Big Ten Basketball: Minnesota, Northwestern and Nebraska rise in latest power rankings

10. Iowa (9-6, 1-3)

They haven’t been world beaters and there hasn’t been a deep postseason run, but Iowa has been a sneaky good program in recent years. Leaning heavily on All-American talent like Luka Garza and the Murray brothers, Fran McCaffery has taken the Hawkeyes to the last four NCAA Tournaments. Running that total to five is going to be a little trickier, but still within the realm of possibility.

Iowa hasn’t had much success against strong opponents this season, with their only significant win in nonconference play coming against Seton Hall. They lost to Purdue by 19, rival Iowa State by 25, and even fell at home against Michigan by double figures a month ago. Their offense has shown that it remains the strength of this program, but last weekend’s win against Rutgers is their only decent win in the last month.

While this team is getting decent numbers from Ben Krikke, Payton Sandfort, and others, they simply don’t have the star player they’ve leaned so heavily on in recent years. There’s certainly a road forward for the Hawkeyes, who proved they still have a pulse by beating the Scarlet Knights to get their first conference win. It’s unlikely that this team has enough to actually compete with the strongest teams, already falling by double digits to perhaps the two top contenders.