Big Ten men's basketball power rankings after Michigan, Wisconsin survive road tests

It was a tricky Saturday for many of the best teams in the Big Ten, with three of the top four teams in the conference — Michigan State, Michigan and Wisconsin — facing stern tests well into the second half. But while it wasn't always pretty, all three of them passed where it counts, continuing a logjam atop the standings as we push further into February.

So, how do we make sense of the conference landscape so far? Which teams are legit March contenders, and which pretenders will eventually fade away? Let's break it all down.

Big Ten power rankings as of Feb. 8

1. Purdue Boilermakers (19-5, 11-2)

Matt Painter's team has stabilized a bit since that home loss to Ohio State back in late January, winning their next four. It's a good thing, too, because the Boilers are about to embark on a stretch that could define their season: Purdue's upcoming schedule includes road trips to Michigan, Michigan State and Indiana plus home dates with Wisconsin and UCLA. Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn spearhead the league's best offense, but we'll figure out whether Purdue is good enough on the other end to make a Final Four run soon enough.

2. Michigan State Spartans (19-4, 10-2)

It was gut-check time for Sparty on Saturday, staring down a third straight loss with a 14-point halftime deficit at home against Oregon. Tom Izzo has to be proud of how his team responded, overwhelming the Ducks from the start of the second half and never letting up en route to an 86-74 win. It was the sort of defensive effort that we'd come to expect from this team this season, and they brought the sort of physicality on the offensive glass that had been missing on their West Coast road trip. Shooting remains an issue here, but it might not matter if they play as hard as they did down the stretch on Saturday.

3. Michigan Wolverines (17-5, 9-2)

Michigan is playing with fire here a bit, nearly letting an 18-point lead against Indiana slip away during a sloppy second half. This is a good defense, but it's not a great one, and it leaves the Wolverines vulnerable when teams have enough size to match the twin towers of Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin. Still, that's a pretty small list, and Dusty May is going to have this team ready to go come March.

4. Wisconsin Badgers (19-5, 9-4)

We're still waiting for the Badgers to notch a marquee win, but they keep on beating all the teams they're supposed to, surviving a trip to Iowa on Saturday with an impressive closing stretch. This team generates offense from everywhere, with a rare blend of size and shooting that allows them to play five-out and really stress opposing defenses. Will a lack of athleticism doom them on the other end against the best teams in the league? We'll find out soon enough, starting next weekend with a trip to Purdue.

5. Maryland Terrapins (17-6, 7-5)

Letting a double-digit lead slip away against Ohio State wasn't great, but I remain a believer in the Terps, who have two of the most skilled bigs in the league in Derik Queen and Julian Reese plus a legit lead guard in Ja'Kobi Gillespie. They're solid across the board, although the significant dropoff whenever they have to play away from College Park is concerning.

6. UCLA Bruins (17-6, 8-4)

UCLA is among the hottest teams in the league with six straight wins, but it's worth noting that they've gotten to stay home to do so, only leaving the city of Los Angeles once over that span (and even that was a trip to Washington, one of the worst teams in the Power 4). This is beginning to look more and more like a Mick Cronin team, defending their tails off and causing some havoc on that end of the floor, but I remain a little skeptical about their ability to score enough.

7. Illinois Fighting Illini (15-8, 7-6)

Yikes. A midweek loss at Rutgers was the Illini's fifth in their last eight games, as even the return of star freshman Kasparas Jakucionis hasn't helped Brad Underwood's team right the ship. They remain a blast to watch, pushing the pace constantly, but their complete lack of outside shooting has begun to rear its head during the dog days of conference play. There's a very good team in here somewhere, but I'm not sure Underwood knows how to make all the pieces fit.

8. Ohio State Buckeyes (14-9, 6-6)

The Buckeyes have won four of five, including upsets of Purdue and Maryland. So why does it all still feel a bit perilous? Maybe because both of those upsets relied on remarkable individual performances, Micah Parrish catching fire late against the Boilers and Bruce Thornton putting the team on his back against the Terps. Unless they get a spectacular individual effort, this team plays some ugly offense, and they're too limited on the other end to compensate.

9. Oregon Ducks (16-8, 5-8)

Make it five in a row and six of seven for Oregon, which got straight-up bullied down the stretch against the Spartans on Saturday. It seems like eons ago that we were talking about this team as maybe the very best in the conference; now they have their work cut out for them just to make the NCAA Tournament at all, with seemingly no answers on the offensive end now without a true lead guard.

10. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (12-11, 5-7)

You could make an argument for Nebraska in this spot, but Rutgers beat the Huskers in Lincoln earlier this year, and I'm still putting my faith in the raw talent of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.

11. Nebraska
12. USC
13. Indiana
14. Northwestern
15. Iowa
16. Penn State
17. Minnesota
18. Washington