There’s not supposed to be any judging in this sport. But look how much sway the opinions of sports writers and head coaches hold over the way people bet on college basketball. The AP rankings and the ESPN/USA Today Poll (aka the Coaches’ Poll) are so important that we invariably see results printed like this:

No. 4 Purdue Boilermakers 60, No. 9 Ohio State Buckeyes 57

What do these numbers really mean? The Big Ten Conference also features the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans and the No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers. No other conference has as much talent concentrated at the top of the rankings. But in reality, the Big Ten is not the powerhouse it appears to be