New team jumps into top 5 of Big Ten men’s basketball power rankings

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We’ve cracked the halfway point of the Big Ten Conference men’s basketball season, and if some of the preseason championship favorites want to be involved they’d better wake up.

Preseason No. 1 Purdue remains right there in striking distance of still-unbeaten Michigan State. Winning in East Lansing in a couple of weeks might be crucial, though.

The ship has probably sailed for preseason No. 2 Indiana. Hoosiers need to focus on not completely embarrassing themselves and missing the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

Mick Cronin already grumbles about preseason No. 3 UCLA’s travel burden and has not yet been to Champaign or West Lafayette. All of the analytics sites still love preseason No. 4 Illinois. Like the Bruins, though, the Fighting Illini already hold four losses and might need to run the table to hoist the trophy.

How I’m ranking them 1-18 this week:

1. Michigan State (18-2, 9-0)

Prev: 1

Winning percentage of the eight teams Spartans have played so far: .338. Winning percentage of the 10 still to come: .592.

2. Purdue (16-5, 8-2)

Prev: 2

Trey Kaufman-Renn living up to Matt Painter’s preseason All-Big Ten prediction — and then some.

3. Maryland (17-3, 7-4)

Prev: 6

If not for an overtime loss at Northwestern, Terrapins would be working on a seven-game winning streak.

4. Michigan (15-5, 7-2)

Prev: 3

The team that got molly wopped at Purdue last week did not look like a Big Ten championship contender.

5. Illinois (14-6, 6-4)

Prev: 4

Illini are retiring Kofi Cockburn’s jersey in a couple of weeks. Sorry, just wanted to type Kofi Cockburn again.

6. Wisconsin (16-5, 6-4)

Prev: 5

February and March could set up nicely for the Badgers, but only if they survive sneaky road games like Northwestern on Saturday.

7. UCLA (15-6, 6-4)

Prev: 7

Four-game winning streak pushes Bruins’ record back to 14-2 in Pacific time zone, 1-4 everywhere else.

8. Oregon (16-5, 5-4)

Prev: 8

Opened a stretch of four roadies in five games by losing the “easy” one at Minnesota. Sub-optimal.

9. Ohio State…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/team-jumps-top-5-big-172123538.html

Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2025-01-30 17:21:00

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