No teams in the Elite 8. This rarely happens. I thought the critics would be proven wrong. Even though the B1G won the Challenge with the ACC, they didn't perform when it really counted. And don't forget that a relatively unimpressive iu team won the regular season conference championship by 2 games. When it's all said and done, was it a down year, or just bad luck giving bad match-ups?
Was this a down year for the B1G
- Thread starter purdue4sure
- Start date
I have thought for a long time, that the big ten does not fit the Tourney well. I know MSU has killed it and Wisconsin has recently, but overall, it seems to me, that the style of play and the officiating "prepares" the B1G to not fit well in the tourney. Many on this board think CMP has not adapted to the new style of play - I'm not sure many other teams in the B1G have adapted a lot more, and there are the new rules that hamper defenses, or so they say, although defense has changed the ending of a lot of games in the tourney. Anyway, there is a lot of playground balling going on in other parts of the country. The B1G tends to recruit in the midwest. Great basketball players, but not playground ballers. The B1G has overall been a bit staid, and the officiating has been horrible. When you come off of 18 games of B1G officiating and get other officials in the tourney plus running into a great zone defense, or running into some playground ballers who are allowed to run crazy on the court... it alters things.
With all that said, yes, the B1G was down this year.
With all that said, yes, the B1G was down this year.
MSU was a fluke. But I thought the rest of the teams struggled in the tourney more due to the seeding. We had only 1 top 4 seed so only one "favorite" to advance to the sweet 16 but three did. If MSU were in it instead of Clemson, we would all be singing a different tune. We would have 4 in the sweet 16. Remember two of our teams had to beat 1 seeds to get in the 8.
Agreed. Seeding, as it is designed to do, makes some rows tough to hoe, but the upsets early-on made some rows easier to hoe. Those who say "It doesn't matter, we've got to beat them all anyway," should study this year before they say that next year.
I get that you still have to beat them, but it is difficult when your 2-4 teams have to beat a 1 seed to get to sweet 16. Aside from MsU and purdue I thought the big ten played well.
Shortly after GK became Purdue's coach, fans and coaches had a ton of valid complaints about officiating in the league. My pet peeve was that a head fake in the paint was an automatic travelling call. It didn't matter if both feet were cemented to the floor. During that time, the B10 repeatedly flamed out early in the NCAA. The coaches complained to the league that officials were forcing teams to play a style that wasn't preparing them for tourney success. Lost revenue due to early exits caused the league to appoint a former coach (from NW) to be the supervisor of officials to make them accountable. Over the next few years, 7 different B10 teams went to the Final Four, some of them more than once.
I'm not saying this would be a simple fix, but the league should not ignore it. Officiating is awful in the B1G.
I don't agree. Virginia plays a B1G style and they have been fine. MSU, Wiscy and UM have all made the FF recently. A lot of it is matchups and being hot at the right time. CMP does not do a very good job at improving his team throughout the season to be playing its best ball at the right time. His teams have been pretty even keel once the season starts. What you see in November is what you get in March. Wiscy, UM and MSU all seem to get better as the season progresses.
And just which "March Coach" do you morons think wants to come replace Matt Painter at PU???
Get real.
Illinois was a 5-seed in 2004 after getting to the finals of the BTT....agree that the conference as a whole probably ended up a little down. Also, Maryland and Iowa were not playing that well at the end of the year.
Most of the B1G teams have to do the hard way with very few Top 100 players on their rosters! Until or unless the current schools and Head Coaches can recruit better the B1G will have an off year every once in awhile!
The year the Big Ten morphed into the Big Choke ! (Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Iowa, Maryland)
I disagree with the highlighted part -- especially with respect to the past two years.
Purdue has suffered disappointing losses in the NCAA tournament under Painter, but that's not the same thing as saying his teams haven't improved over the course of the season.
2016: Purdue played its best basketball of the season down the stretch of the regular season and in the B1G tournament.
2015: Purdue had an outstanding February run that pushed a so-so team into the NCAA tournament.
2008: Talk about in-season improvement! Purdue sat at 9-4 when the conference season opened and wasn't on anybody's NCAA tournament radar. Then the "baby boilers" came into their own.
2007: The team stood at 14-8 at the end of January before a 6-2 February propelled the Boilers into the NCAA.
I would argue that Purdue teams have a knack for playing their best basketball in February rather than March (under both Painter and Keady), but that's not the same thing as saying Painter's teams don't improve over the course of the season.
Not disagreeing with your argument, but unfortunately, March is what everyone remembers and all that matters.
