BradFan Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Four in the Sweet 16...ZERO for the Big 10. Quite a differential. Interesting to think that Marquette was the only one of the four new entries to the Big East to make it to the dance, and they didn't last long. If it weren't for the MVC, midwest basketball would be looking pretty weak right now. But we know these things go in streaks. Also looking weak - the RPI system. Wasn't the Big 10 the top rated conference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 The NCAA is all about matchups once a team makes the tourney...different matchups would produce different results. Sometimes seeds seem right, other times seeds are way off...i.e. Syracuse. It happens. Alabama for example is a few inches away from being in the swwet 16 playing Gonzaga..with chance to move on past that after squeaker loss to UCLA and win over Marquette. They had a guy score 31 points..on 8-11 3's....in first game...a guy who averages 8 points and 20 something percent from 3...he made ZERO in game two. Who knows if Wichita St. get s by Bama as a 10 as opposed to Seton Hall? etc....Bama is streaky good, long and athletic on the wing, but really two big time players. If a school like Marquette would have won one more game, they probably get a 5 seed at worst and matchup elsewhere. Bama menawhile played great, and then were whiskers of beating the 2 seed. Illinois probably moves forward against a less athletic and smaller team...but since Roy and company can matchup with Dee Brown defensively...it changes U of I's whole game. But obviously teams have to play who is in front of you., and that is how it goes. Big Ten did have a nice regular season...but they didn't have strong top teams....the Big East had a ton of depth, plus a lot of strong top level teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradFan Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 With the exception of Michigan State's championship team a few years back and Illinois last year, I just don't think the Big Ten has had many powerhouses in the past few years. Wisconsin (post-Soderberg) won the league title a few times, but I thought the competition level was far down from the days when Izzo had his best teams, Knight was still coaching, etc. Today, Big Ten has an uncompetitive Minnesota (not the case in the 90s), Ohio State just coming off a bad stretch, Iowa better this year, but still not what they were in the Dr. Tom days, etc. Just not as competitive nationally as they used to be. ACC and BIg East and maybe the Pac 10 stand out right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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