(03-30-2015 11:53 AM)stxrunner Wrote: Let's not get carried away. The Big Ten was still solid enough this year, but it was a major down year in basketball.
Mark Titus sums it up well:
"14. It’s still teams — not conferences — winning these games.
Everyone who’s pretending that Wisconsin and Michigan State making the Final Four means the Big Ten was one of the best conferences in college basketball this season needs to step away from the Internet. The Big Ten was decent, but it was nowhere close to as good as it’s been in recent years. Getting two schools in the Final Four doesn’t change that. All it means is that those two teams haven’t lost in the NCAA tournament. As an Ohio State alum, I’m not going to pretend my team was slightly less crappy because three of its 11 losses came against Final Four teams. The same goes for the turd of a season Illinois squirted out, the season Michigan fans can’t forget fast enough, Minnesota’s disappointment, and Nebraska’s embarrassment.
Are we really going to let eight games that were played by two teams over the course of 10 days erase the rest of the Big Ten season? Are we really going to forget how Mike Tirico sounded like he had an ulcer flaring up whenever he called Big Ten games that didn’t involve Wisconsin? Just because the Big Ten has one good team and another team coached by Izzo doesn’t mean the league didn’t suck as much as we thought it did before the NCAA tournament."
By the league's understandable lofty standards for bball, this was still a bad year no matter how you slice it. The fact that UConn won the nat'l championship last year doesn't all of a sudden make the AAC a good league, and the same is true in this case.
Although I'll definitely agree the B1G in general gets way too much crap.
(03-30-2015 07:07 PM)He1nousOne Wrote: This is very true. The Big Ten did have a down year in regards to perception during the season. At the end of the year though we found out that The Big Ten was just fine.
The Big Ten started out the season a bit overrated, as their past history (including last year) was very strong. They had a bad OOC run, and the pendulum quickly swung back the other direction. They were much better in March, proving that a conference's strength can develop during the year. I was pointing out that the Big Ten has high expectations, and they should. The conference fell a little short of those this year, although I'll admit that Wisky or MSU winning the title certainly does change that overall look of the Big Ten's basketball year.
Quote: When we talk about conferences and "brag" we don't brag about strength across the board. That is only what folks talk about when their conference didn't produce a champion. Conferences produce champions. Champions are built through the grind of the conference schedule.
Actually, strength across the board absolutely matters when talking about a conference. My example absolutely applies here. One team can be significantly better than their conference mates, and win a championship. Doesn't mean their conference is amazing all of a sudden. The MVC or CAA doesn't suddenly become elite because Wichita St, VCU, or George Mason makes the final four.
Quote:To compare UConn winning with the possibility that we may have an all Big Ten Championship Game makes it not even comparable. Whom else in the AAC would have gotten that far? No one, sorry but in this regard your argument is falling flat on it's face Cincy. I can tell you are trying to say some nice things but you still have the habit of having to have some kind of negative twist every time you talk about The Big Ten.
If you are referring to my example about last year, then UofL certainly could have gotten that far last year. Would have played UConn in the championship. Not really sure what you are saying here...
And Cincy has nothing to do with this. Dude, I grew up on Big Ten football and Cincy basketball. I live in Chicago and love the atmosphere around here. I have a damn favorable opinion of the Big Ten. I mean, my better half is an OSU grad, so I don't have a choice
. But I'm allowed to be objective about it for goodness sakes. I don't have some ninja vendetta against the conference. Having something negative to balance out the positives doesn't mean I'm some B1G hating troll.
Like I said, the B1G gets way too much crap, so I can understand the sensitivity, but you really need to see the devil's advocate sometimes.
