After letting some of the out of conference games play out, this is the first edition of the B1G basketball power rankings. Unlike football, the B1G looks like one of, if not the best conference in college basketball. Before the Buckeyes tough loss at Cameron Indoor, the conference had three teams ranked in the top five. The B1G now has three teams ranked in the top 10 and six teams ranked in the top 25. Conference play cannot come soon enough as it will be a battle to knock Indiana out of the top spot.
1. Indiana– The most impressive team in the country so far with big wins over Georgetown and North Carolina.
2. Michigan– Posing one of the best back courts in the nation with Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., the Wolverines already have wins over Pittsburgh, Kansas State and NC State.
3. Ohio State– The Buckeyes lead for the first 36 minutes at Cameron Indoor but could not close out the Blue Devils. Look for Aaron Craft to improve offensively before a showdown versus Kansas in a few weeks.
4. Illinois– The Illini have taken care of business so far but we will see how legitimate they are when they travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on #10 Gonzaga.
5. Minnesota– The Gophers have been the real surprise in the conference, notching wins over Memphis, Stanford and Florida State.
6. Michigan State– Seems like their inconsistency has transferred from the football field over to the basketball court. The Spartans losses have came against UCONN and Miami (FL) but they did defeat Kansas. Tom Izzo will have his team ready for conference play, that is for sure.
7. Wisconsin– This ranking is solely based off of name recognition and coaching with losses to #6 Florida, #16 Creighton and at home versus Virginia. Like Michigan State, expect Wisconsin to turn it around before the conference slate begins.
8. Northwestern– Here is another up and down team, the Wildcats lost back to back games versus a solid Maryland squad and a poor Illinois- Chicago team. They then went on to defeat Baylor, a team who had defeated Kentucky the game before.
9. Purdue– One of the younger teams in the conference, the Boilermakers defeated a good Clemson team but lost to Villanova, Oregon State and Xavier.
10. Iowa– With no marquee wins, Iowa’s two losses versus unranked teams (Wichita St and Virginia Tech) have hurt them.
11. Nebraska– The Cornhuskers have yet to be tested but face a challenge on Thursday versus #16 Creighton.
12. Penn State– The Nittany Lions have lost to NC State, Akron and Boston College, the latter being the worst. They’ll be fighting to get out of the B1G basement all season.
I think the early season failings of MSU and Wisky are the most surprising thing so far in the B1G. It is making me question whether this is as deep of a league as we all thought in the pre-season.
Ohio State impressed the crap out of me even in their loss to Duke. This team should only get better as the season progresses.
Yeah I read something about how this is Izzo’s best recruiting class at MSU, will probably take a few more games to coach them up before conference play starts, can’t count out MSU and Wisky yet.
I honestly did not think they deserved a preseason top 5 ranking this year but the close loss at Duke has completely changed my mind. Just need another scorer to step up besides Thomas. Excited for the Kansas game!