The Big Ten has had its ups and downs in the first two weeks of the season. Where does each time rank and where is Indiana basketball on the list?
The Big Ten was one of the best conferences in the country last year and looked to be very good again this year. They had the top team in the country coming into the season in Michigan State and two other top ten type teams, including middle of the pack teams such as the Indiana basketball program.
The conference was again supposed to be very deep with the possibility of getting seven or eight bids into the NCAA Tournament. After two weeks and some uneven play, it looks like the Big Ten still has some things to prove. They did play well in winning the Gavitt Tipoff Games 5-3 against the Big East, but they have also had some very bad losses so far.
So where does each team rank in the Big Ten? We take a look out our rankings and where the Hoosiers of Indiana falls on that list.
Nebraska replaced its whole roster after Fred Hoiberg was named head coach. They have zero minutes returning from last year, but there was thought to be some talent in Lincoln. Hoiberg had brought a level of excitement to a Nebraska team that just couldn’t get over the hump the last few years.
But then the season started and they lost to UC Riverside. Ok, one bad game can happen especially in the opening game of the year but things get better right? Well, they didn’t for Nebraska as they turned around and lost to Southern Utah.
They did look much better against South Dakota State in picking up their first win of the year but it’s not enough to get them out of the last spot of the Big Ten yet.
Northwestern is one spot ahead of the Cornhuskers because they have a better win. But they do also have the worst loss in the conference. The Wildcats opened their season against Merrimack, a team in its first year in Division 1 and lost by 10. It was enough to think that Northwestern could be the worst team in the conference but then they played their second game.
Northwestern somehow came out and beat a good Providence team rather easily in the Gavitt Tipoff Games. It was the biggest shock of the whole event and made everyone wonder how they lost to Merrimack. Make no mistake Northwestern still is not a very good team, but they aren’t the worst in the conference. At least not yet.