Big Ten Basketball: Indiana tumbles, Rutgers storms up in latest power rankings

After a strong non-conference campaign and quality win over Michigan State before the start of the new year, the Gophers looked like genuine contenders in the Big Ten, at least to avoid the basement of the standings. However, a 1-9 run that ended with a road loss at then-winless Nebraska by 13 points.

The good news is that the team has gone 2-2 in the past four games, with home wins over Penn State and Northwestern, as well as blowout losses to Penn State and Ohio State. But let’s focus on the wins. In the 76-70 victory over the Nittany Lions, Eric Curry had a career-high 22 points, along with 18 points and 10 assists from Payton Willis. The other starters shined in the 77-60 win over the Wildcats, with Jamison Battle going for 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Luke Loewe had 24 points and seven assists.

With four starters playing almost all 40 minutes in most games, Minnesota has no room for error with its starters. So once the competition got tougher in league play, them reverting back to the bottom isn’t much of a surprise. But this team does have a good piece to build around for next year in Battle, they’ll just have to land a couple of power-conference caliber-type transfers to become more competitive in Big 12 play.