The Big 10 is Doing Just Fine in this Year's Tournament
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I spent the last four days watching college basketball, like many other people did. And it was great. There were a ton of close games, there were some blowouts and there were a ton of upsets. I feel like this tournament has had the most upsets ever. It has been crazy. And fun. I've loved watching it. I usually get bored by the middle of day four, but I was all in last night watching TCU and Arizona play a hell of a game.
When I woke up this morning to update my bracket and check the times for the Sweet Sixteen games I was met with an abundance of stories about how poorly the Big 10 has played in the tourney. Everyone is shitting on the Big 10 in fact. I went to SI.com, Bleacher Report, ESPN, all the big publications, and every headline had the Big 10 as the biggest "flop". Journalists and talking heads were destroying the conference. They were having a field day. And when I checked the bracket, only two of the nine teams were left, Purdue and Michigan. So yeah, that is a bummer. But I also took a closer look this morning at matchups and how I personally thought this was going to go.
First off, I am a believer in Purdue. I have them in the final four. I like that team. So to see them here was not a surprise. Michigan, on the other hand, that one has shocked me. That is my team, but I did not expect them to be here. I picked them to beat Colorado State, but I was high on Tennessee. I assumed they would eat their lunch. I had Tennessee in it until they met up with Houston. I am surprised, but also very happy Michigan is here.
As for the seven teams that are done now, there is only one, maybe two teams, I would consider it a "flop". Wisconsin is the main team in this category. They should be in the Sweet Sixteen. They struggled, but ended up pulling away from Colgate in round one. They were gifted Iowa State in round two, but Iowa State showed up and Wisconsin did not. They did not have the refs in their pocket, they missed too many shots and they reverted to the team I thought they would be in the preseason. And Iowa is the other "flop" from the Big 10. They were red hot coming into the tourney, they have a lottery pick on their team and they looked like they could make a deep run. They were a very popular final four pick from their region. But they blew it, and the refs missed a big time call. They never seemed into the game against Richmond, and it cost them. They blew a golden opportunity this season. Outside those teams though, none of the other losses are all that surprising. Indiana won their first four game to play Saint Mary's. But Saint Mary's is a better and deeper team. They won that game with ease, as expected. Michigan State won a close game against Davidson, and then got beat by second seeded Duke in Coach K's last tournament. Illinois got by a very good Chattanooga team, but they were stifled by a much better, and older, Houston team. That Houston team is legit. The University of Ohio State beat everyone's favorite recent Cinderella, Loyola-Chicago in round one, but were downed by a very good Villanova team. They are a two seed. I mean, I get that every Big Ten team that played yesterday, with Purdue being the lone exception, got beat, but it wasn't shocking, outside of Wisconsin. In fact, it was expected. The same thing happened on Saturday as well, except Michigan seemed to stun everyone, including me.
I would think, if the "experts" want to go after a power five conference, and call it a "flop", why not put that on the SEC. They got five teams in, most of them seeded 4 or higher, and they only have one team left. LSU fired their coach right before the tourney, then got beat by Iowa State. Alabama got trounced by Notre Dame. Auburn was absolutely manhandled by Miami last night. That game was never really close. Tennessee, everyone's darling, including mine, was beat by Michigan. People were arguing that Tennessee could be a number 1 seed. And then we have the Kentucky game in round one. I had them in the final four. So did my dad. I know a ton of people who had them in the championship. They were beaten by Saint Peter's, a 15 seed, who is now in the Sweet Sixteen. The only SEC team that is still alive is Arkansas, and they looked real ragged against New Mexico State. That was only one game, but it was a slop fest.
I guess people like to rag on the Big 10 because it is easy and they have not won a men's college basketball title in forever. But I would also think these "experts" would do some research before declaring them a "fraud" or a "flop" of a conference. The Big 10 is tough. There is a reason they got nine teams in the field this year. It is, by no means, a bad conference. The matchups were weird, they favored some other teams and what happened was what a ton of people figured would happen. The simple fact is, the Big 10 has as many teams left as the Pac 12 and Big East. They only have one less than the ACC and Big 12. And they have one more team left than the "mighty" SEC. The bad talk on the Big 10 is just a bit overblown at this point. Maybe all these "hot takes" need to stop and some research needs to be done. That is all I ask as a fan of a Big 10 team. Just put a little time into something before blurting it out of typing it into Twitter or Facebook. Just calm down a bit.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.