It is not clear to me that the Big 10 is as strong as in previous years.
I think that the BE may be able to pull into a fairly comparable position of conference strength with the Big 10.
Some of the bottom rung teams from BE may have improved greatly, eg Creighton, while the traditional top BE teams are still strong, eg Butler, Nova, Xavier. Xavier may become a big national surprise.
I think Gtown can become as strong as any Big10 team, by year end.There may be some potential for St Johns to get better by year end also, if Lovett is cleared on appeal.