Ohio State is Big Ten's best; Gophers, Badgers, Hawkeyes all in bottom 5

Marcus Fuller's rankings, with five teams to watch:

1. Ohio State (21-5, 12-1): Fired ex-OSU coach Thad Matta is sitting around somewhere probably thinking he deserves loads of credit for the Buckeyes' incredible start, especially for recruiting All-America candidate Keita Bates-Diop.

2. Purdue (23-3, 12-1): They suffered their first loss Wednesday since back-to-back defeats in November, but they could lose two in a row again facing the Spartans on Saturday.

3. Michigan St. (23-3, 11-2)

4. Nebraska (18-8, 9-4)

5. Michigan (19-7, 8-5): They will likely drop out of the top 25 next week after losing at Northwestern, even if they bounce back this weekend at Wisconsin.

6. Penn State (17-9, 7-6): Quietly, the Nittany Lions are creeping up the standings after winning four of five, including against Ohio State, Iowa and Maryland.

8. Northwestern (15-10, 6-6): NU beat Michigan again. But no way does it top how magical last year's buzzer-beater was, basically solidifying the program's first NCAA bid.

9. Indiana (13-12, 6-7)

10. Iowa (12-14, 3-10)

11. Wisconsin (11-15, 4-9)

12. Minnesota (14-12, 3-10)