By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With Thursday’s game between Iowa and Michigan State having been canceled due to COVID-19 health concerns, I figured it was a good time to do my first Big Ten power rankings for men’s basketball.

So here we go.

1. Michigan, 5-0, 11-0 – Raise your hand if you predicted that Michigan would be undefeated after 11 games.

Now put your hand down because I don’t believe you.

Nobody outside of maybe Juwan Howard and his players could have seen this coming.

Michigan looked pretty good on paper heading into the season, but it was uncertain if the sum would be as good as the parts.

Howard had to replace multi-year starting point guard Xavier Simpson, and he did so by landing Ivy League transfer Mike Smith from Columbia, who has been a stabilizing force at point guard.

Center Hunter Dickinson has emerged as one of the top freshman in the country.

And the Wolverines are vastly improved on defense, largely due to Howard’s emphasis on defense during the offseason.

Michigan still hasn’t faced Iowa or Illinois, but has convincing wins over Minnesota (82-57), Northwestern (85-66) and Wisconsin (77-54).

The decision to hire Howard as the replacement for John Bielein was met with some skepticism because Howard had never been a head coach at any level before. He had spent over half of his life in the NBA as a player and assistant coach.

But now the skeptics are silent as Michigan continues to show signs of being elite.

Howard knows all about the Michigan tradition as a former member of Michigan’s legendary Fab Five from the early 1990s.

Thought it’s still early with more than half of conference schedule to play, Michigan has shown enough to be ranked first in the Big Ten power rankings.

2. Iowa, 5-1, 11-2 – Take away the Christmas day collapse at Minnesota, and the loss to top-ranked Gonzaga on a neutral court, and there is little to complain about with Iowa.

All-America senior center Luka Garza has been as good as advertised, which is saying a lot, but he hardly is a solo act.

Iowa has multiple 3-point shooters, including maybe the best in program history in senior guard Jordan Bohannon, and that makes it harder for defenses to contain Garza, who also can shoot threes when he isn’t dominating in the post.

Defense is without question Iowa’s biggest concern, but the 102-95 overtime loss at Minnesota on Christmas day seems to have been a wake-up call, considering Iowa has since won four games in a row.

3. Illinois, 5-2, 9-4 – The Fighting Illini have sort of been a disappointment, losing games they shouldn’t lose, like to Maryland at home this past Sunday.

From a talent standpoint, Illinois compares favorably with any team in the conference, while 6-foot-5 junior guard Ayo Dosunmu might be the top NBA prospect in the conference.

Illinois has what it takes to win the regular-season title, and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

But at this point, Brad Underwood’s squad still is struggling with consistency.

4. Wisconsin, 4-2, 10-3 – The Badgers, I’m told, looked slow and old in the loss to Michigan. But I’ve learned my lesson about Wisconsin.

Just when you think the season is about to unravel, Wisconsin figures things out and finishes near the top of the conference standings.

5. tie, Ohio State, 4-3, 10-3; Indiana, 3-3, 8-5; Purdue, 3-3, 8-5; Minnesota, 3-4, 10-4; Rutgers, 3-4, 7-4; Northwestern, 3-4, 6-5; Michigan State, 2-4, 8-4; Maryland, 2-5, 7-6 – I will admit I’m lazy, but that has nothing to do with lumping these eight teams together.

They’re together because they’re so similar from a performance standpoint. Ohio State is probably better than Maryland, but Maryland also just won at Illinois. These eight teams will start to separate as the season progresses. But for now, they deserve each other.

13. tie, Penn State, 0-3, 3-4; Nebraska, 0-5, 4-8 – Misery loves company, so instead of trying to choose between these two bottom feeders, I having them sharing the basement.