College Basketball Big Ten Power Rankings Tiers: OSU’s Statement

Tier VI: Penn State, Indiana, Michigan

Penn State notched an impressive win over Illinois this past week, but it's been mostly disastrous for this trio of programs all season. While Mike Rhoades will be safe at Penn State, both fanbases will surely ask questions about the future of Mike Woodson at Indiana and Juwan Howard at Michigan.

It'll be a testy start to the offseason for these teams, and we won't be surprised to see plenty of these players hit the portal as well.

Tier II: Illinois

The Illini have basically been in this second tier all season, and it's been because of occasional no-shows like the one they had on Wednesday night against Penn State. Allowing the Nittany Lions to score 90 left them with their worst loss of the season and will put them in jeopardy of losing out on the protected seeding the selection committee awarded them last weekend.

They've still got opportunities against Purdue, Wisconsin, and twice against Iowa to close out the season, but they'll need to capitalize on a few of them to avoid slipping out of the top four seed lines.

Tier III: Michigan State, Wisconsin

Just as Michigan State seemed to be knocking on the door of the second tier, they dropped a crucial matchup at home to Iowa on Tuesday night. Sparty is still safely in our field of 68, but they need to show more to prove they aren't anything less than a first-round exit come tournament time.

As for Wisconsin, they are on a total freefall that has likely cost them protected seeding for now. Matchups against Illinois and Purdue will give them a chance to get back onto that four-seed line, but they'll have to split that stretch at least to have any shot.

Tier IV: Northwestern, Nebraska, Iowa, Rutgers

We have seen some life out of Rutgers in the past few weeks, and we're willing to gamble on that by putting them in the fourth tier. The road defeat to Minnesota on Sunday ended their four-game win streak, but they have certainly inched closer to the at-large conversation in recent weeks.

Northwestern and Nebraska remain on the right side of the bubble, while Iowa has joined the Scarlet Knights in the bubble talk. The Hawkeyes back-to-back wins over Wisconsin and Michigan State gave them two of their three Quad 1 wins this season. A pair of matchups with Illinois will give Iowa more opportunity to get into the field by Selection Sunday.

Tier V: Maryland, Ohio State

Ohio State was dreadful throughout conference play and got the cliche coaching bump after Chris Holtmann was fired last week. Just four days later, they upset Purdue in stunning fashion at home and earned a spot in the fifth tier.

Maryland has been quite underwhelming compared to preseason expectations but has at least been feisty recently in their defeats. We wouldn't be surprised to see either of these teams put a bigger fish on upset alert in the Big Ten Tournament in a few weeks.

Tier VI: Penn State, Indiana, Michigan

Penn State notched an impressive win over Illinois this past week, but it's been mostly disastrous for this trio of programs all season. While Mike Rhoades will be safe at Penn State, both fanbases will surely ask questions about the future of Mike Woodson at Indiana and Juwan Howard at Michigan.

It'll be a testy start to the offseason for these teams, and we won't be surprised to see plenty of these players hit the portal as well.