Rush The Court

This is the 12th installment of our weekly Big Ten Power Rankings which we will publish each Friday. This week’s voters were Deepak Jayanti, Joey Nowak and Kevin Trahan of the Big Ten Microsite.

In this week’s Big Ten power rankings we discuss each team’s week and assess each team’s chances of making it to the NCAA Tournament.

1. Michigan – Michigan earned its first No. 1 ranking since 1992 this week and the Wolverines certainly lived up to that billing against Northwestern. Now comes the big test: a game in Bloomington that will likely be on everyone’s short list for game of the year. Michigan’s offense is widely considered the best in the country, but its defense is also very underrated. Against Northwestern, the Wolverines did an incredible job of staying disciplined and keeping the ball on the perimeter. They’ll need more of that — plus solid play from the big men — against Indiana. Make the NCAA Tournament: Obviously Michigan will make the NCAAs, but can it grab the No. 1 overall seed? That might be difficult, as the Wolverines have a much tougher remaining slate than challengers Florida and Kansas.
2. Indiana – Indiana continues to work its way up the national rankings and made it all the way to No. 3 this week. The Hoosiers had a potential trap game against an improved Purdue team at Mackey Arena, but they absolutely pummeled their in-state rival, adding even more luster to tonight’s game against Michigan in Bloomington. Victor Oladipo has risen as a national star and looks like he could be the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year, an award many people had all but given to Aaron Craft in the preseason. Make the NCAA Tournament: Indiana will be in the NCAAs, but can the Hoosiers grab a No. 1 seed? That may be tough since teams behind them have easier schedules. Regardless, they should be in good shape to make a run at a #1 or #2 seed.
3. Michigan State – The Spartans were riding high in the Big Ten until they ran into the buzzsaw that is Indiana at home. They really held their own, though, without much help at all from top scorer Keith Appling. Adreian Payne is playing like a man possessed, and it must have been nice for Tom Izzo to see Gary Harris get back in the scoring column. A win against Illinois means seven wins in eight games over this grueling stretch, with an important home game against Minnesota also looming. Pretty safe to say Spartan fans like where the team is at, all things considered. Make the NCAA Tournament: Yes, it’s just a matter of where. The Spartans have climbed in most mock brackets over the last few weeks and definitely have the ability to play their way into a #3 seed. If they can do that, there’s a great chance they’d open the Tournament at the Palace of Auburn Hills. A home-court advantage, coupled with the standard Tom Izzo tourney prep? Watch out.
4. Ohio State – The Buckeyes have about as easy a two-week stretch as you’ll see in the Big Ten — Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska games in a row — before things really get dicey. This team continues to look more and more like a good team, not a great one, especially when there are scarcely significant scoring contributions from anyone but Deshaun Thomas. Ohio State is too one-dimensional and it makes them easy prey in a loaded conference, and it will again come Tournament time. Make the NCAA Tournament: Yes, but who knows how far they’ll go? With the way Ohio State has been playing, and how their schedule lines up in the coming weeks, the Buckeyes could end up anywhere from a #4 to a #6 seed in the Tournament, and would be ripe for an upset. Again, if you can shut down Deshaun Thomas, you can basically shut down this team.
5. Wisconsin – If Rodney Williams would have made his second free throw, the game against Gophers could have gone into overtime and a Badgers loss would have bumped them down to #6 in the rankings. But a close win over Minnesota shows the toughness of the Badger squad in a competitive conference. Bo Ryan’s team will have a tough one on Super Bowl Sunday against a very hungry Illinois team that will seek avenge their 84-67 loss to Bucky on January 9. Make the NCAA Tournament: Barring a three or four-game losing skid, the Badgers are in a good shape to make the NCAA Tournament again. Ryan continues to amaze the hoops world as he takes a bunch of seasoned players who play good defense and execute efficiently on the offense to the Tournament. If they want to secure a top-6 seed, they might need to beat another ranked team in the Big Ten because Indiana is the only ranked team that they have beaten so far.
6. Minnesota – The Gophers loss to Wisconsin on the road drops them to #6 in the rankings but after a four-game losing skid, a match-up against Nebraska couldn’t have come at a better time for them. After slumping against Wisconsin and Northwestern, Rodney Williams broke out against the Cornhuskers with a 23-point performance but Tubby Smith’s team can’t afford another losing streak if they want to remain in the Top 25. Make the NCAA Tournament: The Gophers will make March Madness but working themselves up to a top seed will be their main challenge over the next few weeks. Losing to Northwestern on the road would be considered a “bad” loss by the selection committee and those types of losses could drop them out of a top-5 seed. Beating a top-20 team such as Michigan State or Ohio State will help them get back into the discussion of elite teams in the Big Ten again.
7. Iowa  – We have said this before and we will say it again: youth and inexperience can catch up to the Hawkeyes on the road in the Big Ten. Fran McCaffery’s team couldn’t pull off a win at Purdue but rebounded nicely with a 76-67 win over Penn State at home. Forward Melsahn Basabe (7.4 PPG and 4.5 RPG) may continue to see more minutes than freshman Adam Woodbury over the next few weeks because the Hawkeyes need experience and stability to make a run at the postseason. Make the NCAA Tournament: The Hawkeye nation may have to wait one more season to make the NCAA Tournament. They don’t necessarily have many bad losses but they don’t have many good wins either. Beating Northern Iowa and Wisconsin helps but a win against a ranked opponent will really help Fran McCaffery make a serious bid for the postseason. The Big Ten should have six locks for the tourney but the Hawkeyes still need a statement win to make a case for the seventh team.
8. Illinois – A 2-6 start in the Big Ten is not what was expected of a team that started the season with a bang by winning 13 out of the first 14 games. But a tough loss on the road to the Spartans proved that the Illini are not giving up on themselves. If they can duplicate their intensity that they showed during the first half against Michigan State on Sunday, they may be able to pull off a much needed win over the Badgers. Make the NCAA Tournament: This one is tough. The loss to Purdue may be considered “bad” but if the Boilermakers continue to improve at home, the selection committee may forgive Illinois. But they can’t afford any more bad losses at this point. For example, a loss to Penn State on the road may officially end their chances at the NCAA Tournament unless they can pull off an upset of Indiana or Ohio State. 
   
9. Purdue – While we’re starting to see that there are a handful of teams in the conference that are not quite as good as we originally thought (Minnesota, Illinois and even Ohio State), we’ve seen through Big Ten play that the Boilermakers are not nearly as bad as they let on early in the season. They can defend, are excellent on the boards and have a couple stars in the making in Terone Johnson and A.J. Hammons. But they still struggle to score. This a team that will be looking to pull upsets, not one that we’re used to seeing try to avoid them for the past few seasons. Make the NCAA Tournament: No, but if they can find a way to sneak into the NIT, they could be very dangerous. Those early non-conference losses — some really ugly, some not so bad — just piled up too quickly for the Boilermakers to dig out of that hole. And with as many beatings as they’ll take in the Big Ten, they’ll be happy to be playing in any sort of postseason gig.
10. Northwestern – Just as Northwestern began to grab some momentum with wins over Illinois and Minnesota and a near win against Indiana, the Wildcats dropped two straight road games, one to Nebraska (not good) and one to Michigan (expected). The Wildcats’ centers have struggled and the typically consistent guards had off games in both losses. One positive for NU has been the emergence of Louisville transfer Jared Swopshire, who was passive on the floor earlier in the year, but has become much more aggressive since the Illinois game and given the Wildcats a spark. Make the NCAA Tournament: After the Minnesota game, there was some optimism in Evanston that maybe Northwestern could make a run with a few more upsets. However, after the Nebraska loss, an NIT berth looks like the best-case scenario.
11. Nebraska – It’s been an up-and-down few games for Nebraska. The Huskers got blown out by reeling Illinois, then blew out Northwestern in an impressive display of defense, then got blown out by Minnesota. Obviously, the results against Illinois and Minnesota were to be expected this season, but the Northwestern game gave Huskers fans reason for optimism. Ray Gallegos got hot from downtown and the team as a whole shot fairly well after struggling in that area all season. The defense was very impressive as well. The Huskers need more consistency and talent, but Tim Miles looks to have the program headed in the right direction. Make the NCAA Tournament: Both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT (barring a major run) look to be out of the question for Nebraska. However, the Cornhuskers have shown some promise and are capable of spoiling some seasons.
12. Penn State – It should be noted that, as we continue to dig deep for bright spots in Penn State’s difficult season, that the Nittany Lions have two players in the conference’s top seven for scoring. D.J. Newbill and Jermaine Marshall have given Patrick Chambers a nice little nucleus with which to work, especially looking ahead to next season with the return of Tim Frazier. The only other schools with two scorers in the top 10 are Final Four contenders Michigan and Indiana. Make the NCAA Tournament: The only chance the Nittany Lions have of making the Big Dance is if they emerge as the No. 12 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and miraculously win the whole thing. They might not even win a regular season conference game. So I don’t see that happening.