Big Ten's Women's Basketball Power Rankings: Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio State battle it out for regular season title.

The #2 Buckeyes, #14 Hoosiers, and #4 Hawkeyes are in a three-way battle for first place in the Big Ten and the number one seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Indiana's upset loss to Illinois, however, likely cost them the regular season title and the opportunity to be the #1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

Indiana's Yarden Garzon (12) scores over Purdue's Madison Layden (33) during the first half of the
Indiana's Yarden Garzon (12) scores over Purdue's Madison Layden (33) during the first half of the | Rich Janzaruk/Herald Times / USA TODAY
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Big Ten Women's Basketball
Feb 8, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Jacy Sheldon (4) works towards | Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

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No. 14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-20, 2-13)

The Scarlet Knights have two conference wins; that might be two more than anyone thought they'd get. They've split their last two games, beating Minnesota and losing to Wisconsin. Rutgers could have one more conference win in them against Northwestern in the season finale. On the positive side, Kaylene Smikle and Destiny Adams are solid players to build around for the future.

No. 13 Northwestern Wildcats (8-18, 3-12)

Speaking of those Northwestern Wildcats, their best opportunity to win another conference game might be against Rutgers. Northwestern has a similar pattern in their games. They hang around for a quarter or two. Then their depth and lack of scoring catch up to them, and they lose by double digits.

No. 12 Purdue Boilermakers (11-14, 4-10)

Purdue's head coach Katie Gearlds is looking toward the future. They have a solid recruiting class to go with some solid young players. That doesn't do much for the Boilermakers this year, but the future does look bright in West Lafayette.

No. 11 Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-11, 5-10)

The Gophers got a win over Northwestern after a long six-game losing streak. They followed that with a loss to Wisconsin. It is obvious they are missing leading scorer Mara Braun. It took them a month to win a game without her, and their win against the Wildcats might be their last conference win of the regular season.

Schedule

Schedule