Indiana earned 26 out of the 65 first-place votes, followed by Duke with 20, Miami with 17, and Gonzaga with 2. Michigan, however, managed to sneak in between Miami and Gonzaga to take fourth place overall with Gonzaga coming in at 5th.
Elsewhere around the Big Ten, Michigan State jumped four spots to join the top 10 at number eight after defeating then-#18 Minnesota and a thus far less-than-impressive Purdue squad. Ohio State, on the other hand, dropped three spots to #13 after losing a heart-breaker at then-#3 Michigan and a tough loss to #1 Indiana, losing back-to-back games for the first time in over 120 games. At first, this drop surprised me, as there was not a top team in the country which had a more difficult week than Ohio State, but then I noticed that the Buckeyes are the only team in the top 15 with more than five losses and one of only three in the top 25. Wisconsin jumped into the rankings at #20 after beating Iowa in double overtime and then-#3 Michigan in overtime after an amazing Ben Brust buzzer-beating half-court prayer of a shot. What is unclear to me is how Wisconsin could make such a jump, while Illinois, who defeated #1 Indiana and then-#18 Minnesota at The Barn, is not in the rankings. I guess a 4-7 Big Ten record is just not enough for the AP voters at this point in time. Minnesota dropped out of the rankings this week, being the first "others receiving votes" team after losing to both Michigan State and Illinois.
The key thing I'm drawing from both the rankings and the conference season so far is that beating up on each other is making it difficult for the Big Ten to maintain its rankings. While this could be good for any bubble teams (see Illinois confusing mix of losses to Purdue and Northwestern and wins against Ohio State, Indiana, and Minnesota). It's not out of the realm of possibility for the Big Ten to have seven representatives in the NCAA tourney, with several of them possibly being in the top 3 seeds.
The Big Ten road, however, does not appear to get any easier for any of the top teams. Michigan State will play host to rival Michigan on Tuesday before visiting Nebraska. They then have four-straight games against ranked opponents (hosting Indiana, visiting Ohio State and Michigan, and hosting Wisconsin). In addition to the two games against Michigan State, the Wolverines also have visits from Illinois and Indiana before the season is done. Wisconsin has a fairly daunting week, playing at Minnesota and hosting Ohio State, but beyond that they only have one other ranked match-up on the season (Michigan State). Ohio State plays host to Northwestern this week before traveling to Wisconsin. They also have games against Minnesota, Michigan State, and Illinois along with a return trip to Indiana.
While Indiana has an arguably easier schedule this week than any of the above (hosting Nebraska and Purdue), they follow it up with trips to Michigan State and Minnesota, hosting Ohio State, and finishing the season by traveling to Ann Arbor to face off with Michigan. With the Hoosiers tied with the Spartans for top of the conference at 9-2 with Michigan and Wisconsin each a game back, it has become distinctly possible for the eventual-champion to post a Big Ten record of 14-4 or even 13-5. That's how good this conference is this year.
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