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Ohio State Basketball: Buckeyes No. 15, Big Ten stronger than expected

By Charlie Lockhart

COLUMBUS, OH - DECEMBER 15: Luther Muhammad #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes dishes off a pass as Walter Ellis #2 of the Bucknell Bisons defends in the second half on December 15, 2018 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State defeated Bucknell 73-71. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - DECEMBER 15: Luther Muhammad #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes dishes off a pass as Walter Ellis #2 of the Bucknell Bisons defends in the second half on December 15, 2018 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State defeated Bucknell 73-71. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /
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The Ohio State basketball team is ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll for the second consecutive week and the Big Ten is well represented.

Prior to the season the Ohio State basketball team was predicted to finish towards the bottom of the Big Ten and the conference was supposed to be weak. Now the Buckeyes are No. 15 in the AP Poll for the second consecutive week and seven Big Ten teams are ranked in the top 25.

Ohio State is the third highest ranked conference team behind No. 4 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan State. The other ranked Big Ten teams are Wisconsin (16), Indiana (22), Iowa (23) and Nebraska (25). Purdue and Minnesota also received votes.

Other conferences with multiple teams in the top 25 are the ACC (5), SEC (4) and the Big 12 (2). Seven other conferences each had one ranked team.

Here is this week’s AP top 25.

Kansas

Duke

Tennessee

Michigan

Virginia

Nevada

Auburn

Gonzaga

North Carolina

Michigan State

Florida State

Texas Tech

Virginia Tech

Buffalo

Ohio State

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Wisconsin

Mississippi State

Arizona State

Kentucky

Marquette

Houston

Indiana

Iowa

Furman

Nebraska

Michigan is 11-0 and has been the most impressive team in the Big Ten so far. A strong case could be made that John Beilein’s squad is playing better than any other team in the country.

It’s scary to think that Michigan State is 9-2 and ranked No. 10. Tom Izzo’s Spartans nearly always improve as the season wears on.

No surprise the Wisconsin Badgers are good, it would be a shock if they weren’t. The same could be said about Iowa playing well with coach Fran McCaffery’s outstanding track record.

Nebraska getting back to the top 25 and how quickly Archie Miller has turned around Indiana is surprising. As is the fact Chris Holtmann has his Ohio State basketball team playing at a high level after losing three starters from last season including the Big Ten Player of the Year.

dark. Next. Early Rose Bowl preview

The full Big Ten schedule begins after the holidays and then things will get fun. The conference is loaded with very good teams and you know others are capable of pulling upsets. This should be an interesting season to say the least.

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