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NCAA Basketball: Villanova’s struggles, 2K Classic outcomes and other takeaways

By Brian Rauf

VILLANOVA, PA - NOVEMBER 14: The Villanova Wildcats bench looks on in the final moments of the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Finneran Pavilion on November 14, 2018 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Michigan defeated Villanova 73-46. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
VILLANOVA, PA - NOVEMBER 14: The Villanova Wildcats bench looks on in the final moments of the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Finneran Pavilion on November 14, 2018 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Michigan defeated Villanova 73-46. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, IN – NOVEMBER 09: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers dribbles the ball up court against the Montana State Bobcats in the first half of the game at Assembly Hall on November 9, 2018 in Bloomington, Indiana. The Hoosiers won 80-35. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN – NOVEMBER 09: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers dribbles the ball up court against the Montana State Bobcats in the first half of the game at Assembly Hall on November 9, 2018 in Bloomington, Indiana. The Hoosiers won 80-35. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

4) There are more good teams in the Big Ten than we thought

This was also supposed to be a down year for the Big Ten and it’s absolutely not.

Michigan State (despite the narrow loss to Kansas) and Michigan have solidified themselves as frontrunners in the conference and top-15 teams nationally, and now several middle-tier teams have picked up big wins that have many thinking highly of their potential.

Indiana, with five-star freshman Romeo Langford, appeared to be in line for a breakout season in head coach Archie Miller’s second season and gave credence to much of that talk with a 96-73 win over Marquette. Nebraska trounced Seton Hall and has won every game by at least 23 points. Wisconsin beat Xavier. Purdue keeps blowing everyone out. Heck, even Minnesota won an important game against Utah.

The Big Ten largely struggled last year and only had one team make the Sweet 16. There still isn’t that truly elite team in the conference but over half the conference has already done things in their non-conference schedules to put themselves in good positions. As many as 11 teams have shown they have the potential to make the Big Dance.

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