in continuing with themed power rankings, this week belongs to The White Stripes. As weird as they may be, Jack and Meg have consistently come out with excellent music for the majority of the last decade. So let's find a soapbox where we can shout it.
1 ( previously 1) Michigan State: "If you can hear a piano fall, you can hear me coming down the hall." Everyone in the conference can hear the Spartans coming, yet still no one can beat them. Despite some close calls this week, they're 7-0 and looking like a near lock to win the conference.
2 (4) Purdue: "So what, somebody left you in a rut." The Boilers were in a rut after three straight losses, but they bounced back very nicely this week with a win at Illinois and a dominating home win over Michigan.
3 (2) Ohio State: "I'm thinking about my doorbell; when you gonna ring it?" Evan Turner is wondering when an NBA team will ring his doorbell to tell him he's been drafted, and according to this article it will be in the top 3. Always a good sign when you're being compared to Oscar Robertson.
4 (3) Wisconsin: "These two sides of my brain need to have a meeting." I look at the talent of Wisconsin's players and my brain tells me one thing, then I look at their record and my brain tells me something completely different. The Badgers have no business being in 2nd place in the conference with their current roster, and yet here they are. Bo Ryan continues his great coaching and different guys are stepping up every night to keep this team winning.
5 (5) Minnesota: "Put on gloves, a tight scarf and wrap up warm, on this winter night." The Gophers need to do everything they can to get warm (or hot) for Tuesday's night home game against Northwestern, as they've lost 3 in a row and desperately need to turn things around.
6 (7) Northwestern: "Is there a way to find the cure for this implanted in a pill?" Unfortunately, there's no magic pill to get the 'Cats to the NCAA tournament. A split this week at Minnesota and Michigan State would go a long way towards getting them there though.
7 (6) Illinois: "If i could find emotion, to stimulate devotion, well then you'd see." Bruce Weber is not happy with his players, as he forbade them from speaking to the media after Saturday's loss. The talent is there for the Illini, but the players have yet to buy in and an NCAA bid appears to be in jeopardy.
8 (8) Michigan: "You'll probably call me a fool and say I'm doing exactly what a coward would do." This goes out to Manny Harris for foolishly acting out in practice and getting himself suspended indefinitely. Michigan definitely would have moved down in the rankings in a normal week but the teams behind them didn't show enough to move up.
9 (9) Indiana: "Each simple gesture done by me is counteracted and leaves me standing here with nothing else to say." Tom Crean did everything he could to get his team to play better against Iowa, but the Hoosiers were dominated on the boards and shot the ball very poorly, so there wasn't much to say after the game. Such inconsistency is expected from a young team, but that was a frustrating loss for Indiana coming off 2 straight wins.
10 (10) Iowa: "All of your pretty, your pretty little rags and bones." Despite the least talent in the conference, Iowa has been playing well for two straight weeks now, going 3-1 with the only loss a close one to Michigan State. The Hawkeyes are not going to be the complete pushover everyone expected.
11 (11) Penn State: "All the dough I give you Holly, you've been using on pain pills." Ed DeChellis is probably using the money from his recent contract extension on painkillers, as his team suffered an absolutely heartbreaking loss at Wisconsin yesterday to fall to 0-7 in league play.
Those are the rankings for this week, disagree early and often. I have more musical themes planned for future weeks, in two wildly different genres, so stay tuned for those.