting signatures from two five-stars, one four-star and a three-star.
Despite the de-commitment of four-star post
Payton Dastrup, Ohio State still assembled the top class in the league due to their two five-star commitments in
D'Angelo Russell and
Keita Bates-Diop, as well as solid four-star in-state forward
Jae'sean Tate.
Other than Ohio State, only
Indiana secured a five-star signee in the fall. The Hoosiers landed in-state combo guard
James Blackmon. However, despite having only a trio of five-star commitments, the Big Ten cleaned up nicely in the four-star ranks, landing 11 total commitments.