Week 9
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duke Blue Devils | -- |
| 2 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |
-- |
| 3 | Kansas Jayhawks | -- |
| 4 | Syracuse Orange | -- |
| 5 | Pittsburgh Panthers | -- |
| 6 | Villanova Wildcats | -- |
| 7 | San Diego St. Aztecs | -- |
| 8 | Purdue Boilermakers | -- |
| 9 | Missouri Tigers | -- |
| 10 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 11 | Connecticut Huskies | -- |
| 12 | Kentucky Wildcats | -- |
| 13 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -- |
| 14 | Central Florida Knights | -- |
| 15 | Georgetown Hoyas | -- |
| 16 | BYU Cougars | -- |
| 17 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 18 | Illinois Fighting Illini | -- |
| 19 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 20 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 21 | UNLV Runnin' Rebels | -- |
| 22 | St. John's Red Storm | -- |
| 23 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 24 | Vanderbilt Commodores | -- |
| 25 | Minnesota Golden Gophers | -- |
| Honorable Mentions: Washington Huskies, Temple Owls, Louisville Cardinals, Baylor Bears, Richmond Spiders | ||
BT Powerhouse will be giving a weekly Top 25. It is our opinion of how the Top 25 should look. This is the first week for this on BT Powerhouse, that is why there is no movement among the teams, special thanks to Big 12 Hoops for the help. Analysis is after the jump!
Big Ten Ranked Teams:
#2 Ohio State (15-0) : Ohio State belongs right here. They are undefeated. Ohio State needs to figure out their defensive effort. You can't continue to win if you play defense like you did against Iowa. They are still undefeated with everyone asking when will they fall? It is a tough Big Ten this year, and no one will go undefeated. The rest of the Big Ten teams are pulling for the Buckeyes to lose. I see them falling at Illinois on January 22nd.
#8 Purdue (13-1) : Purdue is #10 in the coaches poll and #11 in the AP poll. I think that is a little underrated. Purdue has proved since losing against Richmond that they are getting back to the form we knew Purdue to be last January. I put them at #8 because that is where they belong. They just might be able to compete enough with the Buckeyes to contend with first place. If you can compete with #2 in the nation I felt #10/11 was a little underrated.
#17 Michigan St (10-4) : Michigan State is on it's way back from the bumpy road they drove through. They are starting to prove that they can compete for the Big Ten title once again. They need to get a big road win to prove they should be ranked higher, but for now, #17 feels right for the Spartans.
#18 Illinois (12-3) : Since their loss to UIC, Illinois is like MSU to me, they are proving that they are getting back to the form they need to be to compete for the Big Ten title. It was tough to know who should go in front of the other. The game on January 18th at Illinois should tell us more about Illinois and MSU.
#20 Wisconsin (11-3) : Wisconsin beat Minnesota at home and then lost to Illinois on the road. Wisconsin should be ranked because they have proven what they can do. Yes, they stumbled at Illinois, but everyone will stumble on the road in the Big Ten this year. They didn't do a terrible job at Illinois. They will play at MSU on January 11th, I think they definitely will be able to compete with the Spartans, but can they pull off the upset?
#25 Minnesota (12-3) : To me, Minnesota is on the chopping block at number 25. They lost to MSU and Wisconsin on the road and then struggle against a mediocre Indiana team at home. Their next game is at Ohio State.. they need a win, or they will fall off the top 25 map and off the Big Ten title contention map. Scary game for the Gophers.
If you have any questions about why I put the non-Big Ten teams where I put them in the BT Powerhouse Top 25, feel free to leave your questions in the comments.