(03-07-2017 01:59 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  

(03-07-2017 11:03 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  The Big Ten is definitely down this year. However, I'm not sure of the purpose of this thread. Every coach in every sport is obligated by the sports gods to pump up his/her conference as being strong/underrated/under appreciated as much as possible in every public statement. It's College Coach Interview Answers 101. I'm not sure why anyone expects anything less than that. What is Izzo going to do: say the Big Ten is down and then depress his own team's prospects for the NCAA Tournament? He's still fighting for an at-large bid! It's just like the incredulousness I see from people when a Democrat doesn't say anything nice about a Republican or vice versa. Anyone with half a brain knows the truth, but we also need to recognize that this is just how the game is played.

The purpose was to show the whining...

Quote:While most people still have the Spartans in the tournament, head coach Tom Izzo was asked after the game if his team deserved a spot in the field of 68. He suggested his program's chances may be hurt because the Big Ten is underpromoted as a conference.

"I blame all you guys (the media)," Izzo said, according to Brendan F. Quinn of MLive.com. "I'm going to blame everybody in this room. We have not done a good job of promoting the Big Ten."

The Big 10 has never been underpromoted... geez...they have a 24/7 channel devoted to self promotion as we have been reminded of daily by B1G fanboys.

I mean, I guess I just don't understand the consternation. This is all from the Coach Speak 101 Handbook. Blame the media, blame the publicity, blame the communication... but never blame the actual play of the conference itself. What else do you expect? Once again, this is one and the same with politicians. Politicians NEVER admit that their policies are bad. However, they'll always blame the "messaging" or the "communication" or the "media bias" when a policy is unpopular or doesn't get passed. It's never that the policy is bad, but rather that the "message isn't getting out properly to the American people." To be sure, this is a bipartisan disease - Obama did it before and Trump is doing it now. (Literally this past week Trump gave himself an "A" for achievement and a "C" for messaging. It's always easier to blame something on perception than it is on the actual substance.) Regardless, coaches are whining liars that will throw the media under the bus in order to maybe turn one NCAA Tournament committee voter the other way. They're literally politicians. Who cares what they're whining about (outside of message board land)?