Purdue-Indiana, Michigan-Maryland Highlight Big Ten Weekend Schedule

We've got 10 of 14 teams in action this weekend as the Big Ten's crowded Top 8 all seek to extricate themselves from the pack and make a charge at the regular-season crown! Here are your previews, rankings updates, and open-thread for the weekend.

For rankings, we'll throw the Kenpom, StewPoll, and the Massey Composite ratings at you side-by-side for some compare-contrast.

Saturday

Penn State (13-13, 4-9) at Rutgers (6-20, 0-13)

12pm, ESPNU

Penn State Nittany Lions (13-13, 4-9)
Kenpom	133	StewPoll	157	Massey Composite	129

Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-20, 0-13)
Kenpom	284	StewPoll	300	Massey Composite	269

Aaron Yorke: Penn State is playing Rutgers on Saturday in Piscataway and I'm scared the Lions are going to lose. Sure the Knights have not won a single game since defeating UMass-Lowell on December 28, but Penn State is just 2-7 in road games this season. Brandon Taylor has been the only consistent performer for this team, but if Shep Garner and Donovon Jack can at least show a little bit of that spark that made the Iowa game so memorable, the Lions could be in line for consecutive conference wins for the first time this year.

Ohio State (17-10, 9-5) at Nebraska (14-13, 6-8)

6pm,BTN

Ohio State Buckeyes (17-10, 9-5)
Kenpom	66	StewPoll	74	Massey Composite	78

Nebraska Cornhuskers (14-13, 6-8)
Kenpom	94	StewPoll	135	Massey Composite	94

Jesse Collins: Nebraska plays Ohio State on Saturday in a game where both teams certainly are in a 'must win' of sorts. Nebraska still has a puncher's chance at the NIT, but it will take a lot better defense than they showed against Indiana. As of now, I have no idea if Shields will be back - at all, really - but we could sure use him as a spark. I like that this game is at home for Nebraska, but who knows what that will do for the team. We're playing above where most people thought we would, so hey, things could be worse. Time to make a run at some postseason play now.

This is a sidenote, but Nebraska and Ohio State are very similar statistically, but OSU has far fewer dumb losses... But seriously, this should be a fun game, but I just can't imagine Ohio State running Nebraska out of the building.

#17 Purdue (21-6, 9-5) at #22 Indiana (21-6, 11-3)

7:30pm, ESPN

#17 Purdue Boilermakers (21-6, 9-5)
Kenpom	17	StewPoll	15	Massey Composite	17

#22 Indiana Hoosiers (21-6, 11-3)
Kenpom	20	StewPoll	21	Massey Composite	20

babaoreally: Purdue travels south to face Indiana in their only game of the season. The Boilers have won the last three meetings, including a win at IU last season. This is the first time in a long time that both teams are ranked when facing each other. Indiana has a more perimeter-oriented team, while Purdue will want to keeping feeding their big men inside.

This is a big game for the Hoosiers, as they look to stay atop the conference. The Boilers, meanwhile, are looking at trying to move up in the standings to secure a double bye in the conference tournament.

While not an expert or surprising prediction by any means, I think Tom "Bryl" Crean will make the proper pants adjustments to lead the Hoosiers to a victory.

Sunday

Michigan (19-8, 9-5) at #6 Maryland (22-5, 10-4)

12pm, CBS

Michigan Wolverines (19-8, 9-5)
Kenpom	50	StewPoll	52	Massey Composite	37

#6 Maryland Terrapins (22-5, 10-4)
Kenpom	19	StewPoll	14	Massey Composite	11

Illinois (12-14, 4-9) at Wisconsin (16-10, 8-5)

6:30pm, BTN

Line

Illinois Fighting Illini (12-14, 4-9)
Kenpom	124	StewPoll	169	Massey Composite	124

Wisconsin Badgers (16-10, 8-5)
Kenpom	38	StewPoll	59	Massey Composite	38

#4 Iowa Hawkeyes (20-6, 11-3)
Kenpom	10	StewPoll	18	Massey Composite	8

Stewmonkey13: Iowa is off this weekend.  They'll get some much needed rest as they haven't had a bye period in about 6 weeks.  Hopefully they'll get their legs under them and be able to finish strong in the stretch run with the possibility to still win the conference.

#8 Michigan State Spartans (21-5, 9-5)
Kenpom	3	StewPoll	7	Massey Composite	5

Northwestern Wildcats (17-10, 5-9)
Kenpom	93	StewPoll	94	Massey Composite	85

MNW: Northwestern takes the weekend off. A Wednesday date at Michigan looms, and the 'Cats will need to bring their 'A' defense to that one.

Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-19, 1-13)
Kenpom	167	StewPoll	237	Massey Composite	186

WhiteSpeedReceiver: Weekend preview: WE'RE RIDING OUR WINNING STREAK INTO THE RUTGERS GAME ON TUESDAY! WOO! Sure, it's more of a "not losing streak of 1" than a "winning streak," but I don't care about semantics right now.

---

This will serve as your open thread for the weekend of Big Ten basketball! Normal rules apply.