ESPN Wrong Again - B1G BB Just Fine

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GopherinPhilly

GopherinPhilly

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Well, the talking puppet heads on ESPN spent all season telling us the B1G was down, B1G BB wasn't very good, yadda yadda yadda. Well, the Final Four is 50% B1G Teams with the potential for an all B1G Final. I hate Becky, but will have to root for them against Kentucky. Go MSU!
 


GopherinPhilly said:
Well, the talking puppet heads on ESPN spent all season telling us the B1G was down, B1G BB wasn't very good, yadda yadda yadda. Well, the Final Four is 50% B1G Teams with the potential for an all B1G Final. I hate Becky, but will have to root for them against Kentucky. Go MSU!
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ESPN should have waited until the final 4 is decided before commenting on how strong the Big Ten is ...hindsight is 20/20
 

They'll just spew the same sewage they did with football coverage. Something like, "There are a ew good teams, but it's not a deep conference."

I know. I know.
 

You guys do realize the B1G had a grand total of 2 teams make it to the sweet 16. We were just as overrated as the Big12. I am pretty sure that MSU and Wisconsin making it to the Final 4 did not make the Gophers, PSU, NU, Rutgers, Illinois, Mich, etc., any better; likewise, Kentucky getting to the final four did not magically transform the SEC into a great BB conference this year.
 


GopherinPhilly said:
Well, the talking puppet heads on ESPN spent all season telling us the B1G was down, B1G BB wasn't very good, yadda yadda yadda.
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It wasn't just the "talking puppet heads" on ESPN. Plenty of knuckleheads on here were parroting that line all season. I kept telling them that they had no real evidence for that claim other than a handful of early season stumbles.

For all of the guilty ones, here's some advice:

1) Wait until the end of the season to reach your conclusions;

2) Think for yourself instead of parroting some people who you seem to think know something.
 

goldy93 said:
You guys do realize the B1G had a grand total of 2 teams make it to the sweet 16. We were just as overrated as the Big12. I am pretty sure that MSU and Wisconsin making it to the Final 4 did not make the Gophers, PSU, NU, Rutgers, Illinois, Mich, etc., any better; likewise, Kentucky getting to the final four did not magically transform the SEC into a great BB conference this year.
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Yep, but based on seeds we should have had 2 teams in the sweet sixteen(a different 2 teams). The BIG 12 should have had 4(?). Based on seeds we are outperforming and they are underperforming. The BIG lower half showed its strength in the BIG-ACC challenge going 4-2 against the bottom of the ACC(of the teams you listed).
 

goldy93 said:
You guys do realize the B1G had a grand total of 2 teams make it to the sweet 16. We were just as overrated as the Big12. I am pretty sure that MSU and Wisconsin making it to the Final 4 did not make the Gophers, PSU, NU, Rutgers, Illinois, Mich, etc., any better; likewise, Kentucky getting to the final four did not magically transform the SEC into a great BB conference this year.
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So what are you saying? The Big Ten was bad (or down) or it was just like the other top conferences? I've been saying the latter all year. I've been following the Big Ten basketball for over three decades and I'd say this was an average conference year. The way you described our conference makes it pretty much like the ACC. They had a little more quality in the top half but our bottom half teams were a little stronger than theirs and that conclusion was supported by the Big Ten vs. ACC challenge.
 

goldy93 said:
You guys do realize the B1G had a grand total of 2 teams make it to the sweet 16. We were just as overrated as the Big12. I am pretty sure that MSU and Wisconsin making it to the Final 4 did not make the Gophers, PSU, NU, Rutgers, Illinois, Mich, etc., any better; likewise, Kentucky getting to the final four did not magically transform the SEC into a great BB conference this year.
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The Big 10 wasn't considered as good of a conference as the Big 12 though. If you go by seeds, Maryland is the only Big 10 team that underachieved in the tourney and that was only a 4 losing to a 5. The Big 12 is a different story.
 



We were 4th in RPI this year, the prior 2 years we were 2nd and the year before that we were 1st. Yes, the B1G was down.
 

No doubt, people were giving the Big 12 a lot of credit and they flamed out.
 

cjbfbp said:
So what are you saying? The Big Ten was bad (or down) or it was just like the other top conferences? I've been saying the latter all year. I've been following the Big Ten basketball for over three decades and I'd say this was an average conference year. The way you described our conference makes it pretty much like the ACC. They had a little more quality in the top half but our bottom half teams were a little stronger than theirs and that conclusion was supported by the Big Ten vs. ACC challenge.
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I would definitely compare us to the ACC; however, when you compare the B1G this year to the last 4 years, it is not as strong. RPI, top 25 rankings, record out of conference, they all show that we have trended down over the last few years. Just like the ACC, the top half is strong and the bottom half is stocked with sub or close to sub-100 RPI teams.
 

goldy93 said:
We were 4th in RPI this year, the prior 2 years we were 2nd and the year before that we were 1st. Yes, the B1G was down.
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What was the actual difference in RPI score? If #2 was .6533, #3 was .6588, and #4 was .6599, then that is no practical difference between the three. Sagarin listed us as the third best around the end of the season.

The last few years the conference was particularly strong. You don't judge anything or anyone by their best years. I pretty confident that Northern Iowa will not average 30 wins over the next five years. I'm almost as confident that Wisconsin won't either.
 




Kentucky = the best team money can buy. Can't root for that. Go WI or MSU!
 

It wasn't just ESPN. Even Barles Charkley was fooled!
 

This is not a new development. The Big Ten has been the best basketball conference over the last 6-7 year period.

There were some bizarre and surprising non-conf losses this year, more so than usual, but once again we won the non-conf event that mattered most (the Challenge) at the beginning of the year, and have the most teams playing at the end of the year.

I think it's been, what, 6 years since we lost the B1G-ACC challenge?
 

Has there ever been an all-Big Ten national final?
 

WanderingGopher said:
This is not a new development. The Big Ten has been the best basketball conference over the last 6-7 year period.

There were some bizarre and surprising non-conf losses this year, more so than usual, but once again we won the non-conf event that mattered most (the Challenge) at the beginning of the year, and have the most teams playing at the end of the year.

I think it's been, what, 6 years since we lost the B1G-ACC challenge?
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It has been 15 years since a B1G team has won the tourney
 


Bad Gopher said:
Has there ever been an all-Big Ten national final?
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Yes. Can't remember the year, but it might have been IU's undefeated season. Michigan and (I think) IU played in the championship. Shortly after the days of only one team per conference making the tournament.
 


cjbfbp said:
What was the actual difference in RPI score? If #2 was .6533, #3 was .6588, and #4 was .6599, then that is no practical difference between the three. Sagarin listed us as the third best around the end of the season.

The last few years the conference was particularly strong. You don't judge anything or anyone by their best years. I pretty confident that Northern Iowa will not average 30 wins over the next five years. I'm almost as confident that Wisconsin won't either.
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So, what does that mean? When the B1G was #1 or #2 in RPI that was better than they normally are and sitting at #4 is back to the norm? So, the B1G was not down, just returning to normal after atypical years?

I do not think that is what people are thinking in this thread. I think they believe that simply due to MSU and Wisky making it to the final 4 it somehow proves the B1G as a whole was better, which is illogical.
 

bottlebass said:
It has been 15 years since a B1G team has won the tourney
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Unless you think that the best conference necessarily produces the championship team, this is more of a statistical oddity than anything. The B1G also has had 5 runner-ups since its last title.
 

I'm glad someone is making sense here. The BT didn't suddenly become the strongest conference by MSU getting hot at the end of the season.

I would also argue that the quality of the top 10 or so teams in college basketball was a bit lower this year. Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Duke have been impressive… besides that, meh. (Didn't really see Arizona play much this year so I can't comment on them)

goldy93 said:
You guys do realize the B1G had a grand total of 2 teams make it to the sweet 16. We were just as overrated as the Big12. I am pretty sure that MSU and Wisconsin making it to the Final 4 did not make the Gophers, PSU, NU, Rutgers, Illinois, Mich, etc., any better; likewise, Kentucky getting to the final four did not magically transform the SEC into a great BB conference this year.
Click to expand...
 

SelectionSunday said:
1976. Indiana over Michigan.
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Thank you and Holy Man. I should have remembered that, but that's why I have you two. The one I remember well is Michigan and Illinois meeting in the semifinal in '89.
 

ACC with 6 teams in the tourny are 15-5. B1G with 7 teams is 11-5. Only Wisconsin and Michigan State have really done anything in the tourny. That does not make the B1G the best conference.
 

It seems like in football and basketball, the goalposts constantly move for the national media. When the B1G points to a strong regular season, the response is that postseason performance is what defines the real winners. When the B1G points to a strong postseason, the response is that winning a few bowl games or a few teams doing well in a single elimination tournament doesn't make you a good conference because they could be flukes.
 

bottlebass said:
ACC with 6 teams in the tourny are 15-5. B1G with 7 teams is 11-5. Only Wisconsin and Michigan State have really done anything in the tourny. That does not make the B1G the best conference.
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I don't think anyone is saying they are the best conference?

They just aren't as bad as was spewed all year.
 

Hey, can everyone admit that there were plenty of people here who felt the Big Ten was down this year? That was cited as the reason the Gophers could make some hay this year. Especially after the notable non-conference stumbles by some of the teams - including Purdue who recovered nicely. The truth is that the only way to compare conferences is the non-conference games, and the Big Ten teams had some problems in the non conference.
 

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