Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings: Purdue and Wisconsin pushing up

Minnesota is a borderline team this year. Borderline good, borderline top half of the Big Ten, and borderline tournament team. They can’t seem to get over the hump. They play some teams tough, but they also get beat by 27 to Illinois. Earlier this year they had Michigan down by double digits but blew that game. This week they had Purdue down by double digits in the second half but could not close the game.

Until they start closing some of those games they will sit right in the middle of the conference and have to sweat it out come selection Sunday. Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy are leading this team in scoring and carrying them along, but they are susceptible to foul trouble and when they are out of the game the Gophers struggle.

This week is one of their toughest weeks of the year as they host Wisconsin before traveling to Michigan State. They desperately need to get one of these wins to help build their resume. They are 16-6 on the year but lack a great win. They did upset Wisconsin earlier this year but almost anybody would tell you that the Badgers are playing much better now and this would be huge to get the sweep. If they could somehow pull off the big upset at Michigan State it would be icing on the cake. They don’t have to win these games, but it could get them off the bubble if they do.