Big Ten Basketball: Power Rankings for the 2022 New Year

By Ryan Kay | Jan 4, 2022

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 19: Trevion Williams #50 and Mason Gillis #0 of the Purdue Boilermakers celebrate a shot during the Crossroads Classic college basketball game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on December 19, 2020 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

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Big Ten Basketball Marcus Bingham Jr. Michigan State Spartans (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Tier 1 Teams in the Big Ten

All of these teams in the tier-one have proven that they have ambitions of winning the Big Ten title this year and making a deep run in the NCAA tournament. All three teams have two or more quality non-conference wins and If they continue to win games, they can receive as high as a one seed and as low as a four seed in the NCAA tournament.

12-2. . Boilermakers . 3. team. 492.

Best Wins: North Carolina in the Cheez-It Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament (93-84), Florida State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (93-65), No. 19 Villanova in the Cheez-It Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament (80-74), Iowa (77-70), Butler in the Crossroads Classic (77-48), and NC State in the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational (82-72 OT).

Defeats: At Rutgers (70-68) and No. 23 Wisconsin (74-69)

Big Ten Record: 1-2

Current Streak: One straight loss

RPI Ranking: 28

KenPom Ranking: 5

College Basketball Power Index Ranking: 7

Net Ranking: 11

AP Poll Ranking: 3

Next Opponent: At Penn State on Jan. 8

. Buckeyes . 2. team. 490. . 9-2

Best Wins: No. 2 Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (71-66), No. 24 Seton Hall in the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament (79-76), and No. 23 Wisconsin (73-55)

Defeats: At No. 22 Xavier in the Gavitt Tipoff Games (71-65) and Florida (71-68)

Big Ten Record: 3-0

Current Streak: Five straight wins

RPI Ranking: 3

KenPom Ranking: 17

College Basketball Power Index Ranking: 20

Net Ranking: 19

AP Poll Ranking: 13

Next Opponent: At Indiana on Jan. 6

486. . 12-2. . Spartans . 1. team

Best Wins: At Butler in the Gavitt Tipoff Games (73-52), Loyola Chicago in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis tournament (63-61), at Minnesota (75-67), UConn in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis tournament (64-60), at Northwestern (73-67), and Louisville in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Defeats: No. 6 Kansas in the State Farm Champions Classic (87-74) and No. 1 Baylor in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis championship game (75-58)

Big Ten Record: 3-0

Current Streak: Seven straight wins

RPI Ranking: 1

KenPom Ranking: 18

College Basketball Power Index Ranking: 25

Next. Top 10 Big Ten POY candidates. dark

Net Ranking: 12

AP Poll Ranking: 10

Next Opponent: Nebraska on Jan. 5

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