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Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings: And We're Done Here

Because what the hell is the point of playing a sport if you aren't going to rank the teams involved in order of their POWER?

By Apollo Forza
Gregory Shamus

I know it's only been a few days since we last did the Big Ten Power Rankings but the regular season ended on Sunday and the conference tournament begins Thursday, so there isn't much sense in waiting until Friday to do them again.

So we're going to do them today, damn it. And if you don't like it, well, I'm sorry. I'll try to make it up to you somehow. With Power Rankings. These ones right here.

Team (Points, Last Week)

1. INDIANA 26-5, 18-4 (130, 1)

2. MICHIGAN 25-6, 12-6 (125, 2)

3. MICHIGAN STATE 24-7, 13-5 (116, 3)

4. OHIO STATE 23-7, 13-5 (109, 4)

5. WISCONSIN 21-10, 12-6 (94, 5)

6. IOWA 20-11, 9-9 (92, 7)

7. MINNESOTA 20-11, 8-10 (85, 6)

8. ILLINOIS 21-11, 8-10 (79, 8)

9. PURDUE 15-16, 8-10 (61, 9)

10. NORTHWESTERN 13-18, 4-14 (55, 10)

11. NEBRASKA 14-17, 5-13 (50, 11)

12. PENN STATE 10-20, 2-16 (40, 12)

So, as you can see, not a whole lot changes in only one game, particularly when there's already so much data. Iowa did jump over Minnesota, though, which just goes to show how weird college basketball is sometimes. Both Iowa and Purdue are going to miss the NCAA Tournament this year -- barring some kind of amazing run by Iowa in the BTT -- and they're the six and seven seeds in the Big Ten Tournament.

Illinois and Minnesota are pretty much sure things for the NCAA Tournament, yet they're the eight and nine seeds in the Big Ten Tournament.

Play stronger non-conference schedules, kids. They pay off in the end.

Iowa's strength of schedule is ranked 100th overall, but that's because it just played 18 games against the Big Ten. Iowa's non-conference schedule was ranked 308th.

Here's a look at how many points each team gained or lost in their one game this weekend.

Team (Points Gained/Lost)

1. PURDUE (6)

2. IOWA (4)

3. WISCONSIN (2)

3. NORTHWESTERN (2)

5. PENN STATE (0)

6. MICHIGAN STATE (-1)

6. NEBRASKA (-1)

8. INDIANA (-2)

8. OHIO STATE (-2)

10. ILLINOIS (-4)

11. MINNESOTA (-5)

12. MICHIGAN (-6)

Last "week's rankings can be found here.

Follow The Champaign Room on Twitter at @Champaign_Room. You can follow Tom Fornelli on Twitter at @TomFornelli.