Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings: Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan State fight at top
By Ryan Kay
Big Ten Basketball continues to be unpredictable this season. Here’s a look at how they all currently rank among each other.
Big Ten Basketball is by far the best conference in all of college basketball. Even though non-conference games are talked about in these rankings, the Big Ten teams are ranked in this power ranking based on their Big Ten play this season. Let’s take a look at how these 14 Big Ten teams are ranked in this week’s Big Ten power rankings.
14. Northwestern 6-15 (1-10)
Key Wins
*Beat Providence 72-63 in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
*Won on the road and beat Boston College 82-64 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
*Defeated Bradley 78-51 in the Fort Myers Tip-Off.
*Only Big Ten win being a 62-57 win over Nebraska
Disappointing Losses
*Lost to Radford 67-56 at home.
*Lost to Merrimack 71-61 at home.
*Lost to Hartford 67-66 at home.
*Had great opportunities to win at Indiana and at Illinois but lost by 4 points in both games.
KenPom Ranking 121
Northwestern has competed in most of their Big Ten games this year and has had opportunities to upset three quality opponents in Big Ten conference play this season. However, wins are what matter and not necessarily how well you have competed.
As noted many times before, the Big Ten is very competitive and deep this season with the possibility of up to 12 Big Ten teams having a legitimate chance to qualify for the Big Ten the NCAA tournament. However, as seen already, the very likely result for the Wildcats this Big Ten season will more than likely be a last-place finish in the Big Ten.
Even before the season started, Northwestern has had five players transfer out of the program in the last two seasons in which the transfer portal has become more and more popular. At one point, they were down to nine scholarship players as recently as this past spring. It is no secret that Northwestern was fighting an uphill battle prior to the start of the season.
Some credit must be given to head coach Chris Collins who is in his 7th season as the head of the Northwestern program. This season has been difficult and challenging for Northwestern especially after some unlikely early-season upsets. Collins has got players like freshman Miller Kopp and sophomore Pete Nance who have been for most of the season the two leading scorers for Northwestern this season to excel and exceed exp. Northwestern has this season attempted to control the tempo and keep the games in conference play close and competitive. They still could surprise a Big Ten team or two with a win here or there prior to the Big Ten tournament. The Wildcats next play at Rutgers on Feb. 9th.