Three short months ago, before the men's college basketball season tipped off, great expectations flowed through the Big Ten. After struggling in past seasons to find a place among America's elite conferences, Big Ten coaches claimed to have the talent and experience to earn nationwide respect for their league. Among others, Minnesota Head Coach Dan Monson fueled the hype machine.
\I think the Big Ten could be one of the premier leagues in college basketball this season."" Monson said in October.
Through Jan. 16, his Gophers own a mediocre 8-7 record and have done little to boost the Big Ten. After ample time for losing and for reflection, Monson tweaked his outlook.
""This was a year we were going to make a statement across the country. The Gophers, along with a lot of teams, did not live up to that. We did not represent the Big Ten as well as we wanted,"" he said.
Few expected Minnesota to challenge for the conference title, but Michigan State's failure to meet expectations has more closely paralleled the Big Ten's breakdown. Ranked third in the country before the season, the Spartans scheduled games against national powers Duke, Kansas and Kentucky. In preseason interviews, Head Coach Tom Izzo portrayed the Big Ten as a newly supreme conference, and his scheduling decisions tacitly cast his team as the early favorite.
""The Conference is definitely going to be better [this season],"" Izzo said. ""I think that it is going to take a step up because it is a better conference, top to bottom... The ACC is great, but when you constantly have Duke, Maryland or North Carolina playing for national championships, that conference is talked about even more. That [kind of national exposure] is what we had going for a few seasons.""
At any rate, Izzo tabbed the ACC correctly. The conference routed the Big Ten by winning seven games and losing two in the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The ACC victory was the fifth straight for the conference, dating to the tournament's conception.
This season, Izzo had hoped to charge into battle and drag the Big Ten onto the national radar. However, his Spartans proved unable to lead the conference to glory, losing all six of its games against ranked teams. Michigan State presently carries an overall record of 7-7.
Despite members' fervent preseason optimism, the Big Ten is simply not ready to assume a position among America's strongest conferences. The ACC, Big 12, Big East and SEC all boast at least six teams with less than three losses to at point, while only two Big Ten teams can claim the same.
Big Ten teams also fail to match the RPI of teams in more dominant conferences. The RPI, based on winning percentage and schedule strength, plays an important role in determining which teams make the NCAA tournament field of 65. To date, only 10th-rated Wisconsin finds itself with an RPI among the nation's top 40.
Although the Big Ten currently places two teams among the top 25, Head Coach Bo Ryan believes many recognize the conference for toughness and parity.
""Throughout the Midwest, each team has proven they can get some things done on their home floor,"" Ryan said. ""It has been not just one or two losses recently to win the Big Ten Championship; it has been five and four.""
Purdue Head Coach and Big Ten elder statesman Gene Keady is similarly unruffled.
""It is going to be interesting and it is going to be exciting. Those teams who know how to win the close games are going to be pretty successful by April,"" Keady said.
