ROSEMONT, Ill. - Big Ten basketball coaches have changed their tune.

With five teams ranked in the top 18 of the preseason coaches poll and a sixth receiving votes, the usual refrain about a lack of national respect for the conference was silenced Thursday at the conference's basketball media day.

Instead, the veteran collection of teams the Big Ten will field this season has coaches and players in a different mindset as they work toward tipping off the 2009-10 season.

"Just look around the room at all the talent that is here. You can't get complacent or you will get it handed to you. That's the way it is," said Purdue forward Robbie Hummel, one of five juniors named to the preseason all-conference team.

Coaches of teams picked to finish anywhere from first to worst repeated the same warning as they took their turn at the podium in a room filled with cautious optimism.

"I think we have a chance to be a pretty good basketball team, but every other coach here can say the same thing," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Izzo argues the depth of the league is as good as it has been since the 1999-2000 season, when the Big Ten sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament, the Spartans won the national title, Wisconsin reached the Final Four and needed to beat Purdue in the Elite Eight to get there.

"There are eight, maybe nine teams, who legitimately can make an argument that they can contend for the championship this year," said Izzo, whose Michigan State team edged Purdue and Ohio State as the preseason team to beat in a balloting of a 24-member media panel.

The Spartans will build around preseason player of the year Kalin Lucas, who was joined by Michigan's Manny Harris, Ohio State's Evan Turner, Penn State's Talor Battle and Hummel as preseason all-conference picks.

That type of returning experience makes the situation that much more daunting for teams like Iowa and Indiana, which finished 10th and 11th a year ago.

"With 22 of the top 30 scorers and all five first-team choices on the all-conference team returning, there is no question that it is an terrific challenge," third-year Hawkeyes coach Todd Lickliter said. "We all know what the predictions are, but if every prediction came true there would be no reason to play the games."

Indiana coach Tom Crean considers this a tough time to try to build a program in the Big Ten.

"It will be a challenge for us to move forward," Crean said. "Everybody has players, everybody has almost their entire team back, so we plan to keep the focus on ourselves and see where that takes us. That's about the only approach you can take."

Michigan State is ranked second to Kansas in the ESPN-USA Today preseason coaches poll released Thursday. The poll also has Purdue ranked seventh, Michigan 15th, Ohio State 17th and Minnesota 18th, with Illinois among the teams receiving votes.

"I like to say were cautiously excited about the upcoming season," Fighting Illini coach Bruce Weber said. "We like to think that we are going to be an improved team, but this is one of those years when the rest of the league will dictate whether that translates into an improved record."

Weber said teams that find ways to win close games, gain confidence through early wins in Big Ten play and earn an upset or two on the road will likely emerge as the title contenders.

Penn State coach Ed DeChellis suspects that might be easier said than done.

"You could be 8-10 in the league this year and be a very, very good basketball team," DeChellis said. "We will all have to have our guys ready for 18 nights and see how it plays out."