Things always seem to turn out bad for Purdue whenever they re ranked No. 1 and have to play Rutgers, and the same thing happened Monday night when Cam Spencer hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds to give Rutgers a 65-64 win. It was the second time in two years that they beat Purdue as a No. 1 seed. Here s our roundup for Jan. 2, including the three bowl games and Tuesday s basketball preview.
Indiana basketball hasn t played since Dec. 23, but the Hoosiers inched up one spot to No. 15 in this week s Associated Press top-25 poll. Indiana is one of four Big Ten teams, along with No. 1 Purdue, No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 24 Ohio State. Here s the top 25.
Purdue basketball improved to 13-0 and finished its regular-season nonconference schedule undefeated. Junior guard Brandon Newman led the way with 18 points.
Purdue has been the one true constant this season, and everyone behind them has shown some warts so far. It s a jumbled mess, but we try to sort it all our in our second Big Ten Power Rankings through the games of Dec. 28. Here they are, from No. 1 to No. 14.