Big Ten Basketball power rankings: Illinois free falls, Rutgers soars up

In the third week of Big Ten Basketball play, there has been nothing guaranteed in the league. The preseason top teams have been falling left and right while the supposed “bottom tier” keeps getting new teams after almost every day.

With a weekend filled with a loaded slate of games. it’s a good time to take a snapshot of what the Big Ten looks like currently. Here are the latest power rankings of the conference, from the bottom to the top.

14. Minnesota Golden Gophers – 6-7 (0-3)

When the Alcorn State game was canceled over a week ago, that meant that Minnesota played just one game since December 22nd. That was against Wisconsin on the road, which ended up being a closer battle than expected. The final score was 63-60 in a defeat for the team, with Jamison Battle producing 13 points and nine rebounds in all 40 minutes played. Dawson Garcia had 14 and 9, while guard Ta’Lon Cooper had 16 points.

The problem for Minnesota is that they still don’t get much production from the rest of the roster, while also having just seven assists along with 20 turnovers in the game. This is the worst offensive team in the Big Ten and will need around 40 and 20 from Battle and Garcia to win some games in league play.

Up next for the Gophers is Nebraska at home, arguably the most winnable game on the entire schedule. If they can’t win this one, it’s hard to envision how they’ll win more than 1-2 games max in the Big Ten.