The Big 12 and SEC, in some order, project to be the best men’s basketball conferences this season. And they probably will be. Both are great and deep.
But the Big Ten won the weekend
Did you catch what happened Friday night?
First, Purdue upset an Alabama team that was ranked second in the AP poll, 87-78. Then, Wisconsin upset an Arizona team that was ranked ninth in the AP poll, 103-88. All weekend, exactly six teams in the top 10 of the AP poll played — and four of them won. The only ones that played and didn’t win were Alabama and Arizona, and, again, their losses came at the expense of a couple of Big Ten programs off to 4-0 starts.
Beyond that, in total, the Big Ten went 5-3 this weekend in games against other power-conference programs. In addition to Purdue and Wisconsin beating Alabama from the SEC and Arizona from the Big 12, respectively, Michigan beat TCU from the Big 12, Penn State beat Virginia Tech from the ACC and Indiana beat South Carolina from the SEC. The byproduct is that there are five Big Ten schools in Monday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings — specifically No. 8 Purdue, No. 14 Indiana, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 20 Ohio State and No. 24 Rutgers.
Kansas remains No. 1.
This week, the Big Ten will have two more opportunities to secure victories over ranked opponents — first on Tuesday when Purdue plays a Marquette team ranked 13th in the Top 25 And 1, then again on Wednesday when Illinois plays an Alabama team ranked ninth in the Top 25 And 1. Through 14 days of this season, league members are a combined 56-10. Eight Big Ten schools remain undefeated. Nobody in the league has lost more than once.
