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College Basketball Power Rankings: Week 12

By Nathaniel Reeves

Mar 26, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self reacts to a play against the Villanova Wildcats during the first half of the south regional final of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self reacts to a play against the Villanova Wildcats during the first half of the south regional final of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 17, 2016; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard watches his team during the game with the Chicago State Cougars at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin defeated Chicago State 69-51. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 17, 2016; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard watches his team during the game with the Chicago State Cougars at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin defeated Chicago State 69-51. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /

18. Wisconsin Badgers

It wasn’t the prettiest week of basketball for the Badgers, but they managed to keep pace with Maryland atop the Big Ten standings with two more victories.

Wisconsin needed a late run to beat slumping Michigan by four points at the Kohl Center on Tuesday night. The Badgers were then able to pick up a good road win at archrival Minnesota with a 78-76 overtime victory on Saturday to improve to 5-1 in the Big Ten and 16-3 overall.

While the Badgers’ offense is prone to extended slumps, it still ranks 18th in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency, Bronson Koenig and Ethan Happ might be enough to carry them to the Big Ten title. Koenig hit a number of key shots down the stretch in both games this week, while Happ broke out of a mini-slump with 28 points against the Golden Gophers.

Greg Gard has the Badgers playing like a classic Bo Ryan team with a slow pace and tough defense that allows 0.902 points per possession. The offense has opened up a bit from previous years, but the Badgers are still going to have a few clunkers like the 66-55 loss to Purdue two weeks ago, keeping them from rising further in the top 20.

The Badgers will have a great opportunity to move to 7-1 in the Big Ten this week, as they host Penn State on Tuesday before traveling to Rutgers on Saturday afternoon.