Player of the Week:
Keegan Murray, Iowa
For the second week in a row, Iowa’s star sophomore Keegan Murray earns himself Big Ten Player of the Week. In all three games played this week, Murray averaged 25 points and scored 20+ in each of those games. The Hawkeyes have also found themselves in the Top 25 in this week’s AP Poll with a lot of their recent success coming from their star sophomore and big wins over #18 Ohio State and Michigan State. With just four games left in their schedule, it’ll be intriguing to see where Iowa will finish in the Big Ten come tournament time and March Madness time.
Freshman Player of the Week:
Bryce McGowens, Nebraska
It honestly feels like every week Nebraska’s young star is being either in the talks or winning the Freshman Player of the Week award. In their first game this week, McGowens dropped a whopping 25 points in a 16-point loss to Maryland. Following their second straight loss, the Cornhuskers traveled to Northwestern where McGowens put up a double-double dropping 15 points with 10 board in a 77-65 loss to the Wildcats. There’s basically been no sort of brightness in the season for Nebraska, but with their young star winning his fourth Freshman Player of the Week, there is a little exciting promise for the future for Cornhuskers fans.
Who’s Hot:
Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes suffered an upset loss this week to Michigan, but they finished this week strong with two solid wins which makes it very hard to not put them in this week’s “Who’s Hot” list. Two wins by double-digit points over #18 Ohio State and Michigan State have convinced the voters to finally put Iowa in the Top 25 poll ranking them #25 in this week’s rankings.
Who’s Not:
Indiana Hoosiers
Even though the Hoosiers had only played one game this week, they have not been playing good basketball in the month of February. An 11-point overtime loss to Ohio State on Monday notches Indiana’s 5th straight loss and puts questions for the committee whether they’re still worthy or not for March Madness. The Hoosiers need to finish strong in their last four games and in the Big Ten tournament to possibly have a shot to make the tournament.
Top 5 Remaining Games to Look Forward to (no order):
5. March 1st #4 Purdue versus #13 Wisconsin
With both teams fighting for the #1 seed in the Big Ten, this is most likely the game that will decide who finishes as the best team in the regular season for the conference. It’ll be exciting to watch the two young draft prospects Johnny Davis and Jaden Ivey faceoff in potentially the biggest game of the year for both teams.
4. March 2nd Rutgers versus Indiana
This game might not seem very interesting on paper, but this is a huge game for both teams. As we all know, Rutgers went on a little hot streak beating four ranked teams and a game like this is huge for their March Madness chances. On the other hand, the Hoosiers are in the complete opposite direction and are in basically win now mode for their chances at March Madness.
3. March 6th #25 Iowa versus #15 Illinois
The committee’s minds could change very easily for both team’s rankings depending on the outcome of this game. Now obviously if #15 Illinois were to win nothing would change too much, but it’ll be interesting how they would view #25 Iowa after this game if they were to win. Could we see Iowa pass Illinois in the March Madness seedings if they were to win? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
2. February 26th #13 Wisconsin versus Rutgers
For the second and final time of the season the #13 Badgers will travel to Rutgers looking for revenge from a couple weeks ago. This should be a great game to watch as Wisconsin looks to remain at the top of the Big Ten, while Rutgers looks for another convincing win over Wisconsin to show the committee why they deserve a spot in this year’s tournament.
1. March 3rd Michigan State versus #22 Ohio State
Some questions may arise why this game earns the last spot onto this list, but ultimately Michigan State is struggling and needs to put themselves in the right direction ahead of tournament time. While Ohio State on the other hand would like to end the season strong with some solid wins to better their season come tournament time. Should be a great game to watch with the Big Ten regular season coming to an end.