Only two teams in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings played Friday. One is Purdue. The other is Illinois. Both won. So the Boilermakers and Illini will now enter Monday’s showdown against each other with eight combined victories in a row and as two of at least five teams with realistic chances to win the Big Ten.
It’s a fascinating race highlighted by multiple All-American candidates. At Purdue, there’s Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams and Zach Edey, the last of whom got 22 points and nine rebounds in Friday’s 92-65 win over Nebraska. At Illinois, there’s Kofi Cockburn, the physically overwhelming big who finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds in Friday’s 68-53 win over Michigan. Then there’s Johnny Davis at Wisconsin, E.J. Liddell at Ohio State and Gabe Brown and Max Christie at Michigan State — not to mention Keegan Murray at Iowa and Trayce Jackson-Davis at Indiana. Simply put, the Big 12 is probably a better league top to bottom, but no conference has a better mix of really good teams and great college players than the Big Ten possesses this season.
It’s been a blast to follow.
Big Ten schools are fourth (Michigan State), fifth (Wisconsin), seventh (Purdue), 18th (Ohio State) and 23rd (Illinois) in Saturday morning’s updated Top 25 And 1. Each of the five is capable of eventually securing the league title. But, odds are, that won’t be decided until the final week of the regular season given how little the gap appears to be between any of those teams.
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