Big Ten Midweek Hoops Power Poll Update

[JonDMiller]

Midweek B1G Power Poll | Big Ten

Northwestern beats Minnesota in Evanston? Really? Yeah, that's reason enough to shuffle the deck. Here is a link to my thoughts from Sunday. Granted, this thing is a reactionary 'poll' if that is even what you want to call it. Crazy things happen in college hoops every night. How about what went down on Wednesday night: #1 Duke gets thumped, Butler loses, a bad Texas Tech team beat Iowa State and Drake beat Creighton.


1. Michigan: The Wolverines host Purdue on Thursday night and have not played since their impressive win at Minnesota on Saturday. It's still an impressive win, but the Gophers are looking less and less impressive as each week passes.

2. Indiana: Controlled Penn State in their second game against the Nits in the last 16 days. The schedule makers were kind to them to start the year.

3. Michigan State: Beat Wisconsin 49-47 in Madison on Tuesday night. It was not pretty, but neither is Michigan State; they make you play ugly and physical and they do it better than you do.

4. Ohio State: Buckeyes beat Iowa despite blowing a 24-point second half lead, as Iowa cut the lead to four late in the game.

5. Wisconsin: At least they lost at home to a ranked team.

6. Minnesota: The Gophers lost at Northwestern. THE GOPHERS LOST AT NORTHWESTERN. Iowa's 20-point win in Evanston is looking better by the day while the Gophers are raising questions about their chemistry. That's not a good thing and it's not uncommon for Tubby Smith coached Gopher teams to fade away during the Big Ten season. That said, before Iowa fans get too excited about this, remember the Hawks don't play a 1-3-1 and Northwestern has made Iowa wear the clown suit more than once against that zone.

7. Iowa: Remember those four points Ohio State scored in the final seconds of the first half after Iowa rushed a shot early in the shot clock with about 30 seconds to play? Yeah, it would have been nice to have had those back.

8. Purdue: Keep an eye on how the Boilermakers are able to contain the Michigan offense tomorrow night. They play a stingy and physical brand of defense.

9. Northwestern: The Cats move up after that win against Minnesota. The 1-3-1 can be a bear.

10. Illinois: They beat Nebraska and move down. Why? Because Northwestern beat them in Champaign last week. Convincingly.

11. Nebraska: Home loss to a struggling Illinois team. Nebraska is just ugly enough to play ugly.

12. Penn State: Yes, they are.

Is Iowa's game at Purdue a must win for their NCAA tourney hopes? Probably not, but it sure would help given how much the RPI values road wins. It's also the best chance to win at Purdue in some time.

 

[Scorpio79]

GREAT post, Jon!

 

[hawkfan33]

Jon - how are you doing on your predictions for Iowa this year? Can't find anything about it in this post.

 

[ssckelley]

IMO Minnesota is to talented to drop them that far. I blame Tubby for not sitting Austin Hollins after he got his 4th foul instead allowing him to foul out with just under 12 minutes left in the game. I still say Minnesota is one of the top 3 teams in the conference.

 

[WindsorHawk]

These look right to me. Iowa finally gets a scheduling break this week. We get 4 days to prepare for Purdue. Purdue plays arguably the best team in the conference (and nation?) tonight and then has only 2 days to prep for the Hawks. Throw the travel in there as an added bonus. Last night was a strange one in college hoops but I think the Hawks win at Purdue by 12...margin of victory gets a boost thanks to the favorable schedule.

Minnesota is at Wisconsin this weekend. If WI wins and the Hawks win then we are tied with both MN and Purdue. I anticipate MN winning which potentially leaves us tied with Purdue but only 1 game behind both MN and WI.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

Only disagreement is Purdue is very much a must win.
-- An L makes it a pressure cooker just to get to 9-9 reg conf.
-- It's the only "decent" road win left on the schedule that Hawks have a reasonable chance of winning. Without it, I just don't see enough beef for Hawks to be selected.

Then again, I really think they are still a good shooter + 1 year away from being a legit NCAA team. So, I guess we agree that it is not must win for NCAA hopes -- no game is, because the whole point is moot.

 

[DunderMifflinHk]

It's not a must win. If we sweep PSU, NW, and Nebraska that gives us 5 more wins. We'd have to knock off Illini and Minnesota at home. That would put us at 21-10 (10-8). That should get us in the tournament. Doable but not easy. It is a very big game though.

 

[NEIChawk]

I think the Purdue game is huge...for starters this would be a good road win, and secondly, Iowa doesn't play well at this arena, so, hopefully, losses to Indiana, MSU, and now OSU will make our players stop and realize game management a little better in critical times and keep this close and come away with a win.