College Basketball: Why the Big Ten Is the Best League in the Country

For years, Big Ten fans have believed that their conference is one of the best, if not the best league in the country when it comes to college hoops, but this is finally the year that the Big Ten has separated itself from the pack.

With the exception of the bottom three teams into the conference (Penn State, Iowa, Nebraska), the competition in the conference is borderline elite.

But don't count those three teams as non-factors this year, because Penn St. had a surprising upset over Purdue, Iowa beat Wisconsin and Nebraska almost upset the Illini earlier in January. 

As of Week 10 in the season, the Big Ten has four teams in the Top 13 of the AP poll. That is more then the Big 12 (3), ACC (2) and Big East (2). And both Wisconsin and Illinois should re-enter the Top 25 when the rankings come out for Week 11.

It's also worth nothing that the Big Ten has three teams in the top 10 for RPI rankings (Michigan State, Illinois, Indiana)

But in no way is my purpose of this article to rip on the other conferences in the country.

I love watching the great, highly competitive games coming out of the other major conferences in the country and I have all the respect in the world for what they are doing, but from top to bottom, I believe that the Big Ten is the most competitive and deepest league out there.

With Illinois' recent win over No. 5 Ohio St. and Minnesota's win over No. 7 Indiana, the Big Ten continues to prove that any team can win on any given night. 

I know that some people out there will make the argument that those wins would come as a result of the poor play of OSU and IU, but I believe that those wins are a testament to the overall quality of the Big Ten as a whole.

Both OSU and IU have quality wins outside of the conference (OSU beat Florida, Duke and almost beat KU even without a healthy Jared Sullinger while IU had their epic upset over No.1 Kentucky) to show that they are legit teams.

Current No. 6-ranked Michigan State is riding a 15-game win streak (filled with three wins versus Top 25 teams) after opening up the season with two losses to UNC and Duke, then ranked first and sixth respectively.

Wisconsin and Purdue are nearly as good as expected, while Michigan is surprising many of us outside of Ann Arbor with their No. 13 national ranking.

Even bottom-feeder Iowa (no offense Hawkeye fans) upset Wisconsin in the Kohl Center, which is only the second time that an unranked team has won there during Bo Ryan's 11-year tenure with the Badgers.

So if the top-tier teams in the conference are nationally recognized as being elite teams, and the other Big Ten teams are still managing to compete, and win, versus those teams, doesn't that solidify the fact that this conference is the most competitive in the country? Because I am not seeing the same results coming out of the SEC, ACC, Big East or Big 12.  

So what is the secret to this year's conference wide success?

The Big Ten is full of veteran leadership, highly talented youngsters and elite coaching. Many conferences can boast that fact, but the Big Ten has taken those three factors and put them together more effectively than any other conference this year.

It is that effective combination of coaching and talent that has allowed the Big Ten to set themselves apart as THE conference to beat in the NCAA.

Also, the Big Ten has never shied away from difficult non-conference schedules, which has taught teams to play at extremely high levels once the conference season starts.

At the end of the season, you will probably look at the final standings out of the Big Ten and see that there are no teams with 30-plus win records. But that will be because it is just so hard to win in the Big Ten.

If you were to take just about any of the top eight teams in the Big Ten, and put them in another conference, they would be sure to post more impressive records.

Keep an eye on this conference, because the competitiveness that it breeds will only continue to improve and toughen the teams within it. And those learned lessons will allow even the "mid-tier" teams to make major waves come tournament time in March.