Indiana Basketball: Hoosiers in the middle of Big Ten power rankings

Minnesota sits at 1-3 and doesn’t have a really bad loss yet. They dropped games to possible tournament teams Oklahoma and Butler and they also lost on the road to Utah. They did beat Cleveland State rather easily but that isn’t a win to hang your hat on.

The Gophers lost most of their scoring last year and it is proving to be difficult to find replacements. They scored under 70 points in each of their losses and it looks like something that will haunt them all year.

Minnesota will be competitive this year, but they aren’t going to scare a lot of teams.

The Hawkeyes do sit at 2-1 right now, but their loss to DePaul is the last memory most fans have of them right now. They lost by 15 to the Blue Demons in giving up 93 points in a game that wasn’t even that close.

Iowa’s Achilles Heel the last couple of years has been their defense and if that game is any indication it hasn’t got much better.  The Hawkeyes do still have Luke Garza and Joe Wieskamp who can fill it up, but they need more help. Those two are good enough to lead them to some wins in the Big Ten and maybe some upsets, but the defense is going to hold them back.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights have shown a little bit of life, but still, have a tough loss to Saint Bonaventure. Geo Baker leads the way for the Scarlet Knights in a season when not much was expected from them.

Rutgers gets a nod over Iowa solely on the fact that they didn’t get blown out. But they will need to continue to win to stay up in the rankings. Number 10 isn’t too high on the list but for Rutgers it is.

The Scarlet Knights do still have an improving UMass and Pitt on their schedule before a big game with Seton Hall to finish off their non-conference slate of games. We will learn a lot about them soon.