Big Ten Basketball power rankings: Trying to make sense of 12 good teams

6. Maryland Terrapins 16-4 (6-3)

It’s hard to believe that a team in line for one of the top-four seeds in the NCAA Tournament is outside the Big Ten top-five. Maryland is loaded with great players, they just fall apart on the road and also have problems putting together a full 40 minutes. That’s why the win over Indiana was huge. It was a close game on the road and their players finished. The Terrapins are winners of three-straight now, but those came to Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern.

Losing at Iowa and Wisconsin is the real reason for the Number six spot. Maryland is still being talked about as a team that can go on a run in March. But ranking the Big Ten teams on how they currently stand, those two are the ones that did it in for me. It’s hard to try and put Maryland over the Hawkeyes and Badgers when they couldn’t win head-to-head.

Maryland was never in the game against Iowa. They shot a horrid 32 percent from the field. Maryland trailed by just five to Wisconsin at the half and outscored them in the second. But the Badgers gutted out a win at home. The Terrapins are going to get great games from Anthony Cowan and Jalen Smith each game. They’re both good for 32 to 40 points combined. But who’s going to be the next guy to make passes and score points?

Donta Scott put up 13 against Purdue and Aaron Wiggins had 12. But luckily the Boilermakers can’t win away from home so the Terps were able to win with just 57 points on a night that Cowan went one-for-eight. Smith and Cowan combined for 47 two games later against Indiana. Daryll Morsell got into the action with 10 and Wiggins had eight. Eric Ayala’s six assists are what really stands out to me. Cowan ideally will get three-to-five per night. There has to be another guy near that range. The Terps should be higher, but they need wins to teams above them.