Impact the World is a powerful new original series that shifts the focus from the playing field to the world stage where Big Ten professors and students are making their presence known. Hosted by Dennis Haysbert, tonight’s episode explores three inspirational stories of outreach and impact in Africa, featuring Purdue, Indiana and Wisconsin. Here’s a list of other upcoming shows.

Illinois facing Northwestern on Monday night was the only women’s basketball game on the slate and it was a close one. Dannielle Diamant scored 16 points as Northwestern edged Illinois for a 59-58 win. Watch highlights of the action now and tune in to BTN on Thursday for another night of women’s basketball action.

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart’s weekly Big Ten player rankings are in, with the same big men remaining at the head of the class. Those players, of course, are Indiana’s Cody Zeller, Michigan State’s Draymond Green and Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger.

It’s time to release my latest Big Ten men’s hoops power rankings. The rankings are not meant to mimic the Big Ten standings. What fun would that be? They aren’t scientific, either. They’re simply my thoughts on where each Big Ten team stands right now and who would win on a neutral court. Agree? Disagree? Tweet @BTNBrentYarina or leave your comments below. See Brent’s rankings in this post. The latest national polls are out, as well. Where does your team land? And check out all of the Big Ten statistical leaders.

Up is down. In is out. Black is white. Welcome to Big Ten basketball 2012, a season filled with twists and turns that have jumbled the race (standings). And the conference season isn’t even half over. This past week was filled with tumult that scrambled the league standings and made one thing perfectly clear: This is going to be a wild race for the Big Ten championship.