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Ohio State Basketball: Week 8 Big Ten power rankings

By Shayne Nissen

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 20: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes looks on from the sideline in the second half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during their game at Madison Square Garden on January 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 20: Head coach Chris Holtmann of the Ohio State Buckeyes looks on from the sideline in the second half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during their game at Madison Square Garden on January 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 30: Ignas Brazdeikis #13 of the Michigan Wolverines drives to the basket past Caleb Stewart #20 of the Binghamton Bearcats during the first half at Crisler Arena on December 30, 2018 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 30: Ignas Brazdeikis #13 of the Michigan Wolverines drives to the basket past Caleb Stewart #20 of the Binghamton Bearcats during the first half at Crisler Arena on December 30, 2018 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

The Ohio State basketball team has surprised everybody by starting the season 12-1 but now the full time Big Ten schedule begins.

There were only two days of basketball action for the Big Ten in Week 8 and it wasn’t the prettiest week for the conference. There was one huge upset in particular along with another smaller but not all that surprising upset.

Couple that with other games that were close with some rather underwhelming opponents and you have a week to forget in the Big Ten. Lets dive right into the Week 8 Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings.

  1. Michigan | 13-0 (2-0)
  2. Michigan State | 11-2 (2-0)
  3. Indiana | 11-2 (2-0)
  4. Ohio State | 12-1 (2-0)
  5. Nebraska | 11-2 (1-1)
  6. Minnesota | 11-2 (1-1)
  7. Iowa | 11-2 (0-2)
  8. Wisconsin | 10-3 (2-0)
  9. Maryland | 10-3 (1-1)
  10. Northwestern | 9-4 (0-2)
  11. Purdue | 8-5 (1-1)
  12. Penn State | 7-6 (0-2)
  13. Rutgers | 7-5 (0-2)
  14. Illinois | 4-9 (0-2)

Michigan closed out their perfect non conference season at 13-0 with a comfortable 74-52 win over Binghamton. The Wolverines will now enter conference play presumably the favorite to win the Big Ten and will look to keep riding their early season success to a number one seed in the big dance.

The way that their defense has played this season, all of these things I just mentioned are very possible as they rank third in the nation in opponents points scored. This stat is directly because of the fact Michigan only allows five threes made per game, good for 8th in the country.

The Wolverines will look to get their third conference win of the season over Penn State on Thursday.

Michigan State lost to two formidable opponents in the early season but have since rebounded to go 9-2 in the non conference along with 2-0 in conference play to start the season. The win over Northern Illinois on Saturday cemented a strong finish to non conference play.

The Spartans will now head to conference play with one of the best offenses in the nation led by three upperclassmen in a college basketball world that is primarily run by underclassmen. Look for this to be an advantage over some of the younger teams in the Big Ten this season.

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