You know the conference is down when NW is 6-3 and in 2nd place. Do they finish above .500 with 11 games left?
Just because NW has been a laughing stock for the B1G in basketball for almost every year of existence (less their one tourney year), they have been very solid most of the year, with exception of blow out losses vs Pitt and Ohio State. They very nearly upset Auburn in non-conference play.
It is a poor take to judge the quality of the B1G based solely on NW being in 2nd place at end of January. NW has a difficult stretch to close the year, and I personally believe they will end the B1G season at 10-10 (their schedule gets much more difficult soon). Their next 4 games will be huge for them @ Iowa, vs Mich, @ Wisc, @ OSU. If they go 2-2, I believe they get to 10-10, if they go 3-1, they likely get to 11-9. Otherwise, I see them at around 9 wins in B1G play. Their last 7 games vs Purdue, vs IU, vs Iowa, @ Illini, @ MD, vs PSU, @ Rutgers will be a significant challenge for them.
We are finally starting to see some differentiation in the B1G tiers (there was a lot of parity between 2 and 12 in the league), and I believe there will be around 3-4 teams ranked by B1G Tourney time as the schedule plays out.