Luc’s Big Ten Power Rankings After Another Wild Week in College Hoops
We are just two weeks into conference play for this year’s college basketball season and already we are seeing teams separate themselves from their fiercest competition. Known programs like Duke, Auburn, and Marquette have been tearing up their conference opponents with dominant play-making from their star players. It’s also been fun to see some non-blue-blood teams such as Tennessee, Florida, and Oregon also start to make noise in the college basketball world. It’s a combination of come-ups and common foes that are preparing fans for an exhilarating finish in March coming just around the corner.
This article’s rankings will focus solely on the Big Ten, whose addition of West Coast programs has only made the conference that much more competitive. In this new era of conference realignment and NIL, there has been a significant turnover of rosters, coaches, and athletic administrators that makes keeping up with the sport difficult for even fervent fans. This article will serve as a mini cheat sheet for Big Ten fans to catch up and learn more about some of the major storylines early in the season. Here are my rankings for the Big Ten as of January 12th.
Purdue
Michigan State
Michigan
Oregon
Penn State
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Wisconsin
Maryland
Nebraska
Rutgers
UCLA
USC
Ohio State
Northwestern
Washington
Minnesota
Top Third Highlights
Purdue
People felt that losing seven-foot-four-inch Zach Edey to the NBA would be a damning blow to this Purdue team, as he accounted for over 30 percent of the team’s total points throughout last season. Boilermaker fans hoped it would be junior guard Braden Smith as the player to step up and pick up where Edey left off, but really it has been six-foot-nine-inch forward Trey Kaufman-Renn who has really come alive for this team. Last year, he averaged just 6.4 points per game coming off the bench, and now he’s leading the team in points and rebounds. Purdue remains atop the Big Ten yet again, not because they sought talent in the portal with NIL deals, but because of the development of players they already had. Purdue should be considered a contender to return to the National Championship and avenge last year’s devastating loss to UConn.
Michigan
If Michigan wasn’t before, this week has cemented the Wolverines as one of the dominant programs in the Big Ten. Michigan started the week on the West Coast, winning on the road against USC, and UCLA, before returning to Ann Arbor and dominating Washington at home. Transfers such as Danny Wolf and Roddy Gayle Jr. are leading a fast-tempo, high-rebounding team that opponents in the Big Ten have not yet figured out. The Maize and Blue are undefeated in the Big Ten as they prepare to face their toughest competition yet in the coming weeks. Watch out for this team to make a run in March Madness.
Middle Third Highlights
Illinois
I understand that Illinois is currently ranked, for how long I am not sure, and that they are a perennial juggernaut in the Big Ten Conference, but it is hard for me to overlook their shocking loss at home to USC this week. The Fighting Illini were riding a five-game win streak against all Big Ten opponents, before welcoming in a USC team flying all the way into Champagne, Illinois from Southern California. Illinois lost by 10 points in what should have been one of their easiest in-conference wins of the season. In all aspects of the game, they were out-physical by USC, who secured more rebounds, committed fewer turnovers, and shot the ball at a higher percentage. These rankings come at a bad time for Illinois as they have not yet had a game to redeem themselves, but I would start to be concerned if I was a basketball fan at Illinois.
Rutgers
I think Rutgers has been one of the most disappointing teams in all of college basketball this season. After landing two of the top three players in the country out of high school in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, the Scarlet Knights have been nothing short of abysmal this season. They have four losses in the Big Ten and one win, coming by just four points at home to Penn State. Their season’s flop can be summarized in one game, a loss at a neutral site to the Ivy League’s Princeton, who were six-and-a-half point underdogs entering the game. It’s hard for me to believe they won’t start to play better down the stretch of this season, but as of right now putting them anywhere higher than 12 would be journalistically unethical.
Bottom Third Highlights
UCLA
I would be remiss not to mention what happened in the UCLA press conference following their blowout loss at home to Michigan earlier this week. Head coach Mike Cronin took to the mic to call his team “soft,” “delusional,” and essentially unmotivated. I’ve seen plenty of press conferences from angry head coaches, but nothing as scathing and vicious as that from Cronin. The Bruins went on to lose their next game by 18 at Maryland, and are now set to continue their east coast trip at Rutgers this coming Monday, the 13th on Fox Sports One.
Minnesota
I won’t harp too much on this Minnesota team who can already begin preparing for next year as far as anyone is concerned. They are winless in the Big Ten and did not look great against out-of-conference opponents either. I would argue they failed to deliver on NIL transfers in a way that is necessary in today’s age of college athletics. Their only chance to make March Madness would be making an unlikely run in the Big Ten Tournament. Otherwise, Golden Gophers fans should remain focused on hockey as they look to contend for another national title in their school’s strongest sport.
