Big Ten Power Rankings

[DZ83CK]

I'm so disappointed in the Buckeyes' untimely collapse, I'm taking a couple of weeks off.

Ditto.

 

[buckeyesin07]

My take on the Big Ten teams and the NCAA tournament:

In:

MSU
Purdue
Illinois

Bubble:

PSU (19-8, 8-6, @OSU, Indiana, Illinois, @Iowa) -- I think they'll go 2-2 at the end of the season, losing @OSU, and either home against Illinois or @Iowa. Even though that will put them at 21-10 and 10-8, I don't think they'll get in, based on their dreadful out of conference schedule. But they'll be right there on the bubble. OUT

Minny (20-7, 8-7, @Illinois, UW, UM). I think they'll split the @Ill and UW home games and they'll beat UM. at 22-8, 10-8, I think they're in, having beaten Louisville out of conference, OSU and Illinois once already. IN

UW (17-10, 8-7, UM, @Minn, Indiana). I think they win (at least) two of their final three, to finish 19-11, 10-8. They have no impressive wins out of conference, but they've beaten Illinois and OSU (though both at home). I think the committee will credit them for finishing strong and reward them with a tournament spot, but if I were voting, they wouldn't get in, as they just haven't done anything all that impressive this year. IN

OSU (17-8, 7-7, PSU, @Purdue, @Iowa, Northwestern). They should win three of these games, with the only loss being @Purdue. That said, this team has been struggling a bit in the close ones, and I have a feeling they'll finish 2-2. 19-10 and 9-9 should be able to get them in, considering they have quality wins against Butler, Purdue, Minny, Miami, and ND (if we're still counting the last two as quality wins). However, the committee may not like the fact that, if OSU goes 2-2 over their last four games, that will mean they have finished their last 7 by going 2-5. IN

UM (17-11, 7-8, Purdue, @UW, @Minny). I see no way that UM gets in. They really needed yesterday's game at Iowa, because I think they'll be lucky to win one of their final three games, all of which are tough. Even if they pull one of those off, they'll still be 18-13, 8-10, which won't get them in, notwithstanding the wins against Duke and UCLA. OUT

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

I'm so disappointed in the Buckeyes' untimely collapse, I'm taking a couple of weeks off.

Ditto.

I just don't see it. They lost at Wisconsin and at home versus Illinois. Neither are bad losses. The loss against NW was bad, I'll give you that, but we're not talking about a streak of games against terrible competition.

They haven't lost to IU or anything like that.

Take a couple weeks off and you'll miss the entire rest of the season.

 

[crazybuckfan40]

1. MSU - 66
2. Purdue - 58
3. Illinois - 56
4. Wisky - 47
5. Minny - 41
6. tOSU - 37
7. PSU - 30
8. Michigan - 23
9. NW -20
10. Iowa - 12
11. Indiana - 6

Even with the loss to MSU Wisky has continued to rise back up after they were down pretty far...

Not many contributors this week...Hopefully we get a couple wins this week and we get more people next week...

thanks to all contributors...
BB, 40, mooktarr, BB73, Bucyrusbuckeye, briegg

 

[OHSportsFan]

Whoops, spaced it this week.

Hard to disagree with those final rankings for this week- look good to me.

Interesting that Illinois got a #2 vote.

 

[BB73]

My rankings matched the overall, except I had tOSU ahead of Minny.

 

[mooktarr]

I had all the same teams as the final report.

 

[buckeyesin07]

Wisconsin has outplayed everybody in the Big Ten head to head this season except for Purdue, yet they might be on the verge of their 7th loss. They should only have 3 losses. They've led most of all but that many games, but they find a way to blow it at the end.

UW outplayed OSU? That's news to me. OSU outshot UW 55.3% to 36.4%, but turned the ball over 9 more times, which cost them the game on the road in a close 5 point loss.


My larger point is this--the whole "We should only have ___ losses" is a loser, sour grapes argument that the fan of just about every team could make. For example, had the ball bounced our way just a few more times, OSU could've beaten UW, Northwestern, Illinois (in Columbus) and maybe even MSU (in Columbus), and so I could claim that OSU should really be considered to have a record of 22-4, not 18-8. Give it a rest with the whining--everyone outside Madison knows that UW simply isn't that good of a team this year.

 

[buckeyesin07]

My rankings for 3/2:

1. MSU
2. Purdue
3. Illinois
4. OSU
5. UW
6. PSU
7. UM
8. Minny
9. Northwestern
10. Iowa
11. Indiana

 

[BB73]

My rankings for 3/2:

1. MSU
2. Purdue
3. Illinois
4. OSU
5. UW
6. PSU
7. UM
8. Minny
9. Northwestern
10. Iowa
11. Indiana

I think mine has flips for tOSU/Wiscy and for TSUN/Minny.

 

[Ttown]

Mine has Wisc and PS ahead of us @ 6

 

[LitlBuck]

I think mine has flips for tOSU/Wiscy and for TSUN/Minny.

same here

Mine has Wisc and PS ahead of us @ 6

I cannot justify putting PSU above us when we beat them and I am pretty sure that we would beat them again:osu:

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

I had a bear of a time with the middle 5, as usual. A small chart I made to guide me...

................WISC......OSU......MINN......PSU......MICH
vs. Top-3....1-4........1-5.......1-4........3-2.......2-3
vs. Mid-5.....5-1........4-2.......3-3........2-5.......2-4
vs. Bot-3.....3-2........3-1.......4-1........4-0.......4-1
TOTAL........9-7........8-8......8-8........9-7.......8-8

But all it did was confuse me even more.....PSU has the best record against the top 3 AND the bottom 3, but the worst record against the middle pack. Wisconsin has the worst record against the bottom 3 and only 1 win against the top 3, but has the best record against the middle. I based this more on head-to-head games than on overall record, therefore PSU suffers for losing to the other mid-tier teams and isn't rewarded as much for the other wins. Oh, hell. I don't know.


1. Michigan State
2. Illinois
3. Purdue
4. Wisconsin
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. Minnesota
8. Michigan
9. Northwestern
10. Iowa
11. INDIANA

 

[Bernini]

Are people noticing how Wisconsin is losing games? It's unbelievable. They've squandered late 2nd half leads in all but about 3 of their losses this season (@ Purdue, UCONN, and @ Illinois). I mean if they had any semblance of killer instinct they'd have about 5 losses this season and looking at a 3 seed. Instead they're going to be nail biting, watching the selection show, unless they at least pull off an impressive win in the BTT. I'll never be able to support a strategy of sitting on a lead with which you can't run out the clock, for as long as I live. But yet, that's what they've been doing. Lateral passes 35 feet away from the basket and dribbling the air out of the basketball.

games Bucky absolutely should have won:

@ MSU
@ Marquette
@ Minnesota
Minnesota
Marquette
@ Northwestern
@ Iowa
1 of Texas and Purdue

That would have made for a pretty impressive resume.

 

[jwinslow]

Are people noticing how Wisconsin is losing games? It's unbelievable. They've squandered late 2nd half leads in all but about 3 of their losses this season (@ Purdue, UCONN, and @ Illinois).

You just described most of the league.