The Big Ten's Big Rebound

Last week marked the conclusion of the tenth annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge.  And for the tenth straight year, the ACC prevailed.  But this year’s Challenge was different.

In fact, unlike the past handful of years, the 2008 Challenge was defined by close, competitive games that resulted in six of the 11 contests being decided by five or fewer points.  Given that the ACC only prevailed by a single game, any number of missed or made shots in one or two of those games would’ve shifted the overall results and allowed the Big Ten a year’s worth of bragging rights.

Now before you roll your eyes, this is not an article designed to dissect the Big Ten’s struggles against their Atlantic Coast brethren as I wrote about several days ago.

Instead, the focus of this piece is to explore the path of the Big Ten over the next several seasons and it appears obvious that the course is pointing in the right direction.

While conference championships, whether regular season or tournament play, are nice, big time basketball schools are measured by one criterion:  Trips to the NCAA Promised Land, or more precisely, Final Four appearances.  And over the last decade, those are one statistic the Big Ten doesn’t lack.

Since the 1999 NCAA tournament, the Big Ten is tied with the ACC (of the six power conferences) for most Final Four appearances with nine.  Michigan State leads the way with four followed by Ohio State with two while Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin enjoyed a trip apiece.

Of those nine appearances, only Michigan State was the last team standing as they cut down the nets in 2000 although Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio State all lost title game shots in 2002, 2005, and 2007.  So over the course of a decade, four different Big Ten teams played for the National Championship four different times.  Not too shabby.

So while Big Ten teams haven’t had a problem winning their way into the last game of the season, they haven’t had as much success as some of the other conferences in closing the deal.

The Big East (Connecticut twice and Syracuse)and ACC (Duke, Maryland, and North Carolina) have combined to win six of the past 10 championships while Florida claimed two crowns for the SEC. 

Last season, Kansas of the Big 12 matched MSU’s lone title.  Only the PAC 10 has been shut out of the net cutting ceremonies although it’s worth noting that UCLA has been a Final Four fixture since 2006.  Whether the Bruins can make it four in a row this year remains to be seen.

As anyone who knows anything about college athletics will tell you, when it comes to winning, and winning consistently, there is no substitute for recruiting.  No matter how well a coach knows Xs and Os, if the team doesn’t have the talent (and that usually means a future NBA player or two) to execute the game plan, they won’t be playing in March.

Indiana (No. 8), Minnesota, (No. 10), and Illinois (No. 23) all have stellar classes that rank in the ESPN Top 25 for 2009.  Tom Crean, he of the massive rebuilding project at Indiana thanks to the Kelvin Sampson scandal, has six 2009 commits (three in the ESPN Top 100) while Tubby Smith has managed to keep the state of Minnesota’s  two best players in Royce White and Rodney Williams (both ESPN Top 100s) home.  Bruce Weber can also boast about his four man class that features two ESPN Top 100 players.

Where the Big Ten is really making hay on the recruiting trail is with the Class of 2010.  Four of the top ten classes belong to Ohio State (No. 1), Illinois (No. 3), Purdue (No. 9) and Michigan State checking in at No. 10. 

The 2009 and 2010 classes that Weber has put together will finally silence the critics with regards to his ability to keep top flight in-state talent home.  Two players from 2009 and all three so far from 2010 reside in Illinois.

And don’t forget about Tom Izzo and Thad Matta, both master recruiters in their own right.  The Big Ten certainly doesn’t lack the ability to convince the best players in the country to sign up for Lessons on the Hardwood 101.

But it isn’t enough to be able to recruit.  Once a coach assembles two or three classes of “his guys”, he needs to be able to, well, coach them.  A quick scan of the rosters shows that the men leading these teams don’t lack for experience.  Some of the finest coaches in the business call the Big Ten home.

Izzo, Smith, Matta, Crean, and Weber have all taken teams to the Final Four.  In addition to Izzo, Smith won a National Championship while coaching Kentucky in 1998 while Bo Ryan of Wisconsin won four Division III National Championships at Wisconsin-Platteville. 

Painter and Todd Lickliter of Iowa are widely considered two of the best young coaches in the nation and John Beilein, in his second year at the helm in Michigan, has only suffered three losing seasons over 16 prior years that include stops at Canisius, Richmond, and West Virginia.

And if one has any doubt about Beilien’s ability to return the Wolverines to prominence, look no further than his victories over UCLA and Duke this season.  Name another school that has two better out of conference wins this year than Michigan?

Clearly, the coaches and players are in place for the Big Ten to remind the rest of the college hoops world that they are more than just a football conference.  Given the recruits on the way to those schools over the next couple of years, the other five power conferences should take note.

Now, if only the Big Ten can figure out how to beat the ACC?  In due time.  In due time.