It's interesting how many Big Ten teams are closed to being ranked. We obviously had the pollsters "rate our conference accordingly" this year, given the poor NCAAT performance of the past two seasons, but there are still clearly some pretty good teams in the Big Ten just outside of the rankings:
Teams Receiving Votes:
Michigan State 119, Purdue 104, Villanova 96, Miami (FL) 61, Saint Louis 47, Xavier 44, Ohio State 36, Oregon 36, Iowa 36, Memphis 20, Virginia Tech 13, Colorado 11, Arizona State 9, Toledo 8, Rutgers 8, Saint Mary's 7, Florida 5, UC Irvine 4, Grambling State 4, Seton Hall 3, Penn State 1
Some of these teams will have opportunities in the very near future to sneak into the top 25, too, which is objectively good for the conference and Illinois:
Michigan State: MSU plays #4 Kentucky in Indianapolis tomorrow, and then they play formerly-ranked Villanova at home on Friday. They'd probably need to beat UK to get ranked, as even if they give them a great game and lose and then beat Villanova, I can't see the pollsters ranking a 2-2 team this early.
Purdue: Likely will not get a chance to break in until Thanksgiving Weekend, when they will get a shot at #2 Gonzaga in Portland if they get past West Virginia.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes will get a shot at #17 San Diego State in Maui, with a likely chance vs. #14 Arizona if they win and another big-name opponent in the finals if they get that far.
Iowa: If Iowa beats Clemson in the Emerald Coast Classic on November 25th, they will likely play #15 TCU next. Given how TCU has looked, those are two very winnable games for the Hawkeyes.
We could very quickly start to hear the return of the "overrated Big Ten" narrative, even if we have won the games to earn those rankings.
apnews.com
