Big Ten men’s basketball power rankings: Oregon and Maryland move up, Purdue falls

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How much benefit of the doubt should we give those Big Ten Conference teams who played the toughest non-conference schedules?

Ken Pomeroy’s analytics site classifies some games as either A (top 50) or B (top 100) quality based on both opponent and location.

Purdue currently leads Big Ten teams with seven A games, followed by Ohio State (six), Oregon and Wisconsin (five apiece) and Illinois (four). Everyone else has played either three or two.

However, the Boilermakers (3-4) and Buckeyes (2-4) also have losing records in those games. Purdue trailed by 27 and 33 with under 10 minutes to play at Penn State and on a semi-neutral court against Auburn, respectively. Ohio State’s four “A game” setbacks include losses by 15, 24 and 28 points.

At the same time, Iowa, Indiana and Rutgers went a combined 0-9 in those “A” games. They head into the new year with basically no benefit of the doubt.

Starting next week, we’ll see if tougher roads in November and December pay off when Big Ten play resumes.

1. UCLA (10-2, 2-0)

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While other teams ease back into Big Ten play, Bruins will instead play Gonzaga on Saturday.

2. Illinois (8-3, 1-1)

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Kasparas Jakucionis said he’d be deep in the cold, cold ground before he recognized Missouruh as winner of the Braggin’ Rights game.

3. Maryland (10-2, 1-1)

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By consensus of those analytics nerds, this might be the league’s best team right now. If games were won inside computers I’d agree.

4. Oregon (11-1, 1-1)

Dec 21, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; Oregon Ducks forward Kwame Evans Jr. (10) shoots against Stanford Cardinal guard Oziyah Sellers (4) and guard Ryan Agarwal (obscured right) during the second half at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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Unlike their fellow Pac-12 ex-pats at the top of this list, Ducks have yet to play a game east of the MGM Grand.

5. Michigan State (10-2, 2-0)

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Oh look at that — Spartans playing better than the sum of their parts by leading the Big Ten…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/big-ten-mens-basketball-power-190249433.html

Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-12-26 19:02:00

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