First an apology or two. As you’ve probably noticed, my posting frequency has decreased a bit lately. While it is admittedly cliche, real life got in the way. A couple of weeks ago I came down with a nasty case of the flu. Sitting upright was a challenge, and sitting upright while typing just wasn’t worth the effort. In a bit of good news, I accepted a new job, which won’t affect any of you, but it will certainly make my life a bit more pleasant. This past weekend I was down in the great state of Nebraska (OK, the land of corn and a surprising amount of urban sprawl) visiting my grandfather who has been bravely battling cancer, though the cancer has the upper hand. I didn’t get a chance to watch, listen to, or follow the game online. Great work by an aspiring sportswriter huh? Though it seems like my grandfather would have been able to pull down a rebound or two more than the entire Gopher front line. While my time management skills admittedly leave much to be desired, life should be calm enough for me to write about as much as I was before. I appreciate the patience, and hope that at least a few of you haven’t abandoned this site.

Now on to the power rankings.

The biggest change is that over the last few months the “Big Three” became the “Big Four” with the emergence of Purdue, and unexpectedly and almost miraculously, it may be a “Big Five” with Ohio State’s self resurrection. A supposedly down Big Ten has a very real chance to get more teams to the Big Dance than the SEC or the ACC. Perhaps the bragging from ACC country will be slightly muted after next year’s ACC/Big Ten challenge.

#1 Wisconsin

The tortoise won again. They aren’t flashy. They might not be the best equipped team in the conference to make a deep tournament run, but they have been solid and consistent all season. Beating Penn State and Northwestern in their last two games of the conference season certainly allowed the Badgers to relax in over the last week.

#2 Purdue

The Baby Boilers came up one game short during a season when they were supposedly one year away from putting all the pieces together. This year was special, and may become even more special, but no one can blame Purdue fans for looking forward to next year already. The Boilermakers should be the favorite to win the conference championship next season.

#3 Michigan State 

Their loss to Ohio State a week after the Indiana drubbing is a bit mysterious, but with what they did to Indiana, that loss isn’t enough to drop them below the Hoosiers. Pencil in the Spartans when you fill out your brackets, because they will the most frustrating team to predict. They scored 42 and 103 points in back to back games. Are they really the same team?

#4 Indiana 

The Hoosiers are reeling. Since Kelvin Sampson moved to a farm in western Kentucky, or wherever it is that disgraced coaches go, the Hoosiers gave up 82 points to Northwestern, barely beat Ohio State, were outplayed by Minnesota for 32 minutes, gave up 103 points to Michigan State, and lost to Penn State. They have the talent to get to the Elite 8 at least, but for a team in this much turmoil, talent clearly isn’t enough.

#5 Ohio State

After no worthwhile wins, and their bubble apparently burst, the Buckeyes some how beat Michigan State and Purdue. Both wins came at home, and home wins aren’t as impressive as road wins, but no team has done more in the last week to improve their tournament chances.

 #6 Minnesota

How far have the Gophers come? An 18 win season, twice as many wins as last year, is disappointing. The win over Ohio State looks like a “signature” win now, but it remains the only impressive victory so far. And the Illinois curse continues…

#7 Penn State

Somehow, some way, Penn State won 7 games in the Big Ten this year, including wins over Michigan State and Indiana. No one wants to see anyone get hurt, but the rest of the Big Ten has to be secretly happy that Geary Claxton blew out his knee.

#8 Illinois

It was a horribly disappointing season for the Illini, and barring a conference tournament championship, it will end that way too. Though,  maintaining their ridiculous winning streak over Minnesota had to make the last week a little more bearable.

#9 Iowa

The Hawkeyes lost 5 games by single digits, but this isn’t horse shoes or hand grenades. After a few surprisings wins early in the Big Ten season, Iowa lost 6 of their last 8 games. Their two wins? Northwestern.

#10 Michigan

They really lost to Northwestern?

#11 Northwestern

They lost to everyone but Michigan

You mean there was action in the Big Ten that didn’t involve back room deals, player walk outs, and press conferences? Who knew?

#1 Indiana

By virtue of better wins (if you want to call the outcome of the Northwestern game a win) Indiana jumps to the top of the list. They beat Purdue, and survived against NU. For a team dealing with what they are, you can’t ask for much more.

#2 Wisconsin

The Buckeyes may be on the wrong side of the bubble, but winning in Columbus hasn’t been easy. They also beat Illinois, a team better than their record indicates (at least when they play the Gophers).

#3 Purdue

Despite their loss at Indiana, they still have a shot at winning the Big Ten. Who else is hoping for mass defections during the off season?

#4 Michigan State

They beat some bottom feeders, but doing what your supposed to do isn’t enough to jump teams that are two games better in the standings.

#5 Ohio State

Perhaps the Buckeyes decided they are cursed in national championship games, and would rather try to win the NIT. All but a lock a few weeks ago, the Buckeyes are free falling and are probably on the outside looking in. A win or two the rest of the way should put them on the right side of the bubble, but it is anyone’s guess if they can pull that off.

#6 Minnesota

Besides the Illinois travesty, the Gophers have consistently beat up the team below them. Enough to stay at #6, but until they get a quality win they aren’t going anywhere.

#7 Michigan

The Wolverines have won four of their last five, and didn’t even need 50 points to beat Illinois. Like the Gophers, they beat up the teams they should.

#8 Iowa

With a bit of selective score board checking, the Hawkeyes are just as good as Indiana. Unfortunately, that makes them barely better than Northwestern.

#9 Illinois

All…

#10 Penn State

these teams…

#11 Northwesten

had rough weeks…

The Democratic Party is still weeks away from an obvious front runner, but not the Big Ten. After the second week in a row in which some of the Big Ten’s top teams played each other, Purdue controls its own destiny along with Indiana. All eyes will be focused on Bloomington, Indiana on February 19th, a Super Tuesday that might actually decide something.

#1 Purdue (+1)
A team as young as Purdue is due for a mysterious loss, but after their win at Wisconsin, it is beginning to look like they are too good to lose even if they have a bad game against a bad team. Adolescent Boilers?

#2 Indiana (+1)

An emotional win in a more than hostile environment followed by the first win at Ohio State by a road team in a while. Indiana needs to beat a few more quality teams before their national ranking is justified, but they took a big step towards that last week.

#3 Michigan State (+1)
They handled Northwestern by 15, meaning they played as well as most highschool teams against the Wildcats, or maybe they were just being nice.

#4 Wisconsin (-3)
Conference champions don’t lose at home, especially when the referees try to give them the game.

#5 Ohio State (+1)
A slightly better version of Minnesota, they lose and win when they are supposed to. Unfortunately for their Buckeyes, like Minnesota, their of a surprise win could keep them from dancing.

#6 Minnesota (+2)
Two games they were supposed to win, two wins. Could they be the most predictable team in America?

#7 Iowa (-1)
Two losses to two rivals, though few Hawkeyes fans should be disappointed by a still surprisingly successfuly sesason.

#8 Illinois (+1)
Free throws!

#9 Michigan (+1)
Any win is a good win at this point.

#10 Penn State (-3)
Which hurts more, losing to Michigan in basketball or football? At least Penn State fans were distracted by national signing day.

#11 Northwestern (unchanged)
#1 sign that its a rough year? Your team plays its best game all season and is still blown out.

No theme this week. I refuse to show effort until the Gophers do.

#1 Wisconsin (+3)

Two impressive road wins, and their only Big Ten loss to Purdue is starting to look  better ever game Purdue plays

#2 Purdue (unchanged)

Because they are so very, very young, I still expected an “unexpected” loss at some point, but until it happens, or they beat Wisconsin, they will stay #2. Winning at Iowa is no small task either.

#3 Indiana (-2)

Beating Northwestern is better than…

 #4 Michigan State (-1)

losing at Penn State.

#5  Iowa (+1)

They may have been dreadful at the beginning of the season, but they have improved more than any other team in the conference. The only question is where and when they will peak.

#6 Ohio State (-1)

There loss to Iowa would have been more understandable if it was sandwiched between two high profile games, but instead it was between Penn State and Michigan. Ouch.

#7 Penn State (+4)

In a lost season, for at least one night, the Nittany Lions found themselves. Now if only they could fill the lower deck.

#8 Minnesota (-1) 

Call them anything you want, but don’t call them an enigma. This is the most predictable team in the league. If they are supposed to win, the win, if they are supposed to lose, they lose. Their game against Iowa on Saturday should be a toss up.

#9 Illinois (-1)

They can’t really be this bad, can they?

#10 Michigan (-1)

It isn’t the players or the system, but the combination of the two. Until the players match the system, why not run something normal and have a chance to win?

#11 Northwestern (-1) 

Its the players and the system.

Omar is back from a short-lived retirement, and to celebrate, or because I finally have time, I’ve joined the hoards of other Big Ten Bloggers in a weekly ranking of the Big Ten teams. For the first (and probably last) time, I present to you an obvious attempt to rip-off Black Heart, Gold Pants and their themed rankings. At least they had the decency to time their Iowa Caucus themed rankings to the actual Iowa Caucuses. As usual, I am a bit late, but The Wire isn’t The Wire without the best character in television history.

#1 Indiana

Like Indiana, State Senator Clay Davis has risen to the to by semi-unscrupulous means, but undoubtedly will escape anything more than a slap on the wrist. Indiana lost at home to a back-courtless Connecticut team, but they are still undefeated, and its difficult to justify placing the only undefeated team in conference play anywhere other than first place, even if Eric Gordon is human.

#2 Purdue
They are young but don’t seem to care. Although Purdue will still probably turn in a performance or two that will make their fans wish they decided to go to Six Flags instead of watching them play, right now they are the most intriguing story in college basketball. Their win over Wisconsin served notice to the rest of the conference that their record has more to do with being a good team than playing bad teams.

#3 Michigan State

By tournament time their losses to Grand Valley State (that didn’t even count) and at Iowa won’t come back to haunt them, but like Cedric Daniels’ mysterious ethical lapse, they will leave even casual observers asking what the heck happened. They had a good wins against bad teams this week.

#4 Wisconsin

They lost to Purdue, but everything is under control in Madison. Wisconsin has managed to fly under the radar, but will keep racking up wins like Prop Joe racks up the Benjamins (my apologies to anyone who read that last sentence). Their first conference loss came against the surprise team of the season, and shouldn’t be a cause for concern.

#5 Ohio State
Like Snoop, Jamar Butler comes across as a cold-hearted thug (utterly shocking that someone with that many tattoos almost played for Bob Huggins at Cincinnati) but you want him on your team. Butler’s 29 points may have buried Minnesota’s chances of jumping to the upper tier of the Big Ten.

#6 Iowa

Iowa #6 in the Big Ten? Prez one of the best teacher in his school? Both receive artificially high rankings because of their poor surroundings, but Todd Lickliter has gotten more out of this year’s Hawkeyes than most expected. Someone smarter than me should be able to work in a Jonathan Kozol reference.

#7 Minnesota
Old habits die hard. Both Bubbles and the Gophers are doing much better than they were last year, but at any moment they can return to their old, sad selves. Until they get a signature win, I can’t bump them over teams that have had one, even if I do hate Iowa and think they run their caucuses in a way that only Robert Mugabe could love. They stuck around a lot longer than they should have at Ohio State, but they are a few players short of being a player in the Big Ten.

#8 Illinois
My how the mighty have fallen. Illinois used to be a basketball school, and Jimmy McNulty was something of a moral compass (in all things but his personal life). A lot can change in a year. At least they play Northwestern at home in what should be a much needed confidence booster.

#9 Michigan

Both Tommy Carcetti and Jim Beilein knew their job would be tough, but at this point they have to wondering what they have gotten themselves into. They both significantly improved their career prospects, but life used to be so much easier. They are still losing, but the games are competitive.

#10 Northwestern

There a few things in life you simply can’t get away with: runming a gimmicky offense and defense without D-I talent in the Big Ten, and turning over a section of Baltimore to the drug dealers. Both look like good ideas on paper, but they were doomed to fail from the start. Speaking of confidence boosters, about Texas Pan-American in the middle of the conference schedule?

#11 Penn State
Ed DeChellis can probably relate to Walon, everyone’s favorite N.A. sponsor. Just when Penn State looks prepared to make a run and get back to the tournament, Gearry Claxton blows out a knee and Nittany Lions relapse to one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. Its a shame, but for everyone involved, it will be a long winter in UnHappy Valley. Getting blown out at Iowa is never a good thing.