Big Ten men's basketball power rankings: Purdue looks like a team on a mission
Can someone spare a quality win for the Big Ten?
As the college basketball world turned its eyes to Feast Week and the wall-to-wall smorgasbord that is holiday tournament season, the debate about the Big Ten’s best win in the opening weeks of the season was pretty paltry. Was it Purdue’s 12-point home win against Xavier? Northwestern’s five-point home win against Dayton?
That the merits of such wins were being debated said plenty about the Big Ten’s standing relative to the rest of the nation. Aside from the Boilermakers, who have done nothing to diminish their status as the class of the league, the Big Ten’s standard-bearers were otherwise sporting unimpressive wins against overmatched foes or some ugly upset losses. Monday provided the first real step in the right direction for the league as Purdue handled Gonzaga in the Maui Invitational, Wisconsin smothered Virginia in the Fort Myers Tip-Off and Indiana avoided embarrassment and finally put away lowly Louisville in the Saatva Empire Classic.
Is it a sign of better things to come? Here’s how the league stacks up entering a pivotal week of games against high-major foes.
1. Purdue (Last week: 1)
All the Boilermakers have done to this point is look the part of a team on a mission to atone for last year’s final game. Zach Edey remains the same dominating force he was last year, but Purdue looks athletic, occasionally quick and every bit like the toast of the Big Ten. The crown is clearly Purdue’s until someone takes it from the Boilermakers, and that might not just apply to the Big Ten.
2. Illinois (Last week: 5)
The Fighting Illini didn’t take care of business when they hosted top-five foe Marquette, depriving themselves of an opportunity for an early resume boost, but there’s not much point in debating that Illinois once again looks the part of a dangerous Big Ten team. Questions remain about who is exactly going to run the point, and what exactly Coleman Hawkins’ impact is going to look like this year, but any team with Terrence Shannon Jr. that also defends like these Illini have defended deserves some early benefit of the doubt.
3. Michigan State (Last week: 10)
Maybe dropping the Spartans so far was a rash decision. The loss to James Madison isn’t as bad as it looked on opening night, and there’s little shame in taking a nine-point loss to Duke on a neutral floor. Since opening 1-2, Michigan State has pulverized Butler and Alcorn State, winning by a combined 52 points. Coach Tom Izzo is still clearly looking for leadership from several key players and the frontcourt hasn’t given much, but the Spartans have improved their 3-point shooting in every game this season.
4. Nebraska (Last week: 7)
The nonconference schedule is the 13th-worst in the nation according to KenPom.com, so everything regarding the Cornhuskers comes with a grain of salt. But when’s the last time Nebraska could claim to be consistently facing overmatched competition? The Cornhuskers opened a season with five straight wins for the first time since going 6-0 to open 2008-09, and their defense has been borderline suffocating. The Big Ten’s biggest surprise could be brewing inside Pinnacle Bank Arena this year.
5. Iowa (Last week: 3)
The Hawkeyes swept the Big Ten’s weekly awards as Owen Freeman was named the league’s top freshman and Ben Krikke the league’s best player. The latter has quickly solidified himself as the next go-to frontcourt juggernaut in Fran McCaffery’s always-dangerous offense. A transfer from Valparaiso, Krikke might be the most impactful newcomer in the Big Ten through the early going. He couldn’t lead the Hawkeyes past Creighton, and the defense is always a concern in Iowa City, but the Hawkeyes have a star.
6. Northwestern (Last week: 2)
For a while, the Wildcats held the league’s most impressive win. That felt like more an indictment on the league than praise for a five-point home win against an injury-depleted Dayton team, but a win’s a win. Northwestern had the chance to keep pace near Purdue at the top of the rankings, but the Wildcats couldn’t make a 15-3 lead stand up in what would become a 66-57 loss to Mississippi State in the title game of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off. The Wildcats still look the part of an upper-level Big Ten team, but that game could’ve helped solidify that early.
7. Penn State (Last week: 13)
Like much of the league, the Nittany Lions haven’t really beaten anybody yet. But unlike much of the league, they don’t have a bad loss, either, and along the way they’ve compiled some impressive defensive numbers. Penn State entered the week forcing 21.5 turnovers while allowing only 53.5 points per game. That’ll get tested at a higher level soon, but the early returns of the Mike Rhoades era are encouraging.
8. Wisconsin (Last week: 8)
The Badgers did their part on the Monday of Feast Week, earning a top-25 win and setting some school history in the process. The Badgers held No. 24 Virginia to 41 points, the lowest scoring effort for a top-25 team against Wisconsin in program history. Not only did the Badgers beat the Cavaliers by 24 points, but they did it while getting zero field goals from Chucky Hepburn and Tyler Wahl during the first half.
9. Ohio State (Last week: 11)
Raise your hand if you knew this Ohio State team was capable of blowing out a team the way it did Western Michigan. The Broncos dropped a four-point game at Northwestern five days before essentially getting run off the court at Value City Arena as the Buckeyes built a 31-point lead before coach Chris Holtmann emptied the bench and the Broncos hit a few late shots against Ohio State’s reserves. No quality wins yet for the Buckeyes, but consecutive games in which they did not trail are encouraging signs.
10. Rutgers (Last week: 14)
After that loss to Princeton on a neutral court to open the year, the Scarlet Knights have used the friendly confines of Jersey Mike’s Arena to reel off four straight wins before a nine-day layoff in between games. Coach Steve Pikiell will likely use that time to try and improve what is the Big Ten’s least efficient offense that is being led by emerging playmaker Derek Simpson and continue to check off the days until five-star 2024 commitment Ace Bailey arrives on campus.
11. Indiana (Last week: 9)
It’s not a good sign when the Hoosiers seem fortunate to escape with an eight-point win against a Louisville team with two wins against high-major teams in Kenny Payne’s first 37 games on the job. Indiana hadn’t looked particularly sharp against low-major competition and was exposed in a 20-point loss UConn. The Hoosiers don’t move the ball well, and without Trayce Jackson-Davis there appears to be a leadership void. Also, how does a program in a basketball-crazed state like Indiana manage to consistently not have any shooters on its roster?
12. Minnesota (Last week: 6)
The Golden Gophers opened with some prolific wins against low-major teams in buy games and led Missouri by 20 points with 11:25 to play when everything fell apart. Ben Johnson’s team found a way to turn that 59-39 lead into a 70-68 defeat that destroyed any meager goodwill built up against Bethune Cookman and the University of Texas San Antonio. It seems that no lead is safe with this Minnesota team, and that’s a bad place to be even in what has been a lackluster start to the year for the Big Ten.
13. Michigan (Last week: 4)
Everything looked to be humming for the Wolverines, who were an early pleasant surprise after being picked to finish 11th in the unofficial official media poll conducted jointly by The Columbus Dispatch and The Athletic. A resounding win inside Madison Square Garden against St. John’s felt like a statement, but Michigan somehow followed that up by laying an egg. An upset loss to Long Beach State is one thing, but giving up 94 points to a mid-major program inside the Crisler Center is the type of result you can’t unsee.
14. Maryland (Last week: 12)
No team has fallen harder or faster from its early-season projections than the Terrapins. A top-30 team in most preseason polls, Maryland didn’t top 68 points in its first four games and needed a late flurry just to reach 40 in a shocking, 17-point loss to a Villanova team fresh off a loss Penn. Maryland has upper-level Big Ten talent this season, making this early-season faceplant all the more confounding.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Big Ten men's basketball power rankings: Purdue a team on a mission
