Time for the Big Ten to put up or shut up.

[Blizzard]

It's time.



Time to find out how good (or bad) this league really is.

From Joe the Fan in your neighborhood sports bar to the talking heads on ESPN, few storylines in college basketball have gotten as much attention this season as the Big Ten's style of play.

Once the infamous Penn State-Illinois score hit the ticker, (you know the one I'm talking about: PSU 38, ILL 33) a conference that was never known for its style points saw its national reputation sink to a new low.

So what if 38-33 is usually the score of an ACC game at the first media timeout?

So what if the games seemed to have the same number of field goals as your average football contest?

(Big Ten football, that is. Everyone knows that Big 12 football games far outpace Big Ten basketball, in the scoring department. Remember Graham Harrell?)

Anyway, the real question isn't how beautiful the basketball is here in the Midwest, instead, we should be asking how effective the basketball is.

In other words, how will the Big Ten's signature style play out on the sport's signature stage?

Read the rest -

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ns-ugliest-conference-could-surprise-in-march

 

[SelectionSunday]

At least 3 would be sweet

A nice piece with some facts to back it up (nonconference success vs. the big boys). No doubt this is an important tournament for the Big 10 if they want to shut up idiots like Digger Phelps. The Big 10 is seeded to only get one team to the Sweet 16. I'm hoping for at least 2, but it'll probably take 3 to shut up the critics. I'll say the Big 10 gets 3, Michigan State & Purdue (no real surprise there), with either Michigan (vs. Oklahoma) or Ohio State (vs. Louisville) pulling off an upset.

What I'm amazed by with a guy like Digger Phelps ripping the Big 10 (yes, there have been quite a few ugly games) is that he's a former coach; he should know better. There's more than one way to skin a cat. So only basketball teams that score a lot of points and can't guard a chair should be invited to the NCAA tournament? That was basically the message he conveyed all during Championship Week.

I know exactly what's at the root of Digger's despisal of the Big 10. ... his most talented Notre Dame team -- I think it was the year after he took Notre Dame to the Final Four -- got beat by Magic Johnson & Gregory Kelser in 1979. He's never been able to get over it.

 

[mnboiler]

Digger is a un-talented hack. He never adds anything logical or meaningful to the talk on ESPN. When he was at Notre Dame, Purdue wanted to play them but he used some half-@$$ed excuse like there aren't any good roads going from South Bend to West Lafayette. Side note but ND still won't play us now using the "Big East is tough enough" arguement, really lame. They really need to get rid of him all is does is bash the Big 10 and give love to the Big East and ACC, and overall I'm sick of hearing about the Big East and ACC on ESPN.

 

[Robb]

Even if the B10 is successful in the tournament, plenty of people will still judge the league harshly if the games aren't aesthetically pleasing. Looking back to Wisconsin's FF run, there was a virtual uproar and even some subsequent rule changes after watching Bennett's blockers knock off several more athletic styled teams.

I think the B10 is capable of winning games in the 70's and 80's, but it's not natural for the style of play and the way our games are typically officiated.

 

[XMan]

It will be interesting to see if the tough Big Ten defense wins out. Success also depends on how the ref's respond to the physical nature of the Big Ten.

 

[monk10]

If this myth is true that the Big Ten plays better defense then all other conferences then no team should score more then 60 against a Big Ten team, as nobody will have played against such a successful defensive program as the ones that are in the Big Ten.

In addition since we aren't playing against another big ten team, our big ten team should be putting up 70+ b/c the only thing that is holding us back is the other oustanding Big Ten defenses we play against.

(Nobody really believes that we are the only schools in the nation that plays defense, correct?)

 

[MinnesotaBoiler99]

Digger is a un-talented hack. He never adds anything logical or meaningful to the talk on ESPN. When he was at Notre Dame, Purdue wanted to play them but he used some half-@$$ed excuse like there aren't any good roads going from South Bend to West Lafayette. Side note but ND still won't play us now using the "Big East is tough enough" arguement, really lame. They really need to get rid of him all is does is bash the Big 10 and give love to the Big East and ACC, and overall I'm sick of hearing about the Big East and ACC on ESPN.

They still play IU every year though. How many roads are there between South Bend and Gloomington? The real reason ND won't play Purdue in basketball is because they never wanted us to get revenge for kicking our a$$ in football for all of those years. They love holding that over our heads.

 

[parkinglotgopher]

(Nobody really believes that we are the only schools in the nation that plays defense, correct?)

No, plenty of teams play great defense, but I do believe that Big 10 games feature more physical play on the defensive end than any other league in the country. This is largely a byproduct of the league's history, coaches who embrace that style, and refs that support that style of play. That's the interesting thing come tournament time. How physical will the games be allowed to become?

 

[grunkiejr]

If this myth is true that the Big Ten plays better defense then all other conferences then no team should score more then 60 against a Big Ten team, as nobody will have played against such a successful defensive program as the ones that are in the Big Ten.

In addition since we aren't playing against another big ten team, our big ten team should be putting up 70+ b/c the only thing that is holding us back is the other oustanding Big Ten defenses we play against.

(Nobody really believes that we are the only schools in the nation that plays defense, correct?)

It's less about the defense and more about the possessions per game. The Big Ten as a conference has the lowest number of possessions per game including two of the bottom 4 or 5 in the country. Illinois and Purdue do rank in the top 10 for defensive efficiency (least points allowed per possession) but as a whole the scores are a function of the longer offensive possessions.

 

[monk10]

It's less about the defense and more about the possessions per game. The Big Ten as a conference has the lowest number of possessions per game including two of the bottom 4 or 5 in the country. Illinois and Purdue do rank in the top 10 for defensive efficiency (least points allowed per possession) but as a whole the scores are a function of the longer offensive possessions.

Correct, so can we as a board stop with the "Big Ten plays defense" non-sense that gets thrown around here.

One could say our philosophy is that if the other team scores less points then we do, we will win. In other leagues it seems like the philosophy is that if we score more points then other team then we will win.

I'll leave it up to the fans at home to decide what style they like better.