Busting Brackets
Fansided

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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
7 of 15
Next
BLOOMINGTON, IN – JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers watches the against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN – JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers watches the against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

9. Indiana Hoosiers (12-4)

Previous Rank: 5

It’s been ages since Indiana throttled Marquette in the Gavitt Games, lost to Arkansas at Bud Walton and got smoked by Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Hoosiers first two Big Ten games after all that were two of the bottom three Big Ten teams. Thankfully they won, but were both two-point performances. The Louisville and Butler wins padded the resume. Then came the worst team in the Big Ten and that was an eight-point win.

The Hoosiers went on the road for two brutal games against Michigan and Maryland and lost both. Indiana returned to Assembly Hall and lost for the first time at home this season to Nebraska. Both the Hoosiers and Cornhuskers needed a win and Romeo Langford and company couldn’t get it done.

Indiana needed to win at least one of their last three to be considered higher. I guess that’s life on the road in the Big Ten. And a lot of other teams are struggling once conference play has resumed, but Archie Miller’s squad is showing signs of what last year’s team was doing.

Obliviously they weren’t hoping for a repeat of last season because of Langford. He’s every bit advertised at six-foot-six, 215. He’s just under 19 points per game, not much a three-point threat, but it’s nice to see guys who can score off the dribble and bodying their way to the hoop.

Juwan Morgan hasn’t skipped a beat from last season. It was going to be interesting to see how the breakout Hoosier played alongside the freshman phenom. He’s up over 16 points per game, almost eight boards and blocking shots.

As expected, it’s a guessing game for scorers after that. They were hoping top-100 recruit Justin Smith could get it done. He is averaging 8.5 points per game and four boards. There also isn’t a true point guard taking control right now. All the other scorers didn’t combine for the amount of points Langford and Morgan made against Nebraska. Indiana is hoping that Langford can take control and pick up a couple more quality wins in the Big Ten.

Home/Big Ten