The Big Ten soccer coaches released their preseason poll today, and they pick the Fighting Illini to finish third in the conference in 2009.  Unlike football and men's basketball (pansies!), this poll actually shows all eleven teams, rather than just the top three.  Here's the entire list:

1. Penn State

2. Michigan State

3. Illinois

4. Purdue

T5. Ohio State

T5. Minnesota

7. Wisconsin

8. Indiana

9. Northwestern

T10. Iowa

T10. Michigan

Well, that's not too much different than the picks I made just a couple of days ago.  In fact, none of my picks are more than one spot different than the league coaches.  I don't know if that's good or bad.  Just to review, here's how I picked the league to stack up:

1. Penn State

2. Illinois

3. Michigan State

4. Purdue

5. Ohio State

6. Minnesota

7. Indiana

8. Wisconsin

9. Michigan

10. Northwestern

11. Iowa

In my opinion, Wisconsin and Michigan are the teams that could end up being pleasant surprises in the Big Ten this season.  Both have proven head coaches (Paula Wilkins at Wisconsin and Greg Ryan at Michigan) in the process of rebuilding programs.  Both have brought in talented recruiting classes.  Wilkins is one year head of Ryan, and the Badgers should be slightly ahead of Michigan in the standings.  Really, from fifth place on down is tough for me to pick.  Besides Minnesota (who rode a senior laden team to a Sweet 16 appearance) and possibly Northwestern (who lost two of their three leading scorers), all of these teams look to have more talent on the field than they did a year ago.  I can't wait to see how it all shakes out.

bmoline@wdws.com