Big Ten Basketball power rankings: Michigan, Ohio State climb to the top

By Adam Childs | Dec 10, 2019

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 04: Kaleb Wesson #34 of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrates with fans after their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center on December 04, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ohio State won 74-49. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

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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) /

Left for dead after their loss to Merrimack and then Radford, the Wildcats have shown a lot of fight. They beat a decent Providence team and then went to Fort Myers and whipped a good Bradley team and went toe-to-toe with Pitt in the championship game.

This is by no means a good team, but Chris Collins has done probably his best coaching job to date to keep this team from completely quitting on this year after the rough first couple of games.

They did just drop their Big Ten opener to Purdue by 14, but they held them to 58 points and it looks like that is how they are going to have to play if they want to win games this year. They don’t shoot the ball overly well, but they play hard and will get after you defensively.

A pleasant surprise for the Wildcats this year is Pat Spencer who is playing for the first time in four years after playing Lacrosse. He is averaging just under 10 points a game but scored 23 against Bradley and 18 against Pitt. It’s a great story in a season that many thought Northwestern would be really bad.

The Wildcats still have a long way to go, but they aren’t going to be the easy out that many saw them as when the season started.

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