Big Ten Basketball: Michigan State rise in rankings at end of regular season

Victories

*Illinois State
*UMass Lowell
*Morehead State
*Cleveland State
*@Notre Dame
*UCLA (neutral site)
*Rutgers (twice)
*Nebraska
*Northwestern
*@Illinois
*@Wisconsin
*Penn State (twice)
*@Iowa
*@Maryland
*Michigan State
*Indiana

Defeats

*@Northwestern
*Purdue (twice)
*@Minnesota
*Michigan
*@Michigan State
*Iowa
*Illinois

Net ranking: 9

KenPom ranking: 7

AP ranking: 9

B1G Tournament Seed: 5

Possibility of Post-Season Tournament: 100%

Reason for Hope: Ohio State has some very impressive victories on their resume and is one of the few teams to have multiple wins away from home against quality teams like UCLA, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Also, Ohio State’s offense for the most part has been very productive this season scoring 80 or more points 10 times this season. The Buckeyes are a well-coached team and anything but a Sweet Sixteen appearance or better will be seen as a disappointment.

Reason to be Pessimistic: Ohio State has lost their last four games with three of those losses being on their home court. The offensive output had decreased by 10 or more points for three straight games before scoring 68 points and only losing by five to Illinois. Hopefully, for the Buckeyes, their offense can pick up and begin to score in higher numbers again moving forward in order to make it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament.

Big Ten Tournament Opponent: The winner of Minnesota vs. Northwestern

Victories

*North Carolina Central
*Southern
*Western Illinois
*North Carolina
*Iowa State
*Northern Illinois
*Purdue
*Northwestern (twice)
*Rutgers (twice)
*@Maryland
*Minnesota
*Michigan State (twice)
*Wisconsin (twice)
*Nebraska
*Penn State
*@Ohio State

Defeats

*Gonzaga (neutral site)
*@Minnesota
*Indiana (twice)
*Ohio State
*@Michigan
*@Illinois

Net ranking: 6

KenPom ranking: 4

AP ranking: 5

B1G Tournament Seed: 3

Possibility of Post-Season Tournament: 100%

Reason for Hope: Their ability to win on the road as Iowa has won at Ohio State, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Michigan State. They play well on their home court as well as they only have two losses at home this season. Their offense is very efficient and productive as the Hawkeyes put up on 88 on the road against Michigan State, 96 at Northwestern, 89 on the road against Maryland, 102 against Nebraska, and 93 against North Carolina.

They also have scored over 100 points four times and over 93 points nine times as well. Iowa is looking to possibly win the Big Ten tournament and maybe even make a run to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament

Reason to be Pessimistic: Iowa doesn’t have much to be pessimistic about but if there is something that may be concerning moving forward is the inability to win close games away from home.  In the NCAA tournament, the Hawkeyes need to be able to win a very close game.

Hawkeyes have lost some close games on the road in which they lost to Indiana by only two points, lost to Minnesota in overtime, and lost by only five points to Illinois. Iowa can slip up and lose a close game or they may not make it past the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.

Big Ten Tournament Opponent: The winner of the Wisconsin vs. Penn State/Nebraska game