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60 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED forward Leron Black tore the meniscus in his knee. Guard Kendrick Nunn hurt his thumb and will miss the start of the season. Abrams' loss is a blow, because Illinois has limited options at point guard. Jaylon Tate filled in last sea- son in Abrams' absence with mixed results, to put it kindly. Illinois does have talent — Malcolm Hill and Nunn (when healthy) can be a potent scoring tandem, and Coleman-Lands is legit — but big man Nnanna Egwu will be missed on the interior. Northwestern: This group might be growing into something, but it may not be happening fast enough for the Wild- cats to compete for that elusive first NCAA Tournament bid. Center Alex Olah is a presence and one of the bet- ter big men in the conference and guard Tre Demps can score. Sophomore Bryant McIntosh is a budding standout. Northwestern closed last season strong and should benefit from the experience its youth gained last sea- son. But it has to get better on defense and on the boards and it could use some more scoring. That's a lot to ask. ROUNDING THINGS OUT These teams are also members of the Big Ten. Minnesota: These guys are decimated, losing the bulk of their contributors from last season's 6-12 Big Ten team. Senior guard Carlos Morris averaged 11 points last season and will have to average a lot more than that probably this season. The Gopher frontcourt is a total unknown follow- ing the graduation of centers Mo Walker and Elliott Eliason. Maybe Minnesota will really crank up its press. It will have to try something. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers' star has faded considerably since they looked to have such a promising future just two seasons ago. Shavon Shields is one of the best players in the Big Ten that no one talks about, but scorer Terran Pette- way is gone and Tim Miles' team struggled from the perimeter last season even with him. Nebraska needs its freshmen to be really good and maybe point guard Glynn Watson and power forward Ed Morrow can be. Penn State: There are brighter days ahead for Patrick Chambers, who has re- cruited very well, with some impressive 2016 recruits committed. But this is 2015 and Penn State's reality is that Big Ten leading scorer D.J. Newbill is gone and he's going to be impossible to replace. It'll be a long season in State College, but again, there are brighter days ahead. Rutgers: Look, let's be real here: This might be one of the worst teams in the modern history of the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights couldn't score last year — except for that Bizarro World 55-point second half at Purdue — and lost their three best players in seniors Myles Mack and Kadeem Jack and trans- ferred big man Junior Etou. Eddie Jordan says he's going to "open up the of- fense" this year. That's nice. j