Here’s the final regular season Power Rankings and they pretty much line up with the actual standings save for two teams.

Interestingly, Wisconsin has been atop the power rankings for the entire season yet it was only about halfway through conference play that the national polls started to reflect their excellent play. Props to Bo Ryan and the rest of the Badgers for the conference title.

Now, the exceptions. Both Michigan State, #2 in the power rankings, and Illinois, #6, are substantially higher than they eventually wound up in the real rankings. Undoubtedly most of their fans would agree with the disappointment that both teams were underachievers this year. Illinois is the real odd ball however. Their power ranking would suggest that they are a Top 40 team, yet when they are actually playing they look like they could care less whether they win a game or not. I wouldn’t want to face them in the tournament because they appear to have the raw talent to actually make a deep run.

Unfortunately, they turn out to be PSU’s opening round opponent, so here’s hoping that they mail in their effort like they did in the first two games we played them.

Speaking of PSU, you can through a very small blanket over the Nits, Hawkeyes, and Wolverines when it comes to 8th through 10th place in the power rankings.  The three teams are also stacked right up on top of each other in the national rankings holding down the three consecutive spots from 112 on.   So it’s probably appropriate that the actual standings for these three weren’t finalized until the last two conference games of the season late Sunday afternoon.

Penn State got a little bump from their upset over Indiana. PSU’s Pomeroy ranking moved up to 112 from 115 and their RPI went from 155 to 148. Note however, that even with a 148 RPI, the Nits are way behind where one would want to be to lay claim to one of the 113 post season tournament bids.

PSU’s win over Michigan has allowed them to sneak a little ahead of both Iowa and Michigan in the rankings, but for all intents and purposes you can toss a blanket over the three teams. Wisconsin continues to lead the pack and Illinois continues to look out of place.

Amazingly, there’s no change in either the RPI or the Pomeroy rankings today vs Thursday. PSU still sits at 159 in the RPI and 108 in Pomeroy’s system. It’s almost like Saturday’s game didn’t happen.

Penn State’s Pomeroy and RPI rankings, #110 and #162, following their defeat at Minnesota showed virtually now change from their pregame rankings which were #110 and #161.