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

By Austin Walther

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - JANUARY 23: Tom Izzo the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans gives instructions to Rocket Watts #2 against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on January 23, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - JANUARY 23: Tom Izzo the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans gives instructions to Rocket Watts #2 against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on January 23, 2020 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MI – DECEMBER 08: Jacob Young #42 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – DECEMBER 08: Jacob Young #42 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

4. Rutgers Scarlet Knights 16-5 (7-3)

What a world we live in where Rutgers is in the top-5 of a really good Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights had Rutgers-type expectations this season. They lost to St. Bonaventure in November and it didn’t shock anyone. They lost at Pitt and Michigan State. But then beat Wisconsin at home. Still nothing too out of the ordinary. They then throttled Seton Hall at home and went on a six-game winning streak. It got snapped to Illinois on the road. Rutgers beat Indiana and Minnesota and lost at Iowa.

This is probably the most comfortable ranking of any team. Rutgers only three losses have come to the teams ahead of them. They’ve knocked off four out of the five teams directly behind them. The Scarlet Knights did a fantastic job fending off Purdue who was looking for a signature road win. Four guys were in double-figures and it’s great to see Geo Baker is fine being a starter or coming off the bench.

The first Big Ten loss in 2020 was a low-scoring, three-point loss to Illinois. Their star point guard Baker was out. No starters were in double-digits, but Jacob Young dropped 16. Rutgers is going to win a lot of game with their defense. It was another low scoring game against Indiana, but they won. Baker returned, didn’t start but still came up with four assists. Rutgers loves the addition of the Texas transfer, Young. He comes up big and scored 11 off the bench vs. Minnesota.

Rutgers knew they were going to have to put up a lot of points against Iowa. Ron Harper and Akwasi Yeboah went off. Harper dropped 29 and Yeboah scored 17. But Iowa was just too much. Yeboah stayed hot against Nebraska and Young added another 12 off the bench. The defense is 17th best in the country. The offense is just over 70 points per game ten games into Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights have great length in Harper and Yeboah while Young and Baker are great backcourt players.

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