NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: Illinois rises, Dayton keeps impressing

Rutgers split its two contests this week but did not drop in my rankings as a result. This is due to the fact that losing on the road to Iowa is nothing something that any team should be punished for. The Scarlet Knights played fairly well in that game despite being forced to play at a faster pace than normal. They wound up losing by five to the Hawkeyes before following that up with a harder-than-it-should-have-been three-point home win over Nebraska.

Even with this somewhat shaky week, though, the Scarlet Knights belong in the Top 25 at 15-5 (6-3 B10). While conference record is far from the most important factor that goes into these rankings, it’s hard to ignore that Rutgers is currently in a tie for third in the best conference in the country. Head coach Steve Pikiell and Co. deserve credit for their hot start in B1G play even if it has been against one of the easiest intra-conference schedules so far.

There are no days off in the Big Ten, though, and that is evident with Rutgers’ upcoming schedule.

The team will be tasked with facing Purdue and Michigan during this coming week before going on the road to challenge Maryland after that. The Big Ten is the best conference in the country and an absolute gauntlet night in and night out.

Rutgers has started tremendously well at 6-3 in conference – can it keep up this strong level of play? It all starts on the defensive end for this unit.