Wisconsin Badgers Make Strong Debut in First Big Ten Power Rankings

College basketball is off and running.

With all 18 Big Ten teams having played and found the win column over the first three days of the season, the next month will serve as a warm-up for the beginning of conference play at the start of December.

In the Big Ten, some of the biggest storylines will involve Purdue, the nation's No. 1 team, which is the consensus betting favorite to win the national championship. No Big Ten team has won the national championship in basketball since 2000. However, the league is far from being dominated by one team.

Michigan has one of the best players in the country in UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg, and put a lot of talent around him. Illinois has size, shooting, and depth from a roster full of international talent, Wisconsin added a ton of experience in the transfer portal, and Michigan State returns four rotational players from last year's regular-season championship team.

How will Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington adjust in year two of their new conference? Will Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, and Minnesota improve with new coaching staffs? All these questions will be answered over the next five months.

With every team having one game in the books, here is our week-one edition of the Big Ten power rankings.

No.24 Wisconsin was far from perfect in the season opener, so the fact the #Badgers still put up 96 points and won by 32 shows how lethal John Blackwell, Nolan Winter, and the rest of the group could ultimately become. My takeaways https://t.co/9vxl3ycjVp
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) November 4, 2025

1, Purdue Boilermakers (1-0)

Matt Painter has the Big Ten preseason player of the year in point guard Braden Smith and one of the league's best forwards in Trey Kaufman-Renn, but Purdue also has depth, evidenced by Fletcher Loyer scoring 30 points in a season-opening win over Evansville. Not only does Purdue return over 70 percent of its minutes, Painter added one of the best rebounders in the country and the No. 1 center transfer senior Oscar Cluff (second in the country last year with 12.3 rebounds per game). A season without any championships would be a huge disappointment.

2, Michigan Wolverines (1-0)

If their opening game was any indication, the Wolverines are going to score a lot. Michigan set a school record with 69 first-half points and was at 100 with 9:21 to go in its 121-78 win over Oakland. Lendeborg averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, winning AAC defensive player of the year at UAB. He was one of seven Michigan players to hit double figures Monday. Don't underestimate him, as he had 25 points (10-for-15), 10 rebounds, and four assists in an exhibition win over No.5 St. John's.

Dusty May won a Big Ten tournament championship and finished third in the league in his first year, showing what a competent head coach can do with Michigan's vast resources.

3, Illinois Fighting Illini (1-0)

Illinois started last season 12-3 but finished the regular season 8-8. The Illini return less than half of its minutes from last season and saw point guard Kasparaus Jakucionis get drafted 20th overall. Head coach Brad Underwood has loaded up his team with European talent, including David Mirkovic. One of four international players added to the roster, Mirkovic had 19 points and 14 rebounds in a 113-55 win over Jackson State.

4, UCLA Bruins (1-0)

After an up-and-down 23-win season, UCLA coach Mick Cronin knows what he needs to compete in the physical conference. So, while he retained Tyler Bilodeau, Skyy Clark, and Eric Dailey, UCLA added New Mexico transfer Donovan Dent (20.4 ppg, 6.4 assists) to run the point, and Michigan State forward Xavier Booker was a key addition. Dent had 21 points and nine assists while Booker had 14 points and seven rebounds in an 80-74 win over Eastern Washington.

5, Wisconsin Badgers (1-0)

Losing 11 players off last year's roster, including All-American John Tonje, the Badgers retained program cornerstones John Blackwell and Nolan Winter and built around them with four players out of the portal and four incoming freshmen. Blackwell and senior guard Nick Boyd complements each other well, but the x-factor is the frontcourt with Winter and sophomore Austin Rapp. Winter notched a double-double in the 96-64 win over Campbell while Rapp added 13.

John Blackwell is showing why he is on the Naismith Award Watch list.

31 points on 10-for-19 shooting.
Ties his career-high with six three-pointers
Three assists to one turnover.

He. Is. Good. #Badgers
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) November 4, 2025

6, Michigan State Spartans (1-0)

The Spartans return four rotation players - Coen Carr (8.1 ppg), Jaxon Kohler (7.8 ppg), Jeremy Fears Jr. (7.2 ppg), and Carson Cooper (5.0 ppg) - from a team that won 30 games and a regular-season conference title by three games last season. Not surprisingly, all four scored in double figures in the opener, but the Spartans didn't get much beyond them in an 80-69 win over Colgate. If Tom Izzo wants a 12th regular-season title, the Spartans have to develop some depth after losing their top three scorers.

7, Indiana Hoosiers (1-0)

New head coach Darian DeVries walked into his new job with no returning players but rebuilt the roster with 11 transfers and five freshmen. Sam Houston transfer senior guard Lamar Wilkerson averaged 20.8 ppg, while Davidson senior forward Reed Bailey averaged 18.8 ppg. The pair had 19 and 21 points, respectively, in the Hoosiers' 98-51 win over Alabama A&M, a night where the home team shot 62.1 percent from the floor.

8, Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-0)

The Huskers were ranked 14th in the preseason media poll after losing its leading scorers, but Nebraska has looked solid in the preseason. They hit 16 three-pointers and shot 47 percent from three in an exhibition win over No.8 BYU and cruised in its opener, 86-53, over West Georgia.

Nebraska added seven players from the portal, but the two big pieces are senior guard Connor Essegian and Rienk Mast, the latter who missed all last season recovering from knee surgery. In the win over BYU, Mast had 31 on seven 3-pointers, five rebounds, and three assists.

9, Maryland Terrapins (1-0)

After its surprise run to the Sweet 16 last season, Maryland saw head coach Kevin Willard leave for Villanova, freshman center Derik Queen be a lottery pick, and senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie transferring to Tennessee, one of 10 players the Terps lost to the portal. Enter head coach Buzz Williams, who brought four players from his previous stop at Texas A&M. One of those players - senior forward Pharrell Payne - had 21 points in the season-opening 83-61 win over Coppin State.

10, Ohio State Buckeyes (1-0)

Senior Bruce Thornton is still around, as the two-time All-Big Ten selection gives Ohio State a solid piece. Head coach Jake Diebler added four players through the portal, including senior forward Brandon Noel (19.0 ppg, 7.7 rebounds), and hopes to pair him with John Mobley Jr., forward Devin Royal, and others. Those three players scored 68 of Ohio State's 118 points in a 16-point win over IU Indianapolis.

11, Washington Huskies (1-0)

The Huskies were 4-16 in the league last season but have brought in seven new transfers to beef up the roster. Two are those players are from USC in senior guard Desmond Claude (team-high 15.8 ppg) and Wesley Yates III (second-best at 14.2 ppg). The Huskies also added the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year in Jacob Ognacevic (20.0 ppg) and the Southern Conference Player of the Year in Quimari Peterson (19.5 ppg). Throw in German freshman Hannes Steinbach (game-high 21 points in the 94-50 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff) and the Huskies should be better.

12, USC Trojans (1-0)

Eric Musselman has turned over nearly his entire roster but added plenty of scoring out of the portal. Of the nine players he added, seven averaged double figures last year at their previous school, with Utah's Ezra Ausar (12.5 ppg), Auburn's Chad Baker-Mazara (12.3 ppg, 2.7 assists), and Maryland's Rodney Rice (13.8 ppg) doing it at the high-major level. Virginia's Jacob Cofie averaged just 7.2 points at Virginia, but his 23 points and 10 rebounds led USC in a 94-64 win over Cal Poly.

13, Oregon Ducks (1-0)

The Ducks have two solid pieces in senior center Nate Bittle (third-team All-Big Ten at 14.2 ppg, 7.6 rbds) and junior guard Jackson Shelstad (13.7 ppg), but the head coach Dana Altman has to replace a lot of pieces. Worse yet, Shelstad is currently out with a broken right hand and hopes to return by the end of the month. That's going to make the gelling process take even longer, as evidenced by Oregon's nail-biting 60-59 win over Hawaii that included a Warriors' winning shot missing just wide as time expired.

14, Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0)

Ben McCollum went 31-4 in his only season at Drake before leaving for Iowa, but he didn't come alone. Five players followed him to Iowa City, including Bennett Stirtz, who was the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year and scored 19 points in a 101-69 win over Robert Morris.

15, Northwestern Wildcats (1-0)

Head coach Chris Collins got huge news when forward Nick Martinelli chose to withdraw from the NBA draft and return for his senior season. That gives the Wildcats a veteran program voice amid the eight newcomers Collins added to the roster. One of those players - Arrinten Page - had 18 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists in a 70-47 win over Mercyhurst.

16, Minnesota Gophers (1-0)

Returning only two players from last season, first-year head coach Niko Medved relied on an experienced guard and a familiar forward to beat Gardner-Webb, 87-60. Playing last season at North Carolina, Cade Tyson scored 30 points (8-for-12, 10-for-12 FTs) while Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who followed Medved from Colorado State, had 13 points and 14 rebounds.

17, Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-0)

Rutgers failed to get the NCAA Tournament last season with two top-five NBA Draft picks - guards Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper - on its roster. The Scarlet Knights have 10 new players and only four returners, but will probably play Steve Pikiell's brand of basketball - tough and physical.

Junior guard Tariq Francis, a transfer from NJIT, led the America East with 19.2 points per game last season and had a game-high 20 in Rutgers' 81-53 win over Rider.

18, Penn State Nittany Lions (1-0)

The Nittany Lions have only one senior on their roster and eight freshmen. Melih Tunca is one of them, and his 19 points and six assists were big in a 75-68 win over Fairfield. Penn State trailed by three points with 2:17 remaining, but Tunca had six of Penn State's last 11 points on an 11-0 run to end the game.

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