It was hard awarding the top 3 spots in the power poll this week. The Spartans, Hoosiers and Badgers all have a good case for top dog in the Big 10. BUT, that being said, Michigan State has been most impressive simply of the way they rebounded from an upset loss to the lowly Hawkeyes last week. And they did it not against other lowly competition, but against a quality Minnesota team (away) and Ohio State team thats #5 in the power poll. So as the best team in week 3, the Spartans gets to carry the crown.

Indiana is a quality team. There is no doubting that. But their inability to squash a Penn State (#7) team who is without their top scorer and rebounder until the final 10 minutes in Assembly Hall is quite a wake-up call. But they get the bump over the Badgers by beating an improved Minnesota (#6) team at the Barn.

The Badgers are only #3 because they are still undefeated. They proved nothing this past week beating Penn State (#7) and Northwestern (#11), teams that draw bigger crowds for wrestling matches than basketball games. The scheduling is however not their fault, so they sit at #3 above the Boilermakers and Buckeyes.

Purdue is making noise again in the Big 10 having beat the Hawkeyes and Illini, but they are #4 only because the Badgers are undefeated. Should the Badgers lose, Purdue gets to join the top 3.

The Buckeyes loses to the Spartans (#1) and then falter once again against the SEC losing to Tennessee. They however can still very much beat the Gophers so they are above them.

The Gophers are improved, but it seems just not enough to put them in the upper echelon of the Big Ten teams. After an impressive start, they lose to the Spartans (#1) and Indiana (#2), though it is nothing to be ashamed of. As the lower ranked team, they ARE expected to lose aren't they?

Everyone's so quick in jumping off the Penn State bandwagon, its almost fashionable. Its easy to see that Penn State has suddenly lost its two games after losing G. Claxton, but who to? Ranked Wisconsin and ranked Indiana at Bloomington (where they were neck and neck till the final 10 minutes). Sure they might not be the beast that could possibly contend for the post season, but don't write them off so soon. Their week is not going to get any easier. They face a Purdue team I put as fourth in the Power Poll and at Iowa where they upset a ranked Michigan State team. But this team will be fine.

The Illini have faced a tough slate of early games which may explain their losing conference record. With losses against the Boilermakers (#4), @Wisconsin (#3), and @Indiana (#2) it may seem the Orange Krush aren't all that excited this year. But if I may be so bold as to be optimistic for this team, having played all those tough early games, only means they are out of the way and this team can still climb back to an even record. A win against an even more pathetic Wolverine sqad is a step in the right direction.

Iowa is bad, but not Wolverine or Wildcat bad, so by default they sit at #9. Their Spartan upset was great, but that alone does not make them a great team. They did however beat up on the Wolverines, but it seems as if everyone in the league may do that at least once this year except for the Wildcats.

This team is in the shitter. With 1 win over a worse Wildcat team, they were beat this past week by the Hawkeyes (#9) and Illini (#8). This leaves very little room to move up the power poll seeing as the two teams just above it beat them, but theres no time to fret, they face the Badgers (#3) and Spartans (#1) this week.

Horribly pathetic. The Dolphins of the Big Ten, just without the tradition.