Big Ten men's basketball power rankings: Can anybody challenge Purdue?
Is the Big Ten turning into the Big One and Little Thirteen?
As the start of conference play looms and teams move on from Feast Week, it’s clear that Purdue is the class of the league. The Boilermakers didn’t just win the Maui Invitational, they beat out the most stacked field in tournament history. Watching Purdue dispatch No. 11 Gonzaga, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 4 Marquette and capture the championship felt as inevitable as that Thanksgiving evening craving for an extra piece of leftover pie.
After the Boilers, though, it’s a bit of a free-for-all. Expected standard-bearer Michigan State still might be fine, but the Spartans weren’t expected to be .500 this late in the season. Illinois has lost to the only top-140 team it’s played according to KenPom.com. Is Nebraska in that conversation near the top of the league? What about Ohio State and Wisconsin, which both went to Florida and won multi-team events?
Let’s try and sort this all out. Here’s how the league stacks up so far.
1. Purdue (Last week: 1)
This is the easiest call all season. In beating the Bulldogs, Volunteers and Golden Eagles, the amount of time Purdue trailed dropped with each successive game. Nothing in college basketball feels more unstoppable right now than the play of Zach Edey. The sophomore backcourt of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer has been stellar. Smith has scored in double figures in five of the first six games. The one time he didn’t, Loyer poured in 29 to help beat Tennessee. And a shoutout to Lance Jones, who might’ve hit the longest shot in program history with a roughly 80-foot heave at the first-half buzzer against Marquette.
2. Illinois (Last week: 2)
The Illini maintain their spot in the rankings based more on talent level than current resume. Their non-conference schedule is among the nation’s worst, and the only team of consequence Illinois has played is Marquette. That was a seven-point home loss. What will the Illini look like when they open Big Ten play at Rutgers after an eight-day layoff? No idea, but maybe they figured out the point guard spot during the time off.
3. Nebraska (Last week: 4)
This could all fall apart in short order, but Fred Hoiberg’s Cornhuskers are off to their best start since he was a sophomore at Iowa State. Nebraska is 7-0 for the first time since the 1992-93 season, and with Keisei Tominaga developing into an international star, the Cornhuskers are something their passionate fanbase inside Pinnacle Bank Arena hasn’t seen in seemingly ages: fun. Make it the 2023-24 team slogan: “Nebraska men’s basketball. We might be fun again!”
4. Ohio State (Last week: 9)
They don’t hang banners in arenas for winning events like the Emerald Coast Classic, but Ohio State left Florida with convincing wins against No. 17 Alabama and Santa Clara and is showing signs of rounding into a formidable team. The sophomore backcourt of Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr. combined for 73 points in the two victories and looked like All-Big Ten talents. Perhaps more importantly, this Ohio State team might have improved from where it’s been defensively during the last three years.
5. Wisconsin (Last week: 8)
It might be as much an indictment on the Big Ten as a credit to Wisconsin that the Badgers are this high, but like Ohio State, they went to the Sunshine State and came home with a trophy. The Badgers handed No. 24 Virginia a 24-point loss in the Fort Myers Tip-Off and overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to knock off SMU in the title game. It’s unclear what the Badgers' ceiling is, but this team's ability to play defense is raising expectations.
6. MSU (Last week: 3)
Look, Michigan State will probably be OK. Almost certainly. Tom Izzo’s been here before, and we all know how that turns out. And give credit to the Spartans for battling back from 15 points down during the first half to take a three-point lead with 3:58 to play against Arizona on a neutral floor. But the Wildcats eventually won, and to this point, Michigan State's resume includes a win against Butler and little else.
7. Indiana (Last week: 11)
It just feels like something isn’t right with the Hoosiers. Some of that comes from Xavier Johnson, a critical part of the Hoosiers backcourt, battling a lower-body injury. Some of it comes from the Hoosiers ranking among the nation’s worst in 3-point shooting. There remain intriguing pieces on this roster, but every game right now feels like a slog with a thin margin of error. Still, their only loss is to UConn.
8. Iowa (Last week: 5)
Shots aren’t falling for Iowa, and the Hawkeyes aren't exactly strong on defense. A 12-point loss to Oklahoma in the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego saw Iowa go 4 for 23 from deep and trail by 22 points with four minutes remaining. The team's response was impressive, though. Iowa’s veterans rallied the troops for a double-digit win against Seton Hall the very next night. Ben Krikke had 19 points, five assists in that victory and continues to look like a sleeper for Big Ten newcomer of the year.
9. Northwestern (Last week: 6)
The Wildcats had an eight-day layoff between games after taking their first loss of the season, falling to Mississippi State in the title game of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. A home win against Dayton still buoys the resume, and a neutral-site win against Rhode Island also helps. Feel free to pencil in Brooks Barnhizer as an all-defensive team selection now.
10. Rutgers (Last week: 10)
This has been a slow offensive start even by Rutgers’ standards. After an 85-63 home win against Howard, coach Steve Pikiell said he’d just been waiting for a night when the Scarlet Knights could get to 80 points because he believes that’s the potential of this group. Time will tell. The Scarlet Knights will play a stretch of three straight games against top-100 KenPom teams beginning with a Dec. 2 Big Ten opener against Illinois.
11. Michigan (Last week: 13)
Michigan coach Juwan Howard, still recovering from an offseason heart procedure, was on the bench as the Wolverines went to the Battle 4 Atlantis. Technically, acting head coach Phil Martelli remains in charge, but both he and Howard were calling out instructions to players during games. Confused? Join the group. Hopefully, it means Howard is getting closer to full health, because Michigan went 1-2 in the Bahamas and has regressed since what felt like a statement win at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s on Nov. 13.
12. PSU (Last week: 7)
The balloon that was Penn State’s surprise early-season surge has officially popped. The Nittany Lions took a 4-0 start to Disney, where they proceeded to lose all three games they played in the ESPN Events Invitational. Penn State held its first four opponents to 65 points or fewer, but Texas A&M, Butler and VCU went all Mickey Mouse on the Nittany Lions and poured in 89, 88 and 86 points, respectively. The worse news is Kanye Clary is dealing with an arm injury. His health will go a long way toward determining the team's potential.
13. Maryland (Last week: 14)
Credit where credit is due: The Terrapins have dug out of their tailspin by beating UMBC and South Alabama, and coach Kevin Willard is overseeing a defense that is verging on elite. A team that can defend like Maryland will have a chance to fight its way through the Big Ten, but this early in the season, there’s still no way to overlook that brutal 40-point scoring effort in the loss at Villanova or the three-game losing streak during the first two weeks of the season.
14. Minnesota (Last week: 12)
The Gophers have played the Big Ten’s weakest schedule (even weaker than Illinois) and have lost their only two games against teams ranked better than No. 292 according to KenPom. Most recently, Minnesota fell behind 10-1 in a semi-neutral site game against San Francisco and was essentially non-competitive through the loss. It’s shaping up to be another long season for coach Ben Johnson.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Big Ten men's basketball power rankings: Purdue appears to pull away
