When Rutgers' women's basketball team defeated No. 1 Tennessee at home Monday night, it was the first time an unranked team defeated the nation's top-ranked team. But it was not the first time that the nation's No. 1 team was beaten by the Scarlet Knights.
The upset hit home with Penn State, which was ranked atop the polls when it lost to 13th-ranked Rutgers on Jan. 12, 1991.
Now Big Ten conference-members Iowa (11-0, 4-0) and the Lady Lions (12-0, 4-0) have Rutgers to thank. They are both likely to move up one position to the No. 1 and 2 rankings in the nation, respectively.
Not only does the Big Ten have five members ranked in the top 25, but now is in the position to elevate itself to the nation's elite.
"We're one of the strongest conferences in the country," Ohio State Coach Nancy Darsch said. "We have five teams that are ranked and that says you have a strong conference and we probably have six very good teams. And then we have some teams that on any given night could probably beat anyone else."
Purdue has been the surprise among the conference teams. Slated to finish fifth in the coaches preseason poll, the Boilermakers (12-3, 3-1) are ranked No. 13 and coming off a 76-52 victory at Ohio State. The Buckeyes (9-4, 2-1) and Northwestern (7-3, 0-2) are ranked 17th and 18th in national polls, respectively, but have had trouble with conference opponents.
"You can no longer take teams for granted. You can't just walk on the floor and win. Every team, with the exception of Michigan, is capable," Northwestern Coach Don Perrelli said. "Yes there's parity, but (it will go unrecognized) until we can beat one of the national powers to show there is parity. But there are going to be upsets."
Indiana entered last weekend as one of only five undefeated teams in the nation at 10-0, but the Hoosiers had played a relatively easy schedule and were unranked. It showed when they were blown out in consecutive road games at Penn State, 94-66, and Ohio State, 92-65.
Northwestern, however, racked up seven wins before facing Iowa, Penn State and No. 4 North Carolina within a 10-day span. The Wildcats lost all three games and are tied with Michigan (3-10, 0-4) at the cellar of the Big Ten conference standings. Yet they did not budge from their national ranking.
"To lose to people that are in the top five in the country, I don't think you should be that severely penalized for it," Darsch said in support of Northwestern's standstill. "I don't think that means that they're not a top-25 team. Their schedule was pretty brutal."
As far as conferences are concerned, the Southeastern Conference is still considered the nation's premier league, with Tennessee (14-1) and No. 5 Vanderbilt (13-2). But Big Ten coaches feel their conference isn't too far behind, if not already on the same level.
"I don't think the Big Ten gets very much respect," Perrelli said. "The SEC was the premier conference for a long time. But I think people are catching up to the SEC."
Said Darsch: "I don't think the SEC is as good as they claim to be because they only play each other once. I think that they are a very strong conference, but if you look at a lot of their schedules, they play a lot of very weak teams and they pad their schedule for their record. I think the Big Ten, I wouldn't say is as good, but we're very close to having a similar reputation as the SEC."
