10. Nebraska (25-4)
As the year has gone by, seeing this Nebraska team comfortably ranked has seemed less foreign, though this is still clearly a breakthrough season for the Cornhuskers in every regard. While recent weeks have been full of struggle after that 20-0 start, Nebraska is already making history and are looking to make this truly a year to remember in Lincoln.
Fortunately, they’ve been playing inspired basketball recently, including Wednesday’s 74-61 win over Maryland. Braden Frager starred with 21 points and 8 rebounds while Pryce Sandfort emerged with 16 points and 8 rebounds over the Terrapins. After building a halftime deficit on Saturday, the Cornhuskers came out hot in the second half, running out to an 82-67 road win at USC. Sandfort stabilized matters with an emphatic 32-point showing while Frager supplied 17 more points off the bench.
In a season with some really talented Big Ten teams, Nebraska is clearly in that fold and are now up to 14-4 in the conference standings. Defense has been the calling card throughout league play and is a major reason for some of the Cornhuskers’ most impressive wins to date. They’ll stay out west at UCLA and will certainly need their defense to show up again before ending the season seeking some revenge on Iowa.