The Big Ten was a mediocre conference again WHY

longtimer

Well-Known Member
It has been over 20 years since a Big Ten Team has won it all and not likely to happen this year. Only Michigan State advances. The conference has tons of money and exposure. Is located in a good recruiting area for basketball with Chicago Detroit and now New York and even Iowa has produced good players. So why does a conference that always claims to be the best or near the top continue to really struggle in March??
 
Basketball is about matchups and circumstances. When and where do you play who all factor as much as the names on the jerseys. FDU and Purdue was a literal David vs Goliath matchup. Shortest team against the tallest and their styles contrasted. Factor in FDU had senior guards against Purdues freshman. Experienced quick guards that can shoot usually win the day in the tournaments.
 
It has been over 20 years since a Big Ten Team has won it all and not likely to happen this year. Only Michigan State advances. The conference has tons of money and exposure. Is located in a good recruiting area for basketball with Chicago Detroit and now New York and even Iowa has produced good players. So why does a conference that always claims to be the best or near the top continue to really struggle in March??
The B1G was a mediocre conference this year because it's a mediocre conference.

The reason a particular conference looks good or bad during the regular season and then different once the tournament comes around is because teams only play in their own conference during the rest of the season. There's no real world comparison until they get to the tournament.

You can't say the Big Ten or any other conference is the best or near the top because the only sample you have to draw from is the rest of that league.
 
Michigan State is really the last Bluish Blood program the Big10 has left, and I think NIL and time are slowly grinding Izzo out of the game.

Unless and until Indiana and Michigan return to Blue Blood status, and I am not sure that either has the right coach to do that, then the Big 10 will remain a conference headlined by next tier down programs like Maryland and Purdue.

Adding UCLA will help, but not solve the problem. The only real solution I see in the short term is to buy Kansas. That would instantly solve the Big Ten's credibility and talent gap. I don't see that happening, so expect the Big10 to be the 4-5ish best conference behind the Big East, Little 12, and either or both of the ACC/ SEC for the medium term.
 
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Two things I've noticed when watching the other good to really good teams in the tournament from other conferences.
1) Most BIG teams play soft and are NOT as tough and physical as many other teams.
2) The BIG teams, because of #1, are used to playing to the BIG officials that probably call a tighter and nitpicky game compared to officials from other leagues. They don't seem to do well adjusting to the officiating in the tournament. Well, Mich St. seems to know how to adjust a bit.
 
Two things I've noticed when watching the other good to really good teams in the tournament from other conferences.
1) Most BIG teams play soft and are NOT as tough and physical as many other teams.
2) The BIG teams, because of #1, are used to playing to the BIG officials that probably call a tighter and nitpicky game compared to officials from other leagues. They don't seem to do well adjusting to the officiating in the tournament. Well, Mich St. seems to know how to adjust a bit.
#1 is exactly opposite of the historical perception of the BIG10or14or20. It's always been the rationale that the conference is TOO physical, then gets whistled out of the tourney due to finesse and guard play dominating there.

Now, I'd tend to agree with you. This NCAA is the most physical, disorganized playground ball I've ever seen. It's why a team like Iowa (about as soft as they come) didn't stand a chance. Meanwhile, teams like Tennessee - with a roster full of 26 year-old giant foreign men - just brutalizes whoever they play and many more than usual sweet-16 teams (Bama, SDSU, Houston, Tenn, Ark, Mich St) are known as much for their physical D as for their overall talent.

#2 Of all B10-ish teams, Michigan St has always played a handsy style of D. It's been Izzo's teams' calling card along with him knowing how to work the refs to swallow whistles. He was concerned his guys weren't defending a couple weeks ago, now, it's just been an easy flip-the-switch for him, since, they are just letting teams play this tourney.
 
The 24th and final edition of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge saw the Atlantic Coast Conference snap a three-year losing streak to the Big Ten, winning the Challenge by a score of 8-6 for the first time since 2017.

I think looking *only* at the NCAA tourney is a bit myopic.

I'd also like to see what the B1G's record (non-conf) is/was against other power 5 conf teams.
 
I think the rise of the Big East has cut into some of the recruits that might have become players in the B1G. And there are probably some other conferences you could name also. The B1G just doesn't have the roster of players some of these other teams have. And maybe teams in this conferences are not taking advantage of the transfer portal as much as others.

I do think this stuff is cyclical and could see this turning around in short order. Everyone thought the Big 12 was the be-all-end-all conference this year and they only have 2 teams in the Sweet 16.
 
The top of the big 10 hasn't been great for awhile and the traditional blue bloods of the conference have been down. That's why it's been so long since they've won a championship.

As far as why they've sucked in the tourney lately. I'd say last year was kinda random and this year the conference got seeded shitty due to last year's showing.

The Big 12 beat on each other all year while the talking heads sucked their Ds all year saying how good they were. They got higher seeds. The Big 10 beat up on each other all year while the talking heads called them all mediocre. They got mediocre seeds destined to lose 2nd round. The Purdue loss was a fluke.
 
The 24th and final edition of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge saw the Atlantic Coast Conference snap a three-year losing streak to the Big Ten, winning the Challenge by a score of 8-6 for the first time since 2017.

I think looking *only* at the NCAA tourney is a bit myopic.

I'd also like to see what the B1G's record (non-conf) is/was against other power 5 conf teams.
The Big 10 lost to the ACC in the challenge every year for a long time. Recently they have won it a lot. The only thing the Big 10 lacks in national Champ level teams.
 
Maybe this is a good reason to have 2 mega conferences as a spillover from football. We'd get to see how we stacked up against other teams during the season.
 
The Big 10 lost to the ACC in the challenge every year for a long time. Recently they have won it a lot. The only thing the Big 10 lacks in national Champ level teams.


'Played yearly from 1999 to 2022, the Challenge is the longest-running interconference men's basketball challenge series. Across more than two decades of the Challenge, the ACC led 13–8–3 in the series and 152–127 in games. The ACC won the first 10 consecutive challenges, but only two of the next 13 challenges."
 
I do think one issue that hurts us and frankly college BB in general is each conference employing their own refs. It is such a weird quick of college sports versus pros of having refs that just service their corner of the sport until playoff/bowl time and then the refs are unleashed to ref whomever during the most critical games.

While the rules read the same for everyone, we all know there are differences in how conferences allow or do not allow certain types of physical play. If the sport is largely judged by this end of season national tourney, the refs should be judged and retained under a central supervising entity and not assigned to any given conference.
 
It has been over 20 years since a Big Ten Team has won it all and not likely to happen this year. Only Michigan State advances. The conference has tons of money and exposure. Is located in a good recruiting area for basketball with Chicago Detroit and now New York and even Iowa has produced good players. So why does a conference that always claims to be the best or near the top continue to really struggle in March??
I think the struggle gets exaggerated a bit.

The Big Ten has had 7 teams in the championship game over the last 21 years - so every third year they've been 40 minutes from a championship. Most those games were really good - not like the Big Ten team came out and was clearly overmatched.

When you scan the list of championship games from the last two decades, what really stands out is how a handful of coaches have dominated. Coach K, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Jay Wright, Calipari, Billy Donovan.

If you put one of those guys at Ohio State or Michigan or Indiana, don't you think we'd see the Big Ten have a couple titles?
 
The BigTen seems to have a paradigm that has remained the same forever

Other major conferences have changed over the years to an NBA style of play and similar athletes

Same Ol'...Same Ol'

Same Old GIFs | Tenor
 
I do think one issue that hurts us and frankly college BB in general is each conference employing their own refs. It is such a weird quick of college sports versus pros of having refs that just service their corner of the sport until playoff/bowl time and then the refs are unleashed to ref whomever during the most critical games.

While the rules read the same for everyone, we all know there are differences in how conferences allow or do not allow certain types of physical play. If the sport is largely judged by this end of season national tourney, the refs should be judged and retained under a central supervising entity and not assigned to any given conference.

The zebras in the first half of the Iowa-Auburn game can from the depths of Hell
 
#1 is exactly opposite of the historical perception of the BIG10or14or20. It's always been the rationale that the conference is TOO physical, then gets whistled out of the tourney due to finesse and guard play dominating there.

Now, I'd tend to agree with you. This NCAA is the most physical, disorganized playground ball I've ever seen. It's why a team like Iowa (about as soft as they come) didn't stand a chance. Meanwhile, teams like Tennessee - with a roster full of 26 year-old giant foreign men - just brutalizes whoever they play and many more than usual sweet-16 teams (Bama, SDSU, Houston, Tenn, Ark, Mich St) are known as much for their physical D as for their overall talent.

#2 Of all B10-ish teams, Michigan St has always played a handsy style of D. It's been Izzo's teams' calling card along with him knowing how to work the refs to swallow whistles. He was concerned his guys weren't defending a couple weeks ago, now, it's just been an easy flip-the-switch for him, since, they are just letting teams play this tourney.
You and I bump heads more often than not. However, this is the clearest, most accurate description of the major problem for the BT. Good work.
 
It has been over 20 years since a Big Ten Team has won it all and not likely to happen this year. Only Michigan State advances. The conference has tons of money and exposure. Is located in a good recruiting area for basketball with Chicago Detroit and now New York and even Iowa has produced good players. So why does a conference that always claims to be the best or near the top continue to really struggle in March??
Other than IZZO the conference has no head coach within reach of Coach K, Roy Williams, Lute Olsen, Bill Self, Calapari and Jay Wright. The B1G has good coaches not great coaches. The last 25+ years has been about a select few programs run by the aforementioned. Izzo in a comparison would be last on the list.
I also blame Izzo. He brought basketbrawl to the big ten with his style and intimidation of the officials.

The conference going to 20 conference games led to lower seeds in the tournament. I don't like cupcake games but the wins over non conference opponents eliminate conference losses.
 
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