Another week, another Big Ten showdown with national implications.

With a five-game win streak including last week’s 75-52 rout of Michigan, Michigan State has gone from sneaky Final Four contender to potential No. 1 seed. The Spartans, who moved from No. 9 to No. 3 in our rankings this week, will have their chance to test that in their second meeting with Indiana this season.

Is it time to start celebrating or time to start worrying?

Those are the questions fans of a handful of teams will start asking over the next month or so of the season. Are NCAA bids or conference contender status being locked up? Or for other teams, are the wheels to a satisfying season starting to fall off?

Another week, another No. 1 in the Athlon Sports college basketball power rankings.

For the third week in a row, we have a new team in the top spot following Duke two weeks ago, then Michigan. We return to an old friend at No. 1 in Indiana, who defeated the Wolverines 81-73 on Saturday.

Miami’s 90-63 drubbing of Duke last week shuffled the power rankings in more ways than one.

As the college basketball season nears the end of the first month of the new year, the standings still reveal a handful of surprises.

Instead of Arizona and UCLA, Oregon is atop the Pac-12. Ole Miss is undefeated in the SEC, though the Rebels have yet to run into the Florida steamroller. Meanwhile, Miami is the only team unscathed in ACC play.

With 347 Division I teams, following college basketball can be overwhelming. Let Athlon Sports start your college hoops week each Monday with a look at some of the most intriguing, most important and most interesting stats from around the sport:

One of the critiques of the 2012-13 college basketball season has been a lack of eye-popping players vying for player of the year awards. Think of Player of the Year performances and competitions in recent years by Anthony Davis, Jimmer Fredette, Kemba Walker, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Tyler Hansbrough and Michael Beasley.

Adding to the confusion, the top prospect for the NBA Draft is unsettled, too.

If you listen closely, you can almost hear the whispers: Bracketology, bubble watch, resumes, seeding, RPI.

The college basketball season is halfway through January and the conference races are starting to be determined. Though most conferences have only made a dent into league play, we have a pretty good idea of which leagues are going to have a ton of bids (Big Ten) and which are not (SEC).

The college basketball season is rolling along as we’ve reached the halfway point to the Final Four.

Butler coach Brad Stevens

The Hoosier State doesn’t belong to the Hoosiers, at least not entirely.