TSR Big Ten Power Rankings 11/15/19

The first Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings are here. Every Friday, the TSR team will be joined by Eric Tuori to rank all fourteen teams in the Big Ten.

Each week, the latest edition will be available on the Big Ten Power Rankings page.
We still have picks and reactions on Fridays, with the 11/15 TSR Picks available here.


The inaugural edition of the Big Ten Power Rankings:

Big Ten Power Rankings

1. Michigan State (2-1) (4 first place votes--56 points)

The Spartans had a tough start to the season with a pair of games on the East Coast. The Kentucky Wildcats gave the Spartans all they could handle, but in their last two games Michigan State showed again why they are one of America's best teams. The win against Seton Hall was a statement victory.

LW: vs Kentucky (L), Binghamton (W), at Seton Hall (W)
TW: Charleston Southern (11/18)

2. Maryland (2-0) (50 points)

The Terrapins had lofty expectations in the preseason with many returning pieces. They have performed as expected so far this season, and they will not be tested until they travel to Orlando in two weeks.

LW: Holy Cross (W), Rhode Island (W)
TW: Oakland (11/16), Fairfield (11/19)

3. Ohio State (3-0) (49 points)

The Buckeyes have an argument for the most impressive resume through the season's first ten days. They defeated Cincinnati and Villanova, two teams that many see playing in the NCAA Tournament this season. Their next test will come with a December 4 roadtrip to Chapel Hill.

LW: Cincinnati (W), UMASS-Lowell (W), Villanova (W)
TW: Stetson (11/18)

4. Michigan (2-0) (40 points)

The Wolverines under Coach Juwan Howard have gotten off to a solid start. After holding off a late game surge by Appalachian State, the Wolverines grinded out a win over Creighton in the Gavitt Games. Isaiah Livers (18.0 PPG) and Zavier Simpson (7.5 APG) have played great thus far.

LW: App State (W), Creighton (W)

TW: Elon (11/15)

5. Purdue (1-2) (38 points)

The Boilermakers have had a challenging start to the season, losing to Texas and Marquette. This team has tremendous length, and you could see the havoc that this team could cause defensively when they got out to an eighteen point lead over Marquette. At the same time, you saw the offensive hurdles that this team needs to jump this year. Jahaad Proctor (17.0 PPG) is trying to fill this gap, but he needs more support out of guys like Sasha Stefanovich and Matt Haarms.

LW: Green Bay (W), Texas (L), at Marquette (L)
TW: Chicago St (11/16)

6. Wisconsin (2-1) (35 points)

The Badgers were tested in a regular season opener against St. Mary's, playing a hard fought game before falling short in overtime. Nate Reuvers has played tremendous this far, averaging 15.3 points per game while also adding nine blocks in last week's game against Eastern Illinois.

LW: vs St. Mary's (L), Eastern Illinois (W), McNeese State (W)
TW: Marquette (11/15), Green Bay (11/21)

7. Indiana (3-0) (33 points)

The Hoosiers are undefeated this season, though the early portion of their schedule provides very few challenges. They should win all of their games until an early December stretch against Florida State, Wisconsin and UCONN.

LW: Western Illinois (W), Portland St (W), North Alabama (W)

TW: Troy (11/16), Princeton (11/20)

8. Penn State (3-0) (29 points)

The Nittany Lions are 3-0 after an impressive road win against Georgetown. Lamar Stevens, the feature scorer for Penn State got some help from Mike Watkins (14 pts) and Myles Dread (21 pts). This team has the chance to build its resume before Big Ten play with games against Bucknell, Yale, Ole Miss, Wake Forest and Alabama among others.

LW: Maryland-Eastern Shore (W), Wagner (W), at Georgetown (W)

TW: Bucknell (11/19)

9. Illinois (2-1) (24 points)

The Illini deserve some props for going to Arizona to face Grand Canyon and Arizona on a weekend road trip. Andres Feliz's 19.0 PPG is the highest scoring total in the Big Ten so far this season.

LW: Nicholls St (W), at Grand Canyon (W), at Arizona (L)

TW: Hawaii (11/18), The Citadel (11/20),

10. Minnesota (1-2) (22 points)

The Golden Gophers have only one win on the season, but there should be some props given for their difficult non-conference schedule. They lost two games to Oklahoma and Butler, and they also have contests against Utah, DePaul, Clemson and Oklahoma State in the non-conference. Richard Pitino is testing this team early and often, and Daniel Oturu has been a force early (18.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG).

LW: Cleveland St (W), vs Oklahoma (L), at Butler (L)

TW: at Utah (11/15), Central Michigan (11/21)

11. Iowa (1-1) (20 points)

The Hawkeyes ran into a buzz-saw of DePaul last week. The Blue Demons hit everything in sight on their way to a big lead and a road victory. Iowa has three winnable games before going to Las Vegas to take on Texas Tech, and then either Creighton/San Diego State.

LW: SIU-Edwardsville (W), DePaul (L)

TW: Oral Roberts (11/15), North Florida (11/21)

T12. Northwestern (1-1) (10 points)

The Wildcats had two of the most polarizing games to open the season. In the first game, they were embarrassed against a Merrimack team that was playing just their second game in Division I. This past Wednesday, they played brilliant basketball as they raced out to a large lead before holding onto a victory over Providence.

LW: Merrimack (L), Providence (W)

TW: Radford (11/19)

T12. Rutgers (3-0) (10 points)

The Scarlet Knights are undefeated through three games for the third time in four years. This week, the schedule ramps up to harder mid-major teams in St. Bonaventure and Stephen F. Austin. It will be interesting to see if they can get enough wins to move toward a winning season for the first time since 2005-06.

LW: Bryant (W), Niagara (W), Drexel (W)

TW: St. Bonaventure (11/16), Stephen F. Austin (11/20)

14. Nebraska (0-2)

The Cornhuskers had only one player returning with any game experience (Thorir Thorbjarnarson), so Coach Fred Hoiberg had a tall mountain to climb in his first year. Losing to UC Riverside and Southern Utah in his first two games doesn't make matters better. 

LW: UC Riverside (L), Southern Utah (L)

TW: South Dakota St (11/15)

Individual Votes (1-14)

Eric: 1. Michigan St, Ohio St, Michigan, Maryland, 5. Indiana, Penn St, Iowa, 8. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Purdue, 11. Illinois, Northwestern, Rutgers, 14. Nebraska

Nick: 1. Michigan St, Maryland, Ohio St, Purdue, 5. Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, 8. Penn St, Minnesota, Illinois, 11. Iowa, Northwestern, Rutgers, 14. Nebraska

Sam: 1. Michigan St, Maryland, Ohio St, Purdue, 5. Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, 8. Indiana, Penn St, Minnesota, 11. Iowa, Rutgers, Northwestern, 14. Nebraska

Zach: 1. Michigan St, Maryland, Ohio St, Purdue, 5. Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, 8. Penn St, Illinois, Minnesota, 11. Iowa, Rutgers, Northwestern, 14. Nebraska