This is the 11th 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 consider which player each team cannot do without.

1. Michigan — This time, can the Wolverines seize the day and slide into the nation’s No. 1 spot? It’s theirs for the taking after Duke was blown out at Miami this week, and the Wolverines took care of their first order of business by disposing of pesky Purdue at home on Thursday. A trip to Champaign on Sunday will not be quite as easy, but this team has the tools to make it happen and is certainly deserving of the No. 1 spot in our conference rankings, if not the national polls. Most Valuable Player: It’s hard to choose anybody but Trey Burke, who has to be the front-runner for Big Ten Player of the Year, and in the conversation for the National Player of the Year. He can score at will when the Wolverines need him to, but his game this year has been about making other players better. And it’s working. 
   

   Trey Burke and Michigan have the nation’s top-seed within its grasp (annarbor.com)

2. Indiana — The Hoosiers’ upcoming meeting against Michigan State has gone from a likely opportunity for them to flex their muscles against a perennial conference title contender to almost a bit of a toss-up. The Spartans will be rolling into Bloomington as the hottest team in the conference, and the Hoosiers have already proven to be vulnerable on their home floor. But Tom Izzo knows what he’s talking about when he calls the Hoosiers the Big Ten’s most complete team. That’s why they hold onto this spot. For now. Most Valuable Player: Last year’s national championship Kentucky team was laden with underclassmen talent, but it was an elder statesman in Terrence Jones who set the bar for the Wildcats. The case is the same for Christian Watford and Indiana this season. With due respect to some of the great young players the Hoosiers have, as Watford goes, Indiana goes.
3. Michigan State — After four straight against some of the weakest teams in the conference, the Spartans have entered the lions’ den and are so far unscathed. They answered the bell in a must-win of sorts against Ohio State and scratched out their second straight win in Madison to notch their sixth straight Big Ten win after dropping their conference opener. They’ve not been the most impressive team to watch, but you can’t argue with the results. Most Valuable Player: Very few would argue he’s the team’s best player per se, but you could make a case that Travis Trice is one guy this team cannot do without. Especially since the transfer of Brandan Kearney, backcourt minutes have been at a premium for the Spartans and Trice is a soothing presence at the point guard spot that makes everyone else better and allows Keith Appling to focus on scoring. And with Russell Byrd still a no-show, Trice’s 42 percent three-point shooting is essential. Read the rest of this entry »

1. The basketball writers at ESPN took a comprehensive look at what they call “the nation’s top conference” on Wednesday, coming at the Big Ten from a variety of angles. They produced this video about the legacy that Michigan star Tim Hardaway and his father are trying to create together, as well as this roundtable of questions and answers from the site’s top college hoops writers. They discuss Illinois‘ recent struggles, what’s been most surprising about the conference this year, possible champions (and how many losses they can manage and still win the title), as well as which team is best suited to make a deep run. Michigan State and Ohio State have been the conference’s two best NCAA Tournament teams over the last few years, and those two squads are near the top of the standings, but is this a year in which they can do that again? Can Michigan get over it’s embarrassing upset loss to Ohio last season in the NCAA Tournament? These are all things we’ll be discussing as the Big Dance draws near, and ESPN tackles it today.
2. Speaking of making deep March runs, Jason King takes an in-depth look at the pressure on the Big Ten to produce a national title team this season, given how talented the conference is. Indiana certainly entered this season as a contender, and Michigan has proven to be in that class. At times, Minnesota and Ohio State have looked like Final Four teams, and you can never write Tom Izzo off when it comes to the Big Dance. But as King writes, the Big Ten has only produced one national championship in the last 23 years (Michigan State in 2000). And eight have reached the Final Four since then (Michigan State four times, Ohio State twice, Indiana and Illinois each once) while coming up short. Would it be a disappointment this year if the Big Ten fell short again? And why has the conference failed so often? Read here to see what King’s thoughts on the matter.
3. Indiana coach Tom Crean has seemingly found a recruiting pipeline to the Washington D.C. area, and it comes somewhat in the form of Victor Oladipo. Beyond the current Hoosier star, Crean has a commitment from Stanford Robinson, and high school sophomores Marcus Derrickson and Bryant Crawford also live in the area and have received Indiana offers. “There’s a year-round toughness there that doesn’t just come up in big games, but shows up in players whenever they step on the court” Crean told the Washington Post‘s Brandon Parker. “Not only are there ongoing camps and clinics, but those guys are well-coached. The type of talent that comes out of that area is just unbelievable.” Plenty of coaches find one player, or a group of players from one area — not necessarily close by, as evidenced by Crean’s travels to the East Coast — and build off it (think Tom Izzo, Flint and Michigan State). Could Indiana become a destination for D.C.’s best?
4. This week’s meeting between Purdue and Michigan could be a glimpse at both the present and the future. With both these teams relying heavily on young players, there’s a chance that we could see as many as seven freshman having a hand in the game. Michigan’s incoming class has lived up to its billing with Glenn Robinson III, Nik Stauskas and Mitch McGary all contributing. Meanwhile, Purdue hasn’t enjoyed the same success this season, but the Boilermakers have plenty to look forward to after seeing the way Ronnie Johnson, A.J. Hammons and Rapheal Davis can contribute. It’s not very often we see schools not named “Kentucky” having so many freshmen play such a key role, but John Beilein and Matt Painter have shown this season that their players don’t have to have much experience to make an impact in the Big Ten.
5. There has never been any doubt, from the beginning of the season, that Ohio State can be a dangerous team. But the emphasis is on “can.” We’ve seen glimpses of greatness from the Buckeyes — beating Michigan — but we’ve also seen plenty of disappointment — an ugly loss to now-tumbling Illinois — in a season that has been hard to figure out. It’s that inconsistency, on the whole and among individual players, that the Columbus Dispatch‘s Rob Oller discusses in this column, saying “the Buckeyes have so much talent, but at times show so little skill.”

1. The Columbus Dispatch‘s Bob Baptist writes that Ohio State senior center Evan Ravenel is excelling in a situation that the Buckeyes haven’t had much success from in recent years — the bench. Thad Matta has vowed all year to get his reserves more involved, and whether or not that has been the case, Ravenel has found a good place for himself. Ravenel started Ohio State’s first 11 games at center, but has since been replaced by Amir Williams, who is three inches taller. But it may be a win-win for OSU, as Ravenel came off the pine to help the Buckeyes respond to a loss at Illinois with good games against Purdue and Michigan. “When he was starting, I thought he had done some good things, [but] maybe not [with] the consistency we needed,” Matta said. “But I think he’s really, really played well the last few weeks.”
2. Illinois’ new coach John Groce has certainly gotten a rude welcome to Big Ten play this year. After putting together an impressive 12-0 stretch to begin the season, we have learned the Illini do indeed have plenty of flaws and their Big Ten cohorts have exploited them. Granted, when three losses in four games come at Purdue, against Minnesota and at Wisconsin, it’s not much to be ashamed of. But nobody is feeling sorry for anybody in the conference this year, and the Illini don’t see any cause for alarm just yet. [Ed. Note: This was written before last night’s debacle against Northwestern.] Illinois still has wins against Gonzaga, Ohio State, and Butler on its resume, and Groce isn’t panicking. “We’re not changing,’’ he told the Chicago Sun-Times this week. “We’re not going to panic because we didn’t play well in one game. I know what the heck we’re doing. We just need to do what we’re doing a heck of a lot better. And we need to come out a lot more aggressively.’’
3. If there’s one common thread linking all of Michigan State‘s Final Four teams in the Tom Izzo era — think of the Flintstones from 1999-2001, the 2009 Final Four team, and even last year’s No. 1 seed that fell short — it has been leadership. And Izzo knows when the leadership isn’t right, the team’s likelihood for success drops significantly. He’s not afraid to admit that this year’s group has been lacking in that department, which is why he’s compelled to “RG3 it” and make Keith Appling a captain, alongside Derrick Nix and Russell Byrd, midway through the season. Appling is arguably the Spartans’ best player, and on the floor at nearly all times. Nix is an up-and-down senior whose leadership has not impressed Izzo for much of the year, and Byrd’s play has been a disappointment and kept him on the bench lately. Appling is the Spartans’ top scorer, floor general and a natural choice to serve in a captain’s role.
4. Fans who follow the Big Ten closely each year may not be surprised by what has come as a shock to others around the country: Wisconsin is entirely relevant in the Big Ten race despite how poorly they may have played during their non-conference schedule. This is always the case for the Badgers, but the constant has always been the man at the helm. Paul Fanlund knows better now than ever that it is difficult to doubt Bo Ryan, particularly after the monumental upset the Badgers pulled off at Assembly Hall this week. Given everything the Badgers have been through this year — the injuries, the players lost from last season, the losses during the non-conference — is this Bo Ryan’s best coaching job yet? Is it still too soon to tell?
5. The Indianapolis Star sums it up perfectly: “to every fan (re) action, there is an equal, opposite reaction.” Meaning, for all the e-mails Terry Hutchens has received after a bad Indiana loss that blames the players, there will be just as many at some point blaming the coach. In this case, he’s been receiving more that say Tom Crean was outcoached by Bo Ryan at Assembly Hall, but Hutchens isn’t sure if that’s the case. Sure, the Badgers made some important in-game adjustments, but that doesn’t mean the Indiana players aren’t responsible for holding up their end of the bargain. And sometimes, good players — he references Ryan Evans’ shot late — make tough plays. But how about that hand shake?

1. Here’s something we don’t see coming out of Wisconsin very often: a player going too fast. The Badgers, known to slow the pace and get the most out of each and every shot clock, have a player in Ben Brust, who sometimes finds himself speeding things up a little bit. “There are times when you’re on the interstate, so to speak, and there are times when you’re in a residential neighborhood and you have to know when you can go faster,” associate head coach Greg Gard said of Brust, who has a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, but can sometimes get into trouble when he dribbles into traffic. “Time and score of the game. Flow of game. Do we need a basket? Are we on a run? When is the time to slow things down and get a high-quality possession or make the other team guard? All those things come into play. He’s getting better and better at it.”
2. Want an easy — and sometimes early — indicator for how Indiana might do on any given night? Watch Christian Watford. The Indiana Daily Student points out that any time Watford is a key contributor, the Hoosiers have rolled. To be more concise, Indiana’s 23-point win against Penn State this week was its smallest of the season in games in which Watford scored 15 points or more. Each of those previous wins were by at least 31 points. Watford has always been somewhat of an enigma, and an “as he goes, the team goes” type of player. So the Hoosiers would do well to get him involved early and often the rest of the way.
3. Iowa got smoked when it traveled to Ann Arbor to take on No. 2 Michigan last week. So what is coach Fran McCaffery considering doing to remedy the problem? Possibly keeping arguably his two best players — Aaron White and Devyn Marble — off the floor. McCaffery told the Iowa Gazette he is considering changing some things with his rotation, pointing to the two aforementioned players as culprits in a Hawkeyes’ struggling defense that surrendered 95 points in each of its two true road games this year. Michigan State comes to town on Thursday, and is just the No. 7 scoring offense in the conference (71.1 PPG), but a big scoring output from the Spartans coupled with Michigan State’s typically-stingy defense could be a recipe for an 0-3 start to begin Iowa’s Big Ten campaign.
4. One thing college basketball pundits love to debate is the importance of a loss over the course of the season — whether an undefeated team needs to lose at some point, or a team on the roll might want a wake-up call before the NCAA Tournament. Michigan, of course, has not lost a game this season, but with the Big Ten shaping up the way it has, they are almost assured to do so. And what happens then? AnnArbor.com‘s Nick Baumgardner explores that idea in this column, pointing out that Michigan has led in nearly 93 percent of the minutes of action of its contests this season and has not faced a great deal of adversity. This team is young — it relies on freshmen for scoring and as fantastic as he’s been this season, Trey Burke is only a sophomore — and when a problem hits, John Beilein might just welcome it at this point.
5. We have posed this very question on this site a number of times since the season started, and the Big Ten Geeks would like to know the same thing — is Ohio State good? As we have mentioned, and as the NCAA-released RPI showed this week, the Buckeyes don’t have a real quality win this season (although they looked better at Purdue last night, certainly). The Big Ten Geeks point out that a strong second scoring option behind Deshaun Thomas hasn’t presented itself at this point and the Buckeyes will need that to contend in the Big Ten. They make a number of other interesting points about the rest of the conference as well. Be sure to check it out.

With the latest edition of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rankings released by the NCAA this week, we can take a closer look at what it might potentially mean for the Big Ten teams as conference play really heats up this month. The RPI is not the end-all-be-all for evaluating teams, and has become somewhat antiquated in a more statistical age of evaluation,  but it remains a huge factor for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee in determining whether teams get into the Big Dance and what kind of seed they receive. All that said, here are a few things that stand out about the latest rankings:

OSU Needs to Get Some Quality Wins Soon

• The RPI supports what we already know, which is that the Big Ten is excellent from top to bottom: By now we’ve learned that the Big Ten is the toughest conference in the country. You can see it in the polls, and you can see it when you watch the teams play night in and night out. No game is easy, no team a cupcake. And the RPI backs it up. There are five teams in the top 22, with Michigan (No. 3) and Minnesota (No. 7) clocking in in the top 10.
• Michigan is as good as we think they are: Nobody in the Big Ten has impressed more than the Wolverines this season. They’re undefeated, and have dominated each Big Ten team that’s stepped in their way. The schedule will heat up for them later this month, but for now, they’re the undisputed top dog in the conference. Of note: They’re one of two teams in the RPI top 10 (Gonzaga is the other) who has a win against a non-Division I opponent. In fact, of the top 19 teams, four have wins against non-Division 1 teams. Two are mid-majors (Butler and Gonzaga), and the other two are from the Big Ten (Michigan and Illinois).
• Ohio State really hasn’t beaten anybody: You can look at this from two angles. The first being the Buckeyes’ own ranking (No. 41). That’s not what you’d expect to see from a team that’s been ranked in the Top 10 all season. But then again, when we look at the second angle — the teams they’ve beaten, and where they rank — should we be surprised? The Buckeyes’ best win of the year is probably a toss-up between games against Washington and Nebraska. (If they beat Purdue tonight, that will be in the mix, as well). So that means the best team they’ve beaten is either No. 78 (Nebraska), No. 73 (Washington) or could be No. 149 (Purdue). That’s not a lot to hang your hat on. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Entering this season, there was a clear-cut choice for the National Player of the Year, and he plays for one of the Big Ten’s top teams. But, as impressive as Cody Zeller has been for Indiana, it’s a different conference rival who is emerging as another top candidate for the award. NBCSports.com‘s Rob Dauster writes that Michigan sophomore guard Trey Burke is a more likely recipient for the honor than many may think, despite his fantastic play of late. Burke’s offensive rating of 136.4 is by far the best for any guard in the country who accounts for at least 24 percent of his team’s possessions, and his assist-to-turnover rate has been staggering while he’s managed to also score at a remarkable rate. Michigan has been the most impressive team in the Big Ten so far this season, and it’s hard to disagree with Dauster’s opinion here.
2. One of the thing that makes Indiana so dangerous this season is its tremendous depth at every position. And as the Hoosiers hunker down for the brutal Big Ten slate, Tom Crean wants to see that depth on display. Terry Hutchens writes that Crean is expecting to see more out of frontcourt players Jeremy Hollowell, Hanner Mosquera-Perea, Peter Jurkin and Derek Elston. In their defense, each of the four has missed time this season either because of injury or NCAA sanctions, so it may take some time to get into a rhythm on the floor. But the time is now, otherwise the Hoosiers could be finding themselves looking up at another first-place team in the standings.
3. Michigan State freshman Gary Harris‘ season has been impressive on a number of fronts — he had a career-high 22 points on Saturday against Purdue — and it’s even more so after we got some new information from Tom Izzo on Monday. Izzo told reporters that Harris not only had a left shoulder injury earlier in the year that forced him to miss some time, but that his right shoulder also popped out briefly in a practice before the Texas game around the holidays. “He’s dealt with it, he’s handled it, but I tell you what… ” Izzo said, according to the Detroit Free Press. “There’s certain things you can say and not say in this job, because you don’t want to give things away. But when I sit there and watch that kid the other day, I’m amazed how far he’s come, considering the injuries he’s had. Incredible feat.” The Spartans are surely hoping Harris won’t be missing any more time, or any chances at a Big Ten title will likely go out the window.
4. Fran McCaffery has had his hands full trying to rejuvenate the basketball program at Iowa, and there certainly have been flashes over the last few years. The Hawkeyes finished on a strong note last year and really got out of the gates hot this season. But the Big Ten season is a wake-up call, and that’s exactly what Iowa got this weekend when it was trounced by Michigan. All of a sudden, according to Mike Hlas, the Hawkeyes went from looking like a group positioning itself for an NCAA Tournament berth to one on the outside looking in. Games against Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State are an awfully unpleasant way to start the season, but things can only get better from here. Right?
5. A number of outlets (including RTC) circulated a YouTube video from Michigan State’s win against Purdue on Saturday afternoon that shows Branden Dawson doing something after a basket in the face of Purdue’s Travis Carroll. It was speculated by some — i.e., whoever posted the video — that Dawson was punching Carroll, while others pointed out that Carroll hardly moves in the replay and it seems more likely that Dawson was merely celebrating Gary Harris’ basket. Whatever the case may be, Tom Izzo said Monday that the university and the conference have reviewed footage of the tape and there will be no disciplinary action taken.

1. Without a doubt, the biggest upset of the early Big Ten season was when scuffling Purdue rose to the occasion and knocked off Illinois in West Lafayette this week. As NBCSports.com‘s Rob Dauster points out, the Boilermakers were able to do so by controlling Brandon Paul — with ball-screen defense, switching and the individual defense of Terone Johnson, who probably turned in the best all-around performance of his career. Illinois goes as Paul goes, but the nearly-3o-minute stretch of play during the game during which Purdue held Paul scoreless was certainly the difference-maker in this one. Will other teams in the conference be able to duplicate such an effort?
2. Iowa put up a good fight against Indiana in its conference opener earlier this week, and it was essentially all without a contribution from Devyn Marble. The junior guard missed 13 of the 14 shots he took in the game — a four-point loss for the Hawkeyes — but Scott Dochterman says it hasn’t affected Marble’s confidence moving forward. “It was frustrating, but I’m not going to let it affect my game or depict what I’m going to do next,” he said. “On the final play, as you saw, I kept shooting.” Granted, Marble has been more up than down this season, turning in a 30-point effort against Northern Iowa and a 27-point game against South Carolina State. Considering what lies ahead this season, he and the Hawkeyes will need all the confidence they can muster.
3. We know the Big Ten is the toughest conference in the country this season (see: previously-embarrassing Purdue knocking off previously-unbeaten Illinois this week), but what will it take to win the league? In previous years, the Big Ten regular season champion has finished with anywhere from two to five losses (Ohio State won it two years ago with two losses, while Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State all tied for first last year each with five losses). USA Today‘s Eric Prisbell and Nicole Auerbach agree that five losses sounds about right for a conference champion again this season, and any team that emerges from the Big Ten with three losses is a certain national title contender. What do you think? How many losses can Big Ten teams afford to have and still have a shot at the conference championship?
4. Minnesota has just one loss this season, is ranked in the top 10, has a slew of signature victories already — including a rare win against Michigan State to open the Big Ten slate — but could the Gophers still be flying under the radar? The Star Tribune‘s Amelia Rayno reports that some national pundits (namely Jay Bilas of ESPN) believe Minnesota is still underrated. “I think the Gophers have plenty more to prove before they can be introduced to that level of respect, but right now, they’re doing all the right things,” Rayno writes in response. “There’s no need to talk about the Gophers being underrated right now. Perhaps they were at the beginning of the year, but now, they’re gaining more respect week after week.” What do you think?
5. Quick: Who is Indiana’s most valuable player? The easy answer, of course, is preseason National Player of the Year sophomore center Cody Zeller. But midway through the season, could another candidate have emerged for the Hoosiers, who remain that same title contender? ESPN‘s Andy Katz points to Victor Oladipo as somewhat of a surprise — surely, we’ve known he was important to the Hoosiers, but perhaps not this important — and calls Oladipo a “game-changer” who makes winning plays. It’s been perplexing for much of Zeller’s career that he hardly ever seems to be the go-to guy down the stretch, which is precisely a trait that Oladipo possesses.

1. We’ve seen Minnesota get off to hot starts before, but this year is starting to feel a little different. The Gophers got a signature win at home on Monday against Michigan State — which had tormented Minnesota at The Barn in years past — and as Trevor Mbakwe gets back into the mix, the Gophers will only get stronger. Tubby Smith has taken his time to ease Mbakwe back into the playing rotation after he tore his right ACL just over a year ago. Playing without a knee brace for the first time this season, Mbakwe showed off the skills we’ve become used to seeing in the Big Ten the last few years — turning in a double-double and giving the Spartans trouble on both ends of the floor. As ESPN‘s Myron Medcalf wrote afterward, Mbakwe is an emotional guide for this team, which could very well compee for a Big Ten title in the toughest conference in the country.
2. As the guys at CBSSports.com look at the Big Ten at the midway point of the season, Jeff Goodman says the conference is the most loaded in America. Illinois and Minnesota have been much better than we ever expected, Michigan and Indiana are surefire national title contenders, and Ohio State and Michigan State are expected to do their usual damage. Goodman takes a good look at the conference with this reset, looking at best match-ups ahead, some of the conference’s top players, and several other interesting news and notes.
3. All players have their own unique ways of getting motivated before big games. Some turn to scripture, others use music. Athletes are famously superstitious and their habits are endless. Indiana’s Will Sheehey, for one, takes the bad and turns it into good. Sheehey told the Indianapolis Star that he uses criticism, chants from opposing fans, and negative things he reads about his game to motivate himself. It clearly worked on New Year’s Even in Iowa City, as Sheehey went for 13 points, five rebounds and two assists coming off the bench in a nice Big Ten opener road win for the Hoosiers.
4. When it comes to criticism for Wisconsin sophomore Frank Kaminsky, he admits that no one is tougher than himself. Wisconsin players are expected to play hard, and the Badgers are one of those teams that give the Big Ten a bruising reputation. So when Kaminsky feels like he isn’t playing tough enough, he’s usually the first person to tell… himself. “I know that sometimes I play soft,” Kaminsky told Madison.com earlier this week, “and after I make a soft play I kind of mumble to myself about being stupid and how I need to play harder.” He’s an up-and-comer in the program and a guy Bo Ryan points to as one of the most improved in his short time in Madison.
5. Once Big Ten play rolls around for Nebraska, the Cornhuskers are going to need as much scoring as they can find from all parts of the bench. If that means more scoring from David Rivers, that could be a huge plus for Tim Miles’ team. The sophomore wing dropped 20 points in the Huskers’ win against Central Michigan last week, after tallying only 20 points his entire freshman season. So the Omaha World-Herald asks, where has that been all this time? “It’s just been bottled up,” Rivers said with a smile. “I hope there are more of those to come.” If Nebraska is to make a reasonable showing in the Big Ten this year, Miles should hope so, too.

1. No doubt it has been a frustrating season for Purdue and the Boilermaker fans, but the first step to fixing a problem is deciphering what has gone wrong. Jeff Washburn of the Lafayette Journal and Courier believes the Boilermakers know what the issues are, and the problems are rooted in the offense. Purdue misses players like Lewis Jackson and Robbie Hummel, who could orchestrate plays and take control of the offense in key stretches, but this year’s team simply does not shoot well from anywhere — the free throw line, the three-point line, or the field, in general. Everything from turnovers to senior leadership has a void, and it leaves Washburn wondering if Purdue can even find its way to an overall .500 record this season.
2. Whether things are good or bad, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has a pretty strong poker face. And when things have not been going well at times this season — the Badgers have had a few tough losses and have been dealing with some injury setbacks all year — he has remained stoic. Now that the Big Ten season is here, the Badgers are hoping that his demeanor can help keep them calm as they head into the gauntlet. “It’s been done before,” senior forward Jared Berggren said of turning things around in January. “We’re by no means writing ourselves out of it this early in the season. There’s a lot of basketball left to play and Coach Ryan has proven that he knows how to get the job done as long as we listen and start applying it on the court a little better and more consistently.”
3. Deverell Biggs, who is sitting out this season at Nebraska as a redshirt junior, was cited for drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident in Omaha last Sunday. Biggs reportedly had a blood-alcohol content level of .134 after the 20-year-old backed his car into another vehicle after Biggs remained stopped at a red light. According to the Omaha World-Herald, Biggs talked to the man momentarily but drove away before the two could exchange information. He was later tracked down by the police and the rest is history. It is a black eye for him and the program after he became the first in-state player to sign with Nebraska in 11 years, transferring in from Seward County (Kansas) Community College, where he was a first-team All-American.
4. When it came to hiring a new head coach, Illinois did not make headlines for its search. It is well known that several other candidates — Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart, namely — turned down the offer once the Fighting Illini parted ways with Bruce Weber. And when John Groce was hired away from Ohio, many were skeptical that his track record would translate to success in recruiting the greater Chicago area while competing in the Big Ten. Well, the Illini have certainly been in the headlines this year for their early showing. So far, at least, Groce has turned out to be a great hire — and the Chicago Tribune recognize that fact as one of the best sports decisions of the year for the area.
5. Dunk you very much to the Big Ten Network for putting together this compilation of the conference’s best high-flying slam dunks of the non-conference season heading into Big Ten playaround the New Year. The league has some of the best athletes in the country — Branden Dawson and Adreian Payne at Michigan State, Victor Oladipo at Indiana, Rodney Williams at Minnesota, and Sam Thompson of Ohio State come to mind — and they are all showcased here. Which ones are your favorites?

This is the seventh 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.

Trey Burke and Michigan have taken over the top spot in the Big Ten Power Rankings from Cody Zeller and Indiana. (AP Photo/D. Cummings)

1. No. 3 Michigan — Of the perceived Big Ten heavyweights heading into this season, the Wolverines are the only team still standing with an unblemished record. They haven’t been really tested — they’ve won home games against an N.C. State team that still has not fully matured, and neutral site games against Kansas State, West Virginia and Pittsburgh — but no one can fault them for disposing of all comers. The most impressive thing about the Wolverines is they’ve worked as many new pieces into their rotation as any team in the conference, and have done so at a faster rate than anybody else. They currently stand as the team with the target on their back. (Last week: No. 2)
2. No. 2 Indiana — Yes, Indiana has lost more recently than Ohio State has. But the Hoosiers’ loss came at the hands of a strong Butler team on a neutral floor, and they responded well with a resounding victory against Mount Saint Mary’s. I don’t think anyone thought the Hoosiers were capable of going undefeated and winning the national championship — especially in this conference — but it’s clear they definitely do have some flaws. The offense is there, and will always be there. But figuring out how all these pieces work together is still a work in progress. (Last week: No. 1)
3. No. 7 Ohio State — The Buckeyes got a ballgame from Winthrop this week in Columbus, but the match-up we’ve all been waiting for is finally upon us. With the game Saturday in Columbus against Kansas, we’ll now get the chance to really see what Ohio State is made of and if they’ve learned from the mistakes that haunted them in last year’s Final Four loss to the Jayhawks and this season’s loss to Duke. If they beat Kansas, Ohio State will make a really strong case for the No. 2 spot in the rankings ahead of Indiana. (Last week: No. 3)
4. No. 10 Illinois — Being one of only two remaining undefeated teams in the conference, Illinois could make a strong case to be as high as No. 2 in these rankings, but we’re still tentative to slot them that high. One of the concerns about the Illini is that they play down to their competition. They couldn’t put away Eastern Kentucky until late in the second half and it has been a recurring theme against other mid-majors such as Western Carolina and Norfolk State. But after the road win against Gonzaga, they deserve the benefit of the doubt that they’ll be ready to play Missouri on Saturday in the annual Braggin’ Rights game. Missouri’s Alex Oriakhi will test the Illini big men – Nnanna Egwu and Tyler Griffey – but the key match-up will certainly be between Phil Pressey and Brandon Paul. (Last week: No. 6) Read the rest of this entry »