After an eventful Week 10 of college basketball filled with upsets, here are the Week 11 Big Ten power rankings.
The Big Ten has long been regarded as the best conference in college basketball, but that has not quite been the case this year. In fact, there are just a few teams ranked in the AP Poll and the highest is Wisconsin at No. 17.
Does that mean the conference is trending in the wrong direction? Actually, no. It’s quite the opposite. There are so many young stars in the league that each team is still trying to figure out the pace of college basketball.
Purdue, Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan State, Penn State, Iowa and Indiana, among others, are considered youthful squads this season and that’s a major reason the conference isn’t in the spotlight like in years past.
Give it a couple of seasons, maybe even next year, before the Big Ten is booming again like the ACC and Big 12 currently are. Let’s take a look at who tops this week’s power rankings, though.
The basement of this week’s power rankings resemble that from last week and that’s because Rutgers just cannot seem to put together a solid stretch of basketball. Steve Pikiell took over for Eddie Jordan following a 7-25 campaign last year and has already surpassed that win total, but he might not get a victory in conference play.
Rutgers was 0-2 in Week 10, losing against Northwestern and on the road against Indiana by a combined 28 points. How bad are the Scarlet Knights lately? Well, they haven’t won a game since Dec. 18 against Fordham. They host Nebraska this week and may get their first win.
Ohio State was one of two winless teams in Big Ten action through the first couple weeks of conference play until Sunday. The Buckeyes were eyeing their worst start in 19 years until they took down the Michigan State Spartans in Columbus thanks to a strong showing from the starting lineup.
Each starter for the Buckeyes scored in double figures against the Spartans, making up for the team’s serious lack of depth. However, the Buckeyes remain at No. 13 in the power rankings for the second straight week thanks to a 23-point loss at the hands of Wisconsin. Will Sunday’s win catapult Ohio State to a hot streak or will Thad Matta’s team remain near the bottom?