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Andy Katz releases new B1G hoops power rankings following Kofi Cockburn’s return to Illinois
Published:
Some big news came through B1G country on the basketball side last week with Illinois center Kofi Cockburn announced that he’ll be returning to Champaign for another season. It was a huge boost for Brad Underwood’s team.
Cockburn had been considering transferring from Illinois to complete his college career and also entered his name into the NBA Draft. However, the All-B1G center chose to return and play for the Fighting Illini for one more season.
Cockburn was excellent as a sophomore with the Illini, scoring 17.7 points per game en route to second-team All-American honors. He helped lead the Illini to a Big Ten Tournament championship and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
After the news broke, Big Ten Network contributor Andy Katz provided his updated power rankings. The Illini made a leap up to No. 3 in the latest rankings.
Here’s a look at the update power rankings from Katz following the news:
- Purdue
- Michigan
- Illinois
- Ohio State
- Maryland
- Indiana
- Michigan State
- Wisconsin
- Rutgers
- Iowa
- Northwestern
- Nebraska
- Penn State
- Minnesota
🚨 Emergency 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 update from @TheAndyKatz 🚨
With the weekend's news that @kxng_alpha is returning to @IlliniMBB, the Fighting Illini made a big leap in Andy's preseason projections 📈 pic.twitter.com/0y56aQD95n
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) July 20, 2021
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB