Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings (1/28/20)

14) Northwestern Wildcats

The Wildcats are the worst team in the best conference and any wins the rest of the season would be considered an upset.

13) Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Cornhuskers play hard and are well-coached and I expect over the next couple of years they could turn into a force in the Big Ten.

12) Michigan Wolverines

The maize and blue started off the year as a surprising story and now it looks like an NIT bid is the destined fate of the Wolverines. Losing two straight home games is unacceptable.

11) Ohio State Buckeyes

The Buckeyes, much like their rivals from up north, have seen a drastic reversal in fortunes. They have not beaten a top-100 team in over 4 weeks.

10) Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue’s season was summed up by the past week’s results. Early in the week, they absorbed a beating at home from the Fighting Illini and then a few nights later they blow out Wisconsin! Go figure!

9) Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Gophers were starting to look golden until an angry Michigan State team came to town and crushed Minnesota by 18 points.

8) Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State got a road win at Michigan, too bad that win did not take place a month ago. It would have been impressive then.

7) Wisconsin Badgers

The Badgers, like the teams ranked beneath them, seem to run hot and cold.

6) Indiana Hoosiers

The Hoosiers were a bad minute away from a two-game sweep over Michigan State and Maryland. They missed out, blowing a 7-point lead at the end of the game against the Terrapins. This looks like a team that is finally starting to come into their own.

5) Rutgers Scarlet Knights

A road loss at Iowa drops this team a little bit, but the Knights look like a real contender. I just need to see a few road wins though before I totally buy-in.

4) Maryland Terrapins

This team looks like a National Championship contender sometimes, while others it looks like an NIT team. To make this even crazier, both of those things usually happen in the same game.

3) Iowa Hawkeyes

The Hawkeyes gutted one out on defense surprisingly and are one of the hotter teams in the Big Ten right now.

2) Michigan State Spartans

The Spartans need to perform better on the road and a loss to Indiana knocks them down a spot.

1) Illinois Fighting Illini

The Illini have won 6-straight and 3 of those have been on the road. I don’t know if this will continue but this is a very talented team so it very well could.