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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EVANSTON, ILLINOIS – JANUARY 26: Andre Wesson #24 of the Ohio State Buckeyes (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS – JANUARY 26: Andre Wesson #24 of the Ohio State Buckeyes (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

12. Ohio State Buckeyes 13-7 (3-6)

A team we wanted to be ranked No. 1 in the country from Christmas to New Year’s is now ranked 12th in the Big Ten. Don’t take anything for granted when things are going great. Because they can all fall apart within a month’s time. Ohio State beat Villanova, North Carolina on the road and Kentucky on a neutral court. They lost to Minnesota on the road, but everyone was going through that at the time. They needed to beat West Virginia on a neutral court to have a perfect non-conference but fell by eight.

Then it was all downhill from there. Ohio State’s only quality win in the Big Ten was to Penn State at the beginning of December. Other than that it’s been five losses and two wins to Nebraska and Northwestern. To be fair, they’ve only had three home games since the New Year and one was to the Cornhuskers. Life on the road in the Big Ten is hard. We know that. But if Ohio State wanted to be one of the best in the country, they had to win another one besides Northwestern.

Chris Holtmann decided he had enough and suspended two of his best players, Duane Washington and Luther Muhammad. But that was to Nebraska at home. They steamrolled the Cornhuskers. Six guys were in double-figures. D.J. Carton started and E.J. Liddell was the first off the bench. They combined for 23. The two stars returned against Penn State, but the promising freshmen retained their minutes. Ohio State got beat by 14.

Kaleb Wesson is going to dominate the paint in almost every game he plays in. But Ohio State doesn’t have that one guy who’s going to create and make shots. At least not in Big Ten play. Washington and Muhammad got it done in the non-conference, but are struggling in league play. Ohio State certainly has the talent, but they can’t seem to seal the deal right now.

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