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Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings: Purdue and Wisconsin pushing up

By Adam Childs

COLUMBUS, OH - JANUARY 23: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers attempts to drive around Luther Muhammad #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half on January 23, 2019 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Purdue defeated Ohio State 79-67. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - JANUARY 23: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers attempts to drive around Luther Muhammad #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half on January 23, 2019 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Purdue defeated Ohio State 79-67. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 4: Bruno Fernando #23 of the Maryland Terrapins drives baseline defended by Xavier Tilman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on January 4, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 4: Bruno Fernando #23 of the Maryland Terrapins drives baseline defended by Xavier Tilman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on January 4, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Maryland has been a hard team to figure out. They were playing good but not great basketball to start the Big Ten, but then they got hot. They started to play as well as anybody in the conference and they looked like the best team, not from Michigan.

Then got beat up pretty good against Michigan State and have lost three of their last four including a loss to Illinois at Madison Square Garden. They do have a win against Northwestern, but everybody is doing that.

Their bigs are still good enough to keep them in any game, but they have not proven they can beat the top-tier teams yet. Until they do that they are going to sit right around the six spot in these rankings.

They have their chance to show they can play because after their road trip to Nebraska they have games vs Purdue and then on the road against Michigan and Iowa. This is probably their toughest stretch of the year and if they can go 2-1 or even 3-0 they will climb up these rankings. They are still firmly in the tournament but this stretch will go a long way in deciding their seeding.

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