The Big Ten confidently participated in the NCAA Tournament after an extremely competitive and entertaining regular season for them nine bids, including four of the top 14.
“I don’t feel scared of … anyone, because we really played the best teams in the country on a night-in-night-out basis,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
Some media (ahem) have even written stories about how good the league was and how it would be the perfect opportunity to end its 21-year-old national championship drought.
Now, then comes a 22-hour series that includes:
State of Michigan loses against UCLA.
State of Ohio loses to Oral Roberts.
Purdue lost to North Texas.
Oh, and Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens has said once again – perhaps this time clearly enough – that he will not be the next head coach at Indiana.
‘I’m a 44-year-old Masshole. I swerve, I eat Dunkin ‘Donuts, and I root for the Patriots, ”said Stevens, who grew up in Indiana, studied in Indiana and previously coached in Indiana.
He might as well say the Indy 500 is a waste of fossil fuel, pork rabbit sandwiches are inedible and Deflategate did not happen.
Indiana is desperate to return to fame and Stevens was the dream candidate – even if the dream was misleading. They are still capable of getting an excellent coach, but even if Brad Stevens strikes against the Middle East and declares his support for the Patriots …
This, of course, was not bad.
Illinois rolled and Wisconsin bumped into North Carolina. Rutgers won his first NCAA tournament in 38 years. Michigan, Iowa and Maryland have not played yet, so they have it right. Rick Barnes does not train in the league.
The Big Ten can still win the long-awaited national title – or even send enough teams deep into this tournament that it dominates the storylines.
However, what happened during the first two days (Michigan State was in the playoffs on Thursday) certainly does not create confidence.
The Big Ten’s hope this year was that the teams are battle tested after a robust conference program. Yet three teams have already collapsed in a difficult time.
“Obviously Michigan State lost in overtime, we lost in overtime and I think Ohio State also lost in overtime,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “So you’re going to be in a close game in the NCAA Tournament.”
Yet in those close-knit matches, they failed to show the toughness, execution and passion amidst the pressure needed in March.
UCLA knocked out an 11-point halftime deficit to win by six overtime as the Spartans offense became a stand-alone mess.
“Just disappointed,” Izzo said. “I mean, we won the game.”
North Texas finished with an absurd 11-0 run in overtime to beat Purdue. 78-69.
“Just had a series of possessions of offense, defense to start overtime where we didn’t execute,” Painter said.
And the state of Ohio had a string of offensive opportunities late in the second half and in overtime before falling 75-72.
“I thought we just missed too many opportunities, too much turnover, too many empty possessions in the attack,” Buckeye coach Chris Holtmann said.
It was not just losses. There is never an excuse for the state of Ohio to lose to a 15-seed or Purdue to a 13-seed. But there really is no one when the Big Ten are hardened and reached out – the basics of the league.
Congratulations to the underdogs, but it was bad.
And it’s been a tough year for the Big Ten to start stumbling. The entire tournament is hosted in Indiana, including first weekend games at home to IU and Purdue. The later rounds are all in Indianapolis, the Big Ten’s spiritual home.
And the question now is whether the Big Ten were as good as everyone believed during the regular season and just got lost – as it tends in this case.
Or was the power of the league an aerial image, the work of teams battling each other and thus creating the perception of excellence that is not rooted in reality?
The next few weeks will tell the story. Since Michigan suffered a serious injury, Illinois has always been the league’s most likely national champion. The Illini looked good, though versus Drexel with 16 seeds.
And of course, there was Rutgers to the rescue – the Scarlet Knights, by beating Clemson, served as a feel-good story after decades of futility.
Amid an ugly 24 hours for the league, the Big Ten will take it. Once confident, the league now has questions and concerns to answer.
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