As we learn every November/December, college basketball polls in the early season are often pretty useless. Therefore, as I do my power rankings I’m going to try and ignore the polls in evaluating these Big Ten teams. We’ll see how that works out. Going with the eye test here.
By Paul M. Banks
1. Ohio State Buckeyes- I’m getting really tired of rating this school #1 in both sports all the time. But Jared Sullinger has been to Big Ten Freshman awards (he’s won three of the first four weekly honors) what J.D. Salinger is to writing a bildungsroman.
2. Illinois Fighting Illini- This is not a homer pick, who else in the league has two quality wins so far? (North Carolina, at Gonzaga) And McCamey is looking All-American right now.
3. Michigan State Spartans- Everyone knows all about Tom Izzo being “Mr. March,” but the very under-reported converse of that is…his teams often struggle in November/December. This isn’t as bad as the year they won the national title yet somehow also lost to Wright St. in the preconference, but it’s not good either. I’m ranking them this high based on the fact I know they’ll turn it up a notch later.
4. Purdue Boilermakers- They really have very little after E’Twaunn Moore and JaJuan Johnson. And they’ll need some role players to step up and take that “third banana” status. It could have been John Hart, but he’s out 4-6 weeks now with a fractured metatarsal.
5. Northwestern Wildcats- Cats will need a really impressive conference record to make the tourney since their non-con opponents have been weaker than Lara Flynn Boyle while she’s got a body temperature of 104. Still, this offense is for real, and you have to be encouraged by the way they handled Creighton and Georgia Tech, their only two “real” opponents thus far. Take care of Lav’s Johnnies in NYC and we’ll talk.
6. Minnesota Golden Gophers- I was just about to rank them somewhere 2nd-4th, then the Virginia debacle happened. And their defense looked REAL ugly in that loss.
7. Wisconsin Badgers- I really hate to second guess Bo Ryan, because every time I do his team defies expectations and I can hear him dancing the Soul Ja Boy all over the trampled predictions of those who doubted him. But seriously after Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor what does this team have? Really? Tim Jarmusz- that’s your third key player- c’mon!
8. Indiana Hoosiers- Definitely the best of the bad teams this year in the conference. And things are looking up in the future with Tyler Zeller’s little brother Cody on board.
9. Michigan Wolverines- They’ve looked a lot better than expected so far, but their best player is still Stu Douglass. Yes Big 10, you must soon endure the wrath of Stu Douglass in a couple weeks.
10. Penn State Talor Battles- What is up with no one watching this team on both the media and fan contingents? They travel zero media members and while watching the highlights of the PSU-Duquesne game, I noticed the entire lower bowl was empty. If Battle gets into foul trouble this season, will they forfeit? If he gets injured, will they discontinue their program?
11. Iowa Hawkeyes- I really should rank them 12th or 13th. Nebraska might win more Big Ten conference games than the Hawkeyes this winter.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank
He also does a regular guest spot each week for Chicagoland Sports Radio.com