I'll take it a step farther. I am much more interested and excited about the annual matchups, and consider these rivalries with more importance: Indiana, Iowa, Purdue, Michigan, MSU, Wisconsin, OSU and Mizzou. I consider these our annual measuring sticks and games I always want to win. A win feels good, a loss feels like "oh well" or "damn". Playing Northwestern is a Lose-Lose proposition. A win just feels like relief, a loss feels humiliating. That's just me.
My super subjective/personal ranking (in isolation of a given game) goes like this.
1) Braggin' Rights (Missouri) ... it's been an awesome and romanticized event for me since I was a little kid. Even if we sort of forget about Mizzou come January, winning this one before Christmas is always so fun. I will say, however, that I selfishly want Missouri to not be so terrible ... it hurts the rivalry, and I want to get back to this game being on ESPN or even FOX regularly!
2) Iowa ... Most of my friends are Iowa fans, and winning 10 of 11 vs. them has been great. Similarly to Mizzou, however, I don't have this desire to see Iowa lose every game. I think it is objectively good for our program for Iowa to be seen as a good/top 25 basketball program ... it's arguably our most mutual rivalry, and it benefits us for the rivalry to be seen as a bigger deal outside of our two fan bases!
3) Indiana ... Now that the Gordon stuff is practically ancient history, I actually sort of forget how much I hate Indiana until we play. However, when those ridiculous candy stripe warmups come out and it's game time, MAN I want to beat those Loosiers. Unlike the first two, I DO want Indiana to lose every game. I'm sick of the media pretending they are still this special program, and every year that goes by where we are in a clearly better spot than them (and inching closer to taking the series lead!) is great in my book.
4) Purdue ... I actually used to have practically zero hatred toward Purdue and even was sort of fond of them, given Weber's connection there and our shared hatred for Indiana. However, it sucks admitting that as good as we have been since 2020, they have just been a notch better. We need to start beating them more, and this is de facto a huge game for us every year these days.
--- Big drop off ---
5) Northwestern ... I'll caveat by saying that I am specifically ranking the game in Evanston, and I would feel differently if I didn't live in Chicago. However, it SUCKS losing to these guys in one of the few games that I get to see every year, especially after I pay for two insanely overpriced tickets, pay for a babysitter and go through the traffic-filled nightmare to get up to that high school gym and INCREDIBLY overrated college town.
6) Michigan ... This one is almost entirely due to the current winning streak. Given their unfounded arrogance on the basketball side of things, I think it is absolutely hilarious that we have owned them for so long, and it would be oh so sweet to beat them yet again this year when they have one of their better teams in a while.
After that, it's a pretty big drop-off. Sure, I care more about a series vs. a traditional Big Ten team like Ohio State and even Minnesota than I do Rutgers, and I especially care more about a series vs. a typically good program like MSU or Wisconsin ... and I will find beating a storied former Pac 12 team like UCLA more interesting than beating Oregon. However, the rest is more or less just divided into two big pots of "legacy Big Ten" (including PSU to me) and "new Big Ten" (including Rutgers and Maryland). I don't really see a game vs. Wisconsin or MSU as having this "zest" in the same way as Iowa or Indiana. Put in other words, in a scenario where a given team is terrible and the matchup is not that exciting that year, I will care more about beating Iowa/Indiana than MSU/OSU. Honorable mention to Maryland, though, as I am REALLY sick of them owning us!
