It was another eventful week in college basketball toughest conference, though it wasn't all for the good. After two Penn State players tested positive for COVID-19, Wisconsin and PSU postponed their game originally scheduled for yesterday, the first such instance in the Big Ten this year. (UPDATE: It didn't take long for a second. Tuesday's Purdue-Nebraska game was just postponed.) Here are the results from the week (home team listed second):

• Maryland 70, Wisconsin 64
• MSU 56, Minnesota 81
• Northwestern 72, Iowa 87
• Purdue 78, Rutgers 81
• Nebraska 54, OSU 90
• PSU 85, Indiana 87 (OT)
• Minnesota 59, Wisconsin 71
• Michigan 84, Maryland 73
• Iowa 77, Rutgers 75
• Purdue 58, Illinois 66
• MSU 84, Nebraska 77
• Northwestern 66, Michigan 85
• OSU 60, Minnesota 77

Iowa and Michigan both had 2-0 weeks while Northwestern, predictably, dropped games against each of the aforementioned teams to fall out of first place.

The Standings

*KenPom doesn't include a projection for the rescheduled PSU-Wisconsin game

There isn't much change at the very top beyond Northwestern coming back to earth; Michigan's national ranking is inching up to the level of the three one-loss squads. Despite a loss to Wisconsin, Minnesota is the biggest mover up the rankings because it was sandwiched between blowouts of Michigan State and Ohio State.

Incidentally, MSU continues to plunge; winning by seven over Nebraska didn't do much for the computer judges coming off that 25-point loss to the Gophers and their projections keep going down as preseason data is stripped out and they play clunkers. I'm not going to dedicate an entire section to MSU's problems for the third straight week but I'll note Tom Izzo benched Rocket Watts in favor of playing freshman AJ Hoggard and Foster Loyer at point guard against the Huskers; Watts had an up-and-down 15 minutes at shooting guard.

[Hit THE JUMP for NET rankings, players coming on strong, outlier stats, new tiers, and this week's schedule.]

NET Rankings: The Michigan Split

how's it going bud [Campredon]

Today, the NCAA released their first edition of the NET rankings that'll go a long way towards determining the NCAA Tournament field. Despite only playing a single Quad 1 game, Michigan is the #2-ranked team in the Big Ten. [Ed-Ace: Sorry for screwing this up earlier by omitting Illinois. I was writing fast and I am stupid.] The order:

4. Illinois
6. Michigan
7. Iowa
11. Wisconsin
17. Rutgers
28. Ohio State
32. Maryland
42. Penn State
43. Minnesota
47. Purdue
50. Northwestern
51. Indiana
119. Michigan State(!!!)
186. Nebraska

The Big Ten looks to be in great position to get a high number of bids. MSU looks to be in terrible position to get one of those bids. These are all good things.

Three Players Coming On Strong: Bohannon's Shot Back?

Izaiah Brockington is emerging as a scoring threat [Campredon]

With the Big Ten so tightly packed, improved play from just a handful of players could swing the conference picture in a major way. Here are three players who've caught my eye recently after getting off to slow starts.

Iowa guard Jordan Bohannon. The biggest development in the Big Ten this week could very well be that Bohannon's three-point shot is finally back online after a year-plus lost to hip injury/rehab. After starting the season 17/61 on three-pointers, Bohannon made a combined 14/19 in Iowa's wins over Northwestern and Rutgers. Those attempts aren't simple spot-ups, either; he's back to draining audacious pull-ups from well beyond the long line. His shooting is the difference between a scary team and a terrifying one.

PSU wing Izaiah Brockington. The St. Bonaventure transfer struggled with his shot in his first season in the Big Ten, but year two in the conference is treating Bockington a lot better. The Nittany Lions had a huge scoring void to fill with the departure of Lamar Stevens and Brockington has helped fill it by improving from 8.1 to 15.1 points per game. He's been efficient against every high-major opponent save for Michigan and their slew of monster wings, including a 21-point game against Illinois in which he went 7/10 at the rim. He's shooting 52% on threes and has emerged into a legitimate pick-and-roll threat.

Minnesota center Liam Robbins. Another transfer, Robbins seemed to be in for a significant adjustment as a seven-footer coming over from Drake, and eight largely underwhelming games into the season that held true. His last four performances have been spectacular; in that span, he's averaging 18.8 points, 3.3 offensive rebounds, 6.0 defensive rebounds, and 3.8 blocks per game. He almost single-handedly blew out Ohio State because none of the Buckeye bigs could do anything to stop him, posting 27 points, 14 boards, four assists, five blocks, and two steals while getting to the line for 17(!) free throw attempts. He's gonna be a tough test for Hunter Dickinson.

New Tiers!

I last posted tiers on December 21st. Here's how they looked:

TIER I: Wisconsin
TIER II: Michigan, Iowa, Rutgers, Illinois
TIER III: Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue
TIER IV: Penn State, Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern
TIER V: Nebraska :(

There isn't too much to change. I still have five tiers, though the Badgers are no longer in one of their own; the same can't be said for the Huskers.

Tier I: Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa
Tier II: Rutgers, Minnesota
Tier III: Indiana, Ohio State, Northwestern, Purdue, Maryland
Tier IV: Michigan State, Penn State
Tier V: Nebraska :(

This Week's Schedule

Here are this week's games. All times Eastern:

Tonight: Maryland at Indiana (8 pm, BTN)
Tuesday: Nebraska at Purdue (7, BTN), Rutgers at MSU (9, ESPN2)
Wednesday: PSU at OSU (6:30, BTN), Minnesota at Michigan (8:30, BTN)
Thursday: Iowa at Maryland (7, ESPN2), Indiana at Wisconsin (7, FS1), Illinois at Northwestern (9, BTN)
Friday: Purdue at MSU (7, FS1)
Saturday: OSU at Rutgers (noon, BTN), Michigan at PSU (2:15, BTN)
Sunday: Minnesota at Iowa (2:30, BTN), Indiana at Nebraska (6, BTN), Maryland at Illinois (8, BTN)