Big Ten Power Rankings: Northwestern, Rutgers, Illinois, Fight For Number 2

Rankings reflect games played through Monday, January 30th.

Just a week and a half ago, 2nd and 12th places were half a game apart in these standings. The cream is starting to rise as the conference gets tougher and the team goes into ‘claim’ mode.

No one can catch Purdue, who are 3.5 games ahead of the rest of the conference after Wednesday’s game, but like Illinois, the battle for second place may not be decided until March. Rutgers, and Northwestern are all tied losers, with Illini and Scarlet Knights beating the Wildcats. Of course, Northwestern can equalize with a win over Michigan this week.

Purdue continues to be a Big Ten class. They are the unanimous number 1 team in his AP voting and are unlikely to relinquish that title unless Indiana can play their best in Bloomington.

The Wildcats are at the tail end of a brutal, covid-induced stretch of playing six games in 13 days. They put an end to their nightmare at home against Michigan and then against Wisconsin on Sunday. They return to a more manageable pace for the rest of the way.

After starting 0-3 in conference play, the Illinois have won 7 of their last 8 games and are currently tied for second place with Rutgers. standing.

Another team that made a bit of a comeback in the second half, Indiana is now in the middle of the pack. If they can do their best at Purdue this weekend, they should have a shot at finishing in the top four in the conference standings.

Rutgers lose to Iowa Michigan The rankings reflect that by rewarding other teams ahead, as they don’t make up for their victory over Penn State.

6: Michigan State Spartans

The Spartans beat Iowa at home last week, doing what just about every other team does and lobbiing Purdue at McKee.

A third team to make a bit of a recent comeback, Maryland has won four of its last five contests. Of course, his last three games were all at home. Do you think Kevin Willard was okay with his schedule during that stretch?

Penn State looks as bad away from home as Bryce Jordan does, and can’t seem to get out of his way on the road. You should have one or two victories in .

Iowa should probably be higher here as it completed a sweep of Rutgers last week. Had he not lost to Michigan State, they would have had a great week of him.

Wisconsin needs some answers. They’ve lost 6 of their last 7 games after making everyone think they’re once again in contention for the top 4 spots in the conference. If we don’t fix it soon, we might end up playing the game on Wednesday. big ten tournament.

Michigan, another team in need of quick action, lost both games last week. One was a hard-fought loss to Purdue without Jet Howard, and the other was Penn State, where he lost by 22 points, not as close as the scores would suggest. If you want to enjoy the postseason, let alone tournaments, you need to start racking up some wins.

Buckeyes are trying to avoid Wednesdays at this point. However, with his 3-7 record in conference play and games still on the schedule at Michigan, Iowa, Purdue and Michigan State, Maryland, Illinois and Northwestern There may not be enough wins left, let alone a visit from. for them to avoid their fate.

The injury bug derailed yet another season for Nebraska. What has looked to be a promising year may be on the way to his debut at the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday. A ray of hope: He could beat last season’s total with just one more win. At least he has 9 more tries.

Their 2023 class is pretty good!