Big Ten Basketball: Power rankings for end of 2019-20 season

By Adam Childs | Mar 18, 2020

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - MARCH 08: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates a second half three pointer with Xavier Tillman Sr. #23 while playing the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Breslin Center on March 08, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. Michigan State won the game 80-69. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – MARCH 15: Nebraska Huskers cheerleaders (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

. . Cornhuskers . 14. team. 488.

MVP – Haanif Cheatham

This probably would have been Cam Mack had he not gotten in trouble over and over again in his time this year which led to an eventual indefinite suspension that looks like it has all but ended his time in Lincoln.

Instead, the one guy that was steady throughout this tough year for the Cornhuskers was Cheatham. It was a rocky college career for the talented forward, as he started out at Marquette, before transferring to Florida Gulf Coast before finally ending up at Nebraska. Cheatham played well at Marquette before an injury cut his Junior year short. He decided to head to South Florida but that year was also cut short. He finally landed in Lincoln and had a very productive senior season.

Cheatham would average 13.1 points per game while shooting just under 35% from deep. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a lot of help as the Cornhuskers lost their last 17 games and eventually had to bring to football players along with them to play in the Big Ten tournament. Cheatham was at least a small bright spot on an otherwise wasted season.

Best Moment – Beating Iowa 76-70

There weren’t a lot of bright moments for the Cornhuskers this year. Beating Purdue was a good moment, but not better than beating Iowa. Not only did they shock the Hawkeyes they were also able to hold down POY Luka Garza to just 16 points. That was well below his season average.

The Cornhuskers were able to take a seven-point lead into halftime and held off a late push by Iowa to hold on for the win. It was the last win of the year for the Cornhuskers but was a huge upset at the time. In a year when not many things went right, this was the top moment in Fred Hoiberg’s first year in Lincoln.

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