March delivers seven Big Ten teams to the doorstep of NCAA Tournament. By most measures, all but two of these teams (Michigan State and Wisconsin) are in the toddler stages of rebuilding projects. Purdue and Illinois are led by sophomores; Ohio State, on account of successive defections of talent to the NBA, is young; Minnesota and Michigan are being built in the mold of Tubby Smith and John Beilein. Through smart non-conference scheduling and the strongest and deepest class of sophomore hoopsters in the Country, these teams have earned their invitations to the most prestigious Tournament in the Country.
The invites mark the arrival of a new era of basketball in Minnesota and Michigan and again validates the prudent hires of Smith and Beilein. Ohio State (if Mullens, Buford and Turner stay) and Illinois are both stocked with underclassmen and one year away from elite status. As most Big Ten teams are in the Dance one year early, don’t mistake this Tournament as a referendum on Big Ten Basketball. And rather than fret over the the ambient noise from ESPN or what passes for a sports section at the New York Times, let’s just watch the games and enjoy. Time will tell tales over the next three weeks
Ignorance in Certainties
Big Ten bashing in March is as predictable as a morning constitutional. The chirping occurred when Illinois went to the Final Four, Michigan State before and after them, and Ohio State after them. If you listen to the conformists from Bristol, you hear it again now. The perceived bias is most likely a pure sense of the aesthetic, but at the end of the day, it’s entirely irrelevant.
Some people prefer offense and tacit defense. They find a faster pace more entertaining, more amenable to television, and hence more amenable to revenue. That’s a choice and it’s theirs but it’s not the tradition of the Big Ten.
Andy Katz of ESPN singles out Missouri as a team to watch, calling it most entertaining:
This version of the Tigers is playing the fastest 40 minutes in basketball. Coach Mike Anderson, who could be coveted by Alabama, has made the Tigers a must-see when they’re clicking at a fevered pace
We’ve watched Missouri and we’re not impressed. Neither, apparently, were the Fighting Illini when they beat the entertaining Tigers 74-59 in December.
Our DNA: Hard Work
Like it or not, ours is a Conference a conference built on the traditions forged by Coach Knight, Coach Keady and Coach Heathcote. It’s in their DNA: All teams defend. All teams prepare. All teams play hard. Each possession in the Big Ten matter.
The arenas are soaked with knowledgeable, passionate fans who appreciate hard work in their daily lives and in their teams. Teams play defense with as much reverence as they play offense. If that’s basketball you don’t like, I’m okay with that. Don’t watch it if you don’t prefer it. That’s okay. But the only reason to condemn it is either ignorance or jealousy.
The Role Of Smart Scheduling
Going forward, it’s clear the teams that have challenged themselves with quality pre-conference scheduling have leg up on getting into the NCAA Tournament. And those that have largely ducked tough competition, while in some instances a justified protection for fragile, youth-laden rosters, find themselves, like Penn State, in the NIT.
In a conference where a team’s ability to snatch a few big wins on the road is the factor that separates the wheat from the chafe, it seems a wise strategy to use November and December, in part, to plop your developing ball club into a few hostile environments. Whether in victory or defeat these kind of early road tests are team unifying, team clarifying experiences that pay exponential dividends for the season to come. As the obvious logic goes, the fastest way to get better is to keep good competition.
The Gold Standard
The perennial gold standard of muscular non-conference scheduling is Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans. Unlike his jettisoned predecessor, Michigan’s John Beilein has the Wolverines dancing for the first time in a decade on account of challenging non-conference schedule with wins against UCLA and Duke. Bruce Weber can point to his team’s win against Missouri as self-evidence that media darlings like Mike Anderson don’t fare well against teams committed to defense. Ohio State scheduled Butler, Notre Dame, Miami and West Virginia. Minnesota is in the tournament because it beat Louisville.
Penn State is in the NIT because it played no one of consequence in the pre-season and it’s bubble buddy, Arizona, played and beat Gonzaga and Kansas. Until Penn State musters the wherewithal to compose a serious non-conference schedule, it’s margin for error in conference, such as a double overtime loss to Iowa, is very, very slim.
Time Tell Tales
Time will tell tales over the next three weeks. For some reason, I keep picking the Spartans to win a rematch with North Carolina. And for some other reason I keep thinking Michigan is going to make a run.
Original Story:
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