Digger Phelps says he doesn’t like the Big Ten because they “don’t score enough points.”
Well, we scored enough points to beat these teams:
- Louisville
- Duke
- Florida State
- UCLA
- Texas
- Kansas
- Missouri
- Oklahoma State
- (And play Oklahoma to OT)
Maybe it’s the Big 12 that doesn’t score enough points, Digger.
Digger Phelps is getting ripped across the Big Ten nation. I’m surprised somebody hasn’t pulled him aside and told him to tone the Big Ten hate down a little bit. Somebody commented on Big Ten Geeks that ESPN came up with the idea of a conference network and Jim Delany stole it. Now ESPN hates us. I used to think this rumor was preposterous but now I’m not sure. The Big Ten hate is getting absurd.
Someone call the WAHmbulance for Digger. The goal isn’t to score a million points, it’s to score more than the other team. You don’t have to score more than 55 if you can keep the other team from scoring 54.
Even by the standards of ESPN talking heads, Phelps does not seem very smart. His regular manglings of the english language sometime sound like a Will Ferrell parody of the dumb jock.
But to the criticism of the criticism of the Big Ten, I say, Just win, baby. Win in November against the ACC, and win in March. I don’t much care about the former — strong team defense takes longer in the season to jell, and the top Big Ten teams (except for Wisconsin) always seem to play better later in the season. For the tournament, we have to recognize that the down grading of the Big Ten is buttressed by the record the last couple years. Last year, no big ten team got out of the sweet sixteen. If a couple teams make a long run this year, the Big Ten nation can begin to feel vindicated and I suspect the talking heads will begin to change their tune.
The final point I would make is that in the big money world of college sports, the Big Ten is a big player, and can not be ignored. Even if the Big Ten really sucked, it would still be on TV, because of the market teams like OSU or UM represent, with a huge alumni base. I find the ESPN negativity on the Big Ten annoying, but let’s face it: we are not exactly David to the Goliath of the small commuter catholic schools who make up most of the Big East, and for whom March is the only time of the year they have a chance to be on TV for anything (certainly not for academics…).
[...] Selection Sunday Rant Digger Phelps is a moron [...]
Ye gods. Bad as Hightower is, the SEC might just have a crew worse. If anyone caught the end of Tennessee-Miss St, it looked like both teams were desperately trying to lose – and the refs were trying to help them both achieve it.
I am a grad of UM but my son attends Tenn. If there was ever a team that gets the underachiever of the year award its TN.
GO BLUE
i’ll tell you one show I won’t be watching: ESPN”s bracketology! Actually, since I figure the “experts” are proven wrong and are generally annoying I don’t watch these shows anyway. Like a previous poster said, the Big 10 can make them eat their words in the tournament, or prove them right. It’s up to the teams to do the talking.
#1s: Louisville (Midwest), Pitt (East), UNC (South), UConn (West). Not good. That increases our chances of landing in the South with UNC.
Buckeyes land in the Midwest 8 opposite Siena; they get Louisville in Dayton if they win that.
2 Midwest in Minneapolis, facing Robert Morris. Perfect. End panic mode. BC/USC winner in the second.
can’t complain about our seeding. our half of that bracket is a very do-able path to the elite 8.
I don’t think we could have asked for a better draw.
Kansas as the 3, West Virginia as the 6, Dayton as 11. Sounds good to me.
Purdue gets the West 5, drawing Northern Iowa in the first and Washington/Mississippi St in the second.
Bad news for the bubble, though – Arizona, Dayton, and Maryland in (Maryland as a 10, Dayton 11, Arizona 12).
Since we might play the #1 overall seed does that make us #8 seed overall?
LOVE our draw. Best possible result aside from Louisville’s seed.
Only 3 B10 teams announced thusfar?
EDIT: Wow, Wisconsin as a 12 means that the B10 is probably getting only 5 or 6 teams? Not looking good for Michigan, Minnesota, PSU . . .
Badgers in as a 12, facing Florida State.
Looks like the talking heads at the four letter network are getting their wish. Behold, the power of the media!
Minnesota draws Texas in the first round as a 10.
Minnesota as a 10, playing Texas.
Chris: The committee can (and does) juggle teams geographically even at the top lines, as long as they don’t make things really unbalanced. Doesn’t necessarily mean we’re #8 overall.
Wow, to be a Michigan or PSU fan right now . . .
Of the two, I’d take U-M.
Thanks SpartanDan, Didn’t know if they do the same with the #2 seeds, as they do with the #1′s. Glad I’m not a UM fan right now.
Penn State looks like they’re out. I don’t see them getting in ahead of Michigan, and we’ve still got Illinois to be put in too.
Reading the comments on UM hoops blog right now is pretty entertaining!
Illinois gets a 5, Western Kentucky in the first round.
Strange that Purdue and Illinois are both 5 seeds.
There’s Michigan — 10 seed vs. Clemson.
Michigan a 10, drawing Clemson. PSU out.
Bubbles burst: PSU, Creighton, St. Mary’s, Auburn, San Diego St. Any other major snubs I’m missing?
No PSU. Too bad, but at least they know to schedule better OOC next year. 7 teams for the Big Ten is fair and quite indicative of how strong the conference was this year. 7 of 11 teams making the tournament is pretty impressive.
Glad we avoided Syracuse. They would’ve caused problems with their zone. Any good zone teams in our bracket?
“Defensive fingerprint” at Pomeroy suggests:
USC, Kansas, Dayton: “inconclusive”
Ohio State, Arizona: “mostly zone”
Siena: “some zone”
Everyone else is “mostly man”. So it looks like we don’t have much to worry about regarding zone until the Elite Eight, and then only if someone pulls a major upset run.
Call me crazy, but the Midwest is looking like the toughest bracket as far as quality.
Seer: it may be, but I don’t think there are any matchup problems for us (like Syracuse or UNC would be). I don’t think we could have asked for a better draw – there are always going to be difficult games, but there aren’t any teams I think pose major problems to us.
The one thing that’s really bugging me is that we’ve been set up for a rematch with KU in the sweet 16.
Yeah, but I still like the matchup with Kansas at 3 than Wake at 4. The Kansas biggest threats remain the PG and the C, and MSU happens to be have people to be able to deal with that in Walton, Ibok, Roe, and some Gray in a spry mood.
The Midwest is looking pretty strong, UL is the overall 1 and all, but as far as particular matchups, I think MSU got a pretty decent deal.
The Big 12 doesn’t scare me at all, I think they got a little too much love in this tourney. I’m not concerned about a rematch with Kansas, should we both get that far.
I’m a little wary of USC if they get by BC, since if memory serves, Floyd is not afraid to throw a lot of defensive looks at an opponent, including various zones and junk defenses. Plus it seems like DeRozen is really starting to come on as a freshman. They are talented, if inconsistent (although I say that having only seen them play once all year). At least with BC I feel like we can lock up Rice with Walton and make other players beat us.
Digger still hasn’t really caught onto the tempo free stats revolution, that much is obvious. When you look at opponents points per possession the Big 10 is deeper than any other league in the nation defensively – there are very few poor defensive teams in the league. You could just as easily argue that the other leagues allow too many points to be successful in the tournament. That’s the great thing about college basketball though – if our teams play well Digger et al will have to eat their words.