Some Michigan writer wrote a story that there might only be 3 "three" Big Ten schools in the tournament this year.
I don't know if the guy who wrote that every looked at any bracketology brackets in his life, but it's what he thought. Dan Barrerio was discussing in on his highly rated radio show last night . Of course, he was happy to be critical of the Big Ten, yet at the same time admitting "I'm not an tournament expert". With Gardsie agreeing that he wasn't sure either.
Despite this they felt confident enough to give their opinion on it.
They seemed to agree that the Big Ten didn't have a tournament favorite, and although the conference might have many teams in the middle, the middle is average or below average and not "good or very good".
I wish there was a solid way to define how good the middle of a conference is. It seems in some leagues, you can have a lot of teams with good records, provided you have a couple conference teams who go 1-17 or 2-16 in conference play. Where if your bottom team finishes 5-13 and 4-12, the whole league ends up looking more "average".
That and a mix of un-even scheduling seems to cause a mess of teams with similar records, none of which appear great.
Very few things bug me more than people who say they don't follow something much, but then opine on it anyways. I would say this about the B1G this season:
1. It's not as strong at the top. After Purdue and Wisconsin, I don't see any other teams that should be "expected" to make it to the second weekend of the tournament. I exclude the Badgers at my own risk, but I think the Boilers are the only B1G team capable of reaching the Final 4.
2. Sparty, Indiana, and Ohio State (3 of the conference's linchpins) are having so-so (or worse) seasons. That hurts the perception of the conference, yes, so the natural inclination is for (neutral) people like Barreiro & Gaardsie to assume (somewhat understandably) everyone else is down, too.
3. Biggest thing for me is the bottom is much better, and not just because some of the traditional powers are struggling. The Gophers, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, and even Rutgers are much better than they were last year. On a given night, or (most importantly) on a neutral court, those teams are capable of knocking off the teams at the top, including Boilers, Badgers, and Maryland, as Penn State showed last night (beating Maryland), and as Gophers showed @ Purdue early in the season.
4. I'd set the over-under on B1G teams reaching the Sweet 16 at 1.5. Purdue and the Badgers "should" be able to do that, but with the nature of the tournament I wouldn't bank on both. Will be surprised if any other B1G team reaches the Sweet 16.