Purdue (Last Week: 3) - You know what? I’m gonna show Purdue some love and put them in the top spot. The Boilermakers are now winners of seven straight, including 10 of their last 11. They survived a scare at Penn State, winning yet another OT thriller at the BJC (thanks to Carsen Edwards’ 38 points) before beating Minnesota by ten at home.
Michigan State (1) - Don’t look now, but Sparty is currently in a losing skid. An upset loss to Indiana has given Tom Izzo’s crew back-to-back losses, as they seek to rebound with a road trip to Illinois, before hosting Minnesota.
Michigan (2) - After waxing their bitter rivals Ohio State, the Wolverines followed that up by being on the wrong end of a 15-point waxing in Iowa City. A road trip to Piscataway to take on a feisty Rutgers squad, followed by a home date with Wisconsin awaits them this week.
Wisconsin (4) - The Badgers have now won five straight, after dispensing of Nebraska and Maryland last week. They hit the road this week to take on Minnesota and Michigan, which means they will probably be moving up in these power rankings should they win both of those games.
Maryland (5) - Losers of three of their last four contests, the Terps will need to get their act together quickly as they hit the road to face Nebraska, in a game they really can’t afford to drop if they want to avoid sliding in the conference standings.
Iowa (7) - Well, upsetting Michigan at home by 15 points is one way to end a losing streak. Fran McCaffrey’s crew will seek to get a winning streak going when they visit Indiana and host Northwestern this week.
Minnesota (6) - The Gophers got some sweet revenge on Illinois, dropping the Illini by 11 points at home, but not surprisingly got beat by ten on the road at Purdue. Things don’t get any easier this week for Richard Pitino’s ball club with Wisconsin and Michigan State on the slate.
Ohio State (8) - Losing to “That School Up North” sure wasn’t fun for the Buckeyes, but exacting sweet, sweet, revenge on Rutgers sure was. Speaking of sweet revenge: Penn Statecomes to Columbusthis week.
Indiana (11) - The Hoosiers got themselves a much-needed scalp at Michigan State to help end a seven-game losing skid, and more importantly, keep themselves in the NCAA Tournament discussion. They get Iowa and Ohio State at home this week, so a pair of wins here could really do wonders for IU’s momentum.
Rutgers (13) - The Scarlet Knights beat Indiana to earn a third straight Big Ten win for the first time, ever. Round 2 against Ohio State did not go nearly as well as the first meeting, though. To make matters worse, Michigan and a road trip to Illinois await them this week.
Northwestern (10) - After back-to-back double-digit losses to Wisconsin and Maryland, and allowing themselves to become Penn State’s first Big Ten victim of the season, the Wildcats are now on a three-game losing skid.
Illinois (12) - The Illini were unable to complete the sweep of Minnesota, losing by 11 in Minneapolis, but rebounded nicely to defeat a flatlining Nebraska team.
Nebraska (9) - I was probably being too generous ranking the Huskers at 9th last week, as Tim Miles’ crew continues to plummet down the B1G standings, having now dropped five straight.
Penn State (14) - Winless in the Big Ten, no more! The Nittany Lions will need to repeat this a couple more times however, before I can realistically consider moving them out of dead last.
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