Big Ten = Big Disappointment
I’m a giant Big Ten (11) fan and I have to say that I am embarrassed by what the conference is doing this season. They get beat every year in the Big Ten/ACC challenge and this year was no different there, but it’s the other things that make me really scratch my head.
The Big Ten features 3 good teams this year in Indiana, Michigan St and Wisconsin. All 3 would be middle of the pack a few years ago when Illinois and Michigan St both made the final 4. What has happened? I watched last saturday as a very very average UCONN team came into Indiana without two key players and beat Indiana in every facet of the game. Indiana was ranked 8th at the time but that is clearly way too high. I’m no fan of Kelvin Sampson at all because I don’t think the guy is a great coach or an honest coach but that’s beside the point. The same day Wisconsin lost to a decent Purdue team that starts 3 freshman who were marginal recruits.
Traditional power schools like Illinois and Iowa just aren’t cutting it either. Illinois has 2 conference wins and they are over the two teams below them. Maybe the Big Ten should be classified as a mid major because they honestly aren’t playing any better than the Sun Belt at this point and I’m embarrassed by it. I’ve heard Bruce Weber talk about Illinois being the best 10-11 team in the country and I don’t get it. He lost at home to Penn st., some Tennessee school and some other schools that I don’t even want to discuss. That shouldn’t happen.
The Big Ten network is supposed to be a strong recruiting tool for the conference teams and it looks like it may be helping as each team has some strong commits or recruits coming in but they can’t get here soon enough. The conference needs Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan st. to be good every year and when they aren’t like this year it makes everyone look average. I expect Michigan and Minnesota to both be good very soon and for Illinois to have this year be the off year of the program and bounce back next year. For now, I’ll turn off the Big Ten network because I’d honestly rather watch Quinnipac play IUPUI at this point.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Oh boy. I watched part of the Illini vs Michigan St game and it was brutal. The final score was 51-41 with neither team wanting to win the game. Illinois leading scorer had 7 points and they shot 37% from the line and missed 10 foul shots in a row. Brutal brutal basketball that makes the conference look terrible. Michigan ST is overrated and I don’t see any team from the Big ten making it to the sweet sixteen without some serious help from the bracketers.