Big Ten Basketball: Purdue, Ohio State, Wisconsin rise in latest power rankings

1. Purdue (4-1)

Zach Edey is gone and that’s a big problem… or is it? The Boilermakers watched their two-time National Player of the Year center depart after leading them to the national title game, but Matt Painter did not panic for one second. He knew full well that this roster, which didn’t add a single transfer in the offseason, had enough talent to still win big games in the Big Ten this season.

We’re still a few weeks away from Big Ten action, but the Boilermakers certainly proved they can win big games. After three home wins over mid-majors, Purdue got a huge one at home last week over #2 Alabama, with an electric performance on offense against the Crimson Tide. During the week, they suffered their first loss of the season with a troubling effort at Marquette, scoring just 58 points in a tough matchup.

Trey Kaufman-Renn is averaging nearly 18 points a game and doing his best Edey impression in an offense that still leans heavily on junior guards Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith. At their best, Purdue can hang with any team in the country, even with the departure of one of the game’s best players in recent memory. At their worst, Purdue is mortal just like every other team in the Big Ten, though we don’t know quite for sure what that means after just a few weeks.

There’s not a lot more to say at this point about the eighteen teams in the Big Ten, especially after only four or five games out of each of them. The sneak preview at conference play in early December will give us something of a bigger picture, but this certainly looks like a competitive league that can definitely be won by at least half a dozen of its teams. Who will emerge as the best teams in this conference?