Big Ten Basketball: Power ranking the conference after week 6

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BUFFALO, NY – MARCH 16: Head coach Greg Gard of the Wisconsin Badgers looks on against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the first half during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at KeyBank Center on March 16, 2017 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Wisconsin falls a couple spots in this week’s power rankings despite winning their only game last week. The Badgers are really one point away from being last in the power rankings for this week, as they continue to struggle.

Last week, the Badgers took on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Dec. 13 at home. Although WKU is a pretty solid team, the Badgers barely eked out a 1-point victory, 81-80 in Madison. They honestly should have lost this game, which would have put them at 4-8.

Outside of Ethan Happ, this team really struggles to score. This isn’t a huge surprise, as Wisconsin is usually defensive-minded. But they usually have 3-4 solid scorers and this year they just don’t have that. They currently rank No. 306 in scoring offense at just 67.3 points per game, which needs to improve if Greg Gard intends to turn things around this year.

Happ (16.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg) joins Brad Davison (11.3 ppg) as the only two players who average in double figures this season for the Badgers. D’Mitrik Trice (9.4 ppg) is right there, but he is about to miss with an injury. In addition, freshman Kobe King is out for the season. The Badgers really need to figure things out before conference play.

Schedule for this week:

Green Bay (5-6) at Wisconsin on Dec. 23

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