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

Purdue lost a ton of scoring but the general consensus was that they could just have Nojel Eastern and Matt Haarms step up and they would be alright. What they have found is that they don’t really have any go-to scorers and that has killed them in their two losses against Texas and Marquette.

They struggled all game against Texas, but against Marquette, it was an awful second half that doomed them. The Boilermakers will probably find their way and be at the top of the Big Ten, but what they have showed so far they aren’t a great team.

They have a tough stretch coming up against VCU, then either Tennessee or Florida State and then a rematch of last years Elite Eight game against Virginia. If Purdue wants to make a move they are going to have to score better than they have in its first four games. This makes Indiana fans very happy.

Illinois was poised to make a big jump in the Big Ten this year. They returned preseason first-team All-Big Ten player in Ayo Dosunmu. They played tough all last year despite losing a lot of games and the thought was they would start winning those games and make a jump. They still might do that, but so far they haven’t looked great.

They struggled to beat Nicholls in overtime. Slipped by Grand Canyon before being blown out by an improved Arizona team. They did just beat Hawaii, but none of their wins have been all that noteworthy and have brought on more questions than answers.

The rest of their non-conference schedule is weak at best, so we won’t know much more about the Illini until they get into the conference part of their schedule. This could be a team with a lot of wins that really isn’t that great. Time will tell but they need to show more.

Indiana hasn’t been tested yet and it won’t until the calendar turns to December. But it has allowed them to find their identity as a team and it was on full display against Troy on Saturday night. It was the most complete game the Hoosiers have played all year and freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis continues to shine.

Is this Indiana team any good? We aren’t sure yet, but all they can do is keep winning games that are on their schedule. Like most other teams in the conference, we are going to learn a lot about the Hoosiers after Thanksgiving. They play Florida State, UConn, Notre Dame, and Arkansas, and it is a big step up in competition for Indiana.

The Hoosiers have shown flashes of being an upper half Big Ten team, but until they beat good teams they will sit right here in the middle. But the chances will come for them to move up.