19. Indiana Hoosiers
Record: 11-2 (2-0 Big Ten)
Last Week: No. 18
Thanks to a flawless month to this point, Indiana has clearly emerged as one of the hottest teams in the nation. The Hoosiers have won six consecutive games and head coach Archie Miller is starting to seriously make an impact on the program in Year 2. A clear-cut top-25 team in the nation, Indiana has the mark of a team that is only now starting to realize its potential as a future second-weekend team in the NCAA Tournament. In case you haven’t caught on yet, I am extremely high on IU moving forward throughout this year.
Most notably, I have been extremely impressed with the play of Indiana’s freshmen. And while many expected that Romeo Langford, a top-10 recruit in the land, would be immediately impactful, few would have guessed that point guard Rob Phinisee would be as vital to the team’s success as he has been. Phinisee plays with outstanding pace on the offensive end and will definitely be one of the better on-ball defenders in the Big Ten this season.
Oh, and senior forward Juwan Morgan is no slouch, either. A sure-fire All-Big Ten performer, Morgan has been an extremely efficient force on the offensive end so far this year. Through the non-conference portion of IU’s schedule, Morgan has averaged 16.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while shooting 69.3% from the field and 46.4% from three. Hard to argue with that level of production, especially when you consider that he is also posting 2.9 assists and 1.5 blocks per game.