Big Ten Basketball power rankings: Indiana flies up, Michigan crashes down

4. Northwestern Wildcats – 15-5 (6-3)

At some point, you have to respect what the Wildcats are doing. And if it wasn’t for Matt Painter, Chris Collins would be the favorite to win Big Ten Basketball Coach of the Year. And while the team hasn’t had a murderer’s row in the past three games, the Wildcats have certainly looked impressive.

Against Wisconsin, the Wildcats had a decent lead at one point but it was never large enough to feel comfortable and ended up being a close and hard-fought game. Northwestern was able to prevail, 66-63, led by 20 points, seven rebounds, and five assists from Boo Buie. His backcourt teammate Chase Audige had 16 points on 6/15 shooting but it was the team’s defensive effort that paved the way to victory.

Against the two worst teams in the league, Northwestern won both in convincing fashion. Versus Nebraska, the Wildcats raced out to a big early lead and won 78-63. Buie and Audige had another good game combined with 32 points but this time, guard Ty Berry went off for a career-high 26 on 6/12 from deep. Against Minnesota, Northwestern won 81-61, thanks to 24 points from Audige and 21 points and eight assists from Buie.

The schedule gets much tougher the rest of the way and it’ll decide whether or not this team has a shot at the double-bye in the conference tournament. They play Iowa at home, before taking on Michigan, who they lost by seven points in the last go-around.