Will the Big Ten have legitamate contenders in the NCAA tournament?
Written by trueMINNESOTAN, Sunday January 03 2010
With Michigan State putting up a 21 point win over fellow ranked team, Northwestern, and Minnesota dominating against Illinois. Combining this with Purdue being undefeated and Ohio State being ranked in the top 25, one may begin to think that the Big Ten can compete for a title.
Michigan State played in the championship game of college basketball a year ago, meaning that they have experience in the big game. Their coach, Tom Izzo, also has that big experience from winning the title in 2000. Also with a title as a head coach is Tubby Smith who lead the Kentucky Wildcats to a championship in his first year as a head coach for Kentucky(he is now the Minnesota head coach.) This championship experience for coach Smith is combined with 16-consecutive 20 plus win seasons coming into the 2009-2010 campaign. Thad Matta, Ohio State head coach, also has championship experience(an NIT championship in 2007-2008 and NCAA runner-up in 2006-2007, both as head coach of Ohio state). This years most successful team, 13-0 Purdue, has a head coach(Matt Painter) who, just last year, lead the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Title and a sweet-sixteen appearance.
Other than past performance, there are currently 4 Big Ten teams ranked in theESPN/ USA Today poll and 3 in the AP Poll. Minnesota, who is not currently ranked, was also ranked 16th to begin the season and beat, at the time, number 10 Butler. Other big wins by Big Ten teams this year include Purdue beating the undefeated and number 6 ranked West Virginia Mountaneers as well as Purdue beating currently 14th-ranked Tennessee early on in the season. Wisconson beat then number 4 Duke near the begining of the season while the Blue Devils were undefeated. On Michigan States resume, there is a win over the always competative Gonzaga Bulldogs and a win over one of the more surprising teams this year, now 10-3 Northwestern. The Illini also have a win over a currently ranked team, now number 21 Clemson as well as a close loss to the same Gonzaga team that Michigan State pulled out a win against. Indiana, who is still trying to recover from a recruiting scandal a few years back, beat good teams such as Pitt and Michigan. Michigan, however has struggled against talented teams and will need to turn that around if they expect to make the tournament. Ohio State has beaten Florida State(currently ranked 22) and Cal(9-4). Penn State beat Davidson who, although struggling this year, has been a cinderella threat recently. Northwestern, who was previously mentioned as a surprising team(especially while missing their best player, Kevin Coble) beat NC State, currently 10-3, and the 12-3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The only team with a losing record in the Big Ten is Iowa(5-9) has even played some impressive games, being very close in games against currently undefeated Texas and Purdue.
If all of the Big Ten teams keep up what they are currently doing and especially if they improve, I believe that one of the teams(or more) may be in the Elite Eight and even the Final Four(possibly in the National Title game as well). The main teams that I believe are contenders are Purdue, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Ohio State. That is also the order because Evan Turner is out for Ohio State and, even when back he will struggle because of a lack or rhythm and flow in the game. Northwestern has not shown to be a true contender because they simply have not won a game against a true opponent. The reason Minnesota is third is because, although they have great depth and speed as well as a terrific coach, they have not won multiple big games nor have they competed in the NCAA tournament recently. This leaves the two most successful teams, Purdue and Michigan state, Purdue is undefeated(speaks for itself) and Michigan State is highly ranked this year and was in the NCAA Championship game a year ago. So, until the big games are played and opinions are swayed, final scores are tallied, one will never know the true results, however this is my best estimation:
Top competators in the Big Ten for 2009-2010: 1) Purdue 2) Michigan State 3) Minnesota 4) Ohio State
Tags:
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
1 comment
Please sign in to rate!
It will be great to watch Kentucky Wildcats, i have bought tickets from http://ticketfront.com/event/Kentucky_Wildcats-tickets looking forward to it.