Since my football power poll was such a huge and rousing success, I have decided it’s time that MotSAG have a Big Ten Men’s Basketball Power Poll. Lets see how I am looking at the league five or six games into conference play.
1. Maryland Terps 12-1(5-1) Newcomers to the B1G are making some noise. I am sure Duke is happy with the move of the Terps out of the ACC since they always seemed to upset Duke once a year. Being only one of two teams at least .500 or above versus Top 25 teams so far this season. The Terps only loss has come at the hands of the Fighting Illini but they have beaten Michigan State by 16.
RPI #13
2. Wisconsin Badgers 16-2(4-1) The Badgers are the favorites in the B1G this season and a preseason Final Four pick by many. The only conference loss is from Rutgers and out of conference loss was to Duke. Best win was over Oklahoma so far.
RPI #9
3. Iowa Hawkeyes 13-5(4-1) The Hawkeyes biggest concern has been closing out games. The seemed to have done fine against Ohio State dominated them in both match-ups. Iowa has lost to Texas, Syracuse, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, and Michigan State. We will find out if they are for real when they face Wisconsin this week.
RPI #43
4. Michigan State Spartans 12-7(3-2) Izzo’s squad has losses against Duke, Kansas, Notre Dame, Texas Southern, and twice to Maryland. Their best wins are Marquette and Indiana so far. Sparty will have this figured out soon I mean come on Tom Izzo is their coach.
RPI #37
5. Indiana Hoosiers 14-4(5-1) What have the Hoosiers done to get this high in the Power Poll? For starters go 3-1 against Top 25 teams, the only B1G team with a winning record in that department. Their only Big Ten conference loss came at the hands of Sparty.
RPI #58
6. Ohio State Buckeyes 14-5(3-3) The Buckeyes are having some issues to what seems (myself included) might possibly be a sweet sixteen team in some preseason picks. Having a NBA lottery pick (D’Angelo Russell) on your squad would almost guarantee that right? With losses to Louisville, North Carolina, Indiana, and basically blown out twice by Iowa has many wondering whats wrong with the current Buckeye team (more on that later)
RPI #56
7. Michigan Wolverines 11-7(4-2) The thought the Wolverines were going to possibly have another great B1G team this season after their win against Syracuse took a huge step back. With four consecutive losses to New Jersey Institute of Technology, Eastern Michigan, Arizona, and SMU. By losing to NJIT that should put the maize and blue at the bottom of the list but being 4-2 in conference play prevents that. Lets see how they cope with losing Caris Levert for the rest of the season. He was their leading scorer and rebounder.
RPI #84
8. Purdue Boilermakers 11-7(3-2) Boilermaker fans I would love to move you up at least one spot since you did beat TTUN but seriously who have you played and beat so far?
RPI #103
9. Illinois Fighting Illini 12-7(2-4) Who is this Illini team? They beat Baylor and Michigan State but lose to TTUN,OSU, Nebraska, and Indiana.
RPI #53
10. Rutgers Scarlet Knights 10-9(2-3) Scarlet Knight fans sorry but losses to Northwestern, Nebraska, and Minnesota have you bellow Illinois despite you are the only team to knock off Wisconsin.
RPI #75
11. Nebraska Cornhuskers 10-7(2-3) The only reason the Cornhuskers are this high is that they have 2 wins in conference play so far. Looking at their out of conference schedule people need to lay off Ohio State’s.
RPI #119
12. Minnesota Golden Gophers 12-7(1-5) Gopher fans starting your conference play with five straight losses is never a good thing.
RPI #97
13. Northwestern Wildcats 10-8(1-4) Wildcat fans lets face it your not a basketball school your a football one am i right? nope
RPI #141
14. Penn State Nittany Lions 12-6(0-5) Nittany Lion fans I have 409 more reasons to hate PSU even more but I digress. No conference wins to date thats statement enough for me to rank you last
RPI #103
As always comment down below let me know your thoughts, hit me up on the twitters or email me at AskMotSaG@gmail.com and let me know what I have wrong like you always do, looking forward to the talk about basketball just like we did with football.
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