Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings: Purdue, Maryland make huge leaps

By Austin Walther

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 03: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines reacts from the bench while playing the Penn State Nittany Lions at Crisler Arena on January 03, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 68-55. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 03: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines reacts from the bench while playing the Penn State Nittany Lions at Crisler Arena on January 03, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 68-55. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 10: Trent Frazier #1 of the Illinois Fighting Illini dribbles the ball as Zavier Simpson #3 of the Michigan Wolverines knocks the ball loose during the first half at State Farm Center on January 10, 2019 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 10: Trent Frazier #1 of the Illinois Fighting Illini dribbles the ball as Zavier Simpson #3 of the Michigan Wolverines knocks the ball loose during the first half at State Farm Center on January 10, 2019 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

14. Illinois Fighting Illini (4-12)

Previous rank: 14

Illinois has the worst record among power-conferences this season. I can’t remember the last time a Big Ten team had just wins in the middle of January. They have not won a game for a month now. It has been tough for the Fighting Illini. A neutral game against Missouri, at Indiana and Northwestern along with Michigan at home. But the Florida Atlantic loss is a head scratcher.

The loss to the Owls did go into overtime and they only lost by two. The games against the Hoosiers and Wildcats were under ten, but the Wolverines almost scored 80 on Illinois. There’s not much to do at this point, sitting at four wins, but hope guys develop for the future.

Trent Frazier looked so good out in Maui a couple months ago. He was expected to run with the point guard position, but doesn’t have many guys to pass it to. He is averaging 14.7 points per game with 40 three-pointers. Ayo Dosunmu is a talented freshman. He’s shown great signs in games of what he can do. He’s averaging over 13 points, four board and almost three assists per game. He, Frazier and senior Aaron Jordan are combined for almost 100 three-pointers this season.

No one else is consistently enough shooting from the outside though. Kipper Nichols was poised for a big junior year, but he’s averaging under 10 points per game. The junior Illini and freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili are getting beat on the boards every night as neither are averaging over five rebounds. Illinois is a scrappy bunch, they should pick up a win somewhere along the way, but they are incredibly young and Brad Underwood needs to figure something out before he’s no longer employed at Illinois.

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