The Big Ten looks to be relatively down this season. Like most prognosticators, the Daily basketball beat has picked Ohio State to win the conference. Wisconsin, Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State will challenge for the championship as well. Here's our take on each team for 2011-12, in order of projected finish:

No. 1 Ohio State: How do they do it? How do the Buckeyes lose three integral starters over the offseason — David Lighty, Dallas Lauderdale and Jon Diebler — and still retain so much talent on the roster? Head coach Thad Matta isn’t typically considered an elite coach, but he’s absolutely an elite recruiter (what he says to these kids to get them to Ohio State is beyond us).

The Buckeyes’ success starts with you-know-who — returning NCAA Freshman of the Year Jared Sullinger. Barring injury, Sully can take this team deep into the postseason single-handedly. Unfortunately for everyone else, he doesn’t need to do it single-handedly. Sophomore point guard Aaron Craft, who may be the least imposing player in the conference outside of Michigan’s Matt Vogrich, is a highly capable point guard. And senior William Buford may be the top wing in the league.

Bottom Line: Craft to Sullinger … Easier than Easy Mac. (Get it?)

No. 2 Wisconsin: Every year, Wisconsin contends in the Big Ten and makes the NCAA Tournament (the Badgers have made the Big Dance in 13 straight years, the fourth-longest active streak in the country). Chalk it up to Bo Ryan. The Wisconsin coach never fails to instill his principles on his teams.

Point guard Jordan Taylor said that Ryan won’t recruit a player unless he knows he fits the Badger formula. The result is strong, physical defense, efficient (read: boring) offense with his swing system, and solid fundamentals. This season, the Badgers have a star in Taylor, perhaps the best point guard in the country.

The key to Wisconsin’s season will be how it reloads in the front court after three departures. Ryan mentioned Jared Berggren, Frank Kaminsky, Evan Anderson and Jarred Uthoff as bigs to watch. Guard Josh Gasser returns in the backcourt after a solid freshman season.

Bottom Line: Expect typical Wisconsin. Biggest disappointment? Mike Bruesewitz already shaved off his ginger ‘fro.

No. 3 Michigan: With point guard Darius Morris being the only part of the Wolverines’ rotation from last year to depart, Michigan’s lineup brings back the most continuity of the Big Ten teams. This could work to the Wolverines’ advantage early in the year when opposing teams are still shuffling their lineups and figuring out what works.

Freshmen Trey Burke and Carlton Brundidge will replace Morris’s minutes, and the rest of the roster can expect to see similar roles. After a breakout freshman season, Tim Hardaway will look to take on even more scoring to bring up a Michigan offense that finished near the bottom of the Big Ten in scoring.

Senior captains Zack Novak and Stu Douglass will look to make their third seasons as co-captains count and help send this team deep into the NCAA Tournament. The next benchmark will be getting to the Sweet Sixteen.

Bottom Line: Michigan hopes the new Crisler Arena will house a Bentley-like product.

No. 4 Purdue: Purdue loses its top-two scorers but should be pretty good this year. That sentence only makes sense because of Robbie Hummel. The fifth-year senior forward was injured for the latter part of his junior year and all of his fourth year. He returns for the last season of his career, which started out promising. He scored in double-digits each season and led the Boilermakers in rebounding in his two full seasons.

Hummel will be supported by senior guards Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith, who both started last season, but were in the shadows of seniors JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore. While Purdue put together a 14-4 conference record and finished second in the Big Ten last season, it got eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and can’t help but think of how good it could have been with Hummel on that team. This team hopes to open up the renovated Mackey Arena in style.

Bottom Line: Robbie Hummel. Robbie Hummel. Robbie Hummel. Robbie Hummel. Robbie Hummel.