Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings: Iowa, Wisconsin joining top-tier

By Austin Walther

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 09: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates with Charles Matthews as he leaves the game while playing the Wisconsin Badgers at Crisler Arena on February 09, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 61-52. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - FEBRUARY 09: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines celebrates with Charles Matthews as he leaves the game while playing the Wisconsin Badgers at Crisler Arena on February 09, 2019 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan won the game 61-52. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 15
Next
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 02: Pete Nance #22 of the Northwestern Wildcats during a game against the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on January 2, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – JANUARY 02: Pete Nance #22 of the Northwestern Wildcats during a game against the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on January 2, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

13. Northwestern Wildcats (12-11)

Previous rank: 10

Northwestern and Nebraska have been in the same boat. Both teams haven’t won a game since the last rankings were released. The Cornhuskers losing streak is longer, but believe it or not, they are still in the bubble discussion. Northwestern is probably still on some spreadsheets, but they haven’t touched a bubble spot in a long time. The Wildcats have wins over Illinois, Rutgers and Indiana. All three are being ranked ahead of Northwestern, but they haven’t picked up a win in three weeks.

After the win over Indiana at home, Northwestern had to travel to Wisconsin and Maryland. The Badgers were just starting to roll and Maryland has been a top-25 team for a few weeks now. Northwestern basically got blown out of the water by both teams. After scoring 73 against the Hoosiers, the Wildcats failed to eclipse 52 in three-straight games. Northwestern gave Penn State its first Big Ten win on their home court. That’s not a good look for a team that was still being evaluated for the Tournament.

Things were looking nice on the road against Iowa on Sunday night. They had a six-point lead at halftime and led by 11 with under two minutes to play. But the Carver-Hawkeyes came to life and so did Jordan Bohannon who crushed the dreams of Northwestern for its 11th loss of the season. They looked very competitive for 38 minutes. But the offense became very slow and Iowa couldn’t miss.

It really showed during the Hawkeye game that Vic Law is basically the only player who can create his own shot at the end of the day. A.J. Turner did shoot out of his slump for 15, but in the closing minutes when Northwestern needed to close out a good win, Law was the only one pushing. That led to turnovers which then gave Iowa the win as the Wildcats continue to struggle.

Home/Big Ten