The Big Ten was hands down the best conference in college basketball this year. It’s the strongest the league has been in some time, and all the signs show it: owning the challenge with the ACC, having the most ranked teams, and now the best chance to win the whole thing.
Turner Sports analyst Reggie Miller, a UCLA and Indiana Pacers legend agrees. Here’s what Miller said on conference call yesterday.
“The way they beat up one another in the regular season and championship series, every team is physical, every team likes to bang, every team likes to hold. This year will be different because they do have the best conference and they have a lot of the best players. I have some of the teams from the Big Ten going pretty far in the tournament just for the fact that each and every night they are well coached and well prepared and in every game because of that.”
Michigan State is a #1 seed, Ohio State is a #2, Wisconsin and Michigan are #4 seeds; all have strong chances of going quite far in the tourney. Perhaps more than one will make it to New Orleans for the Final Four?
A lot depends on how the referees call these games. Another analyst, Steve Kerr, an Arizona guy and hero from a Chicago Bulls NBA Finals game agreed. Interesting sound bite from him on conference call:
“Big Ten teams are most used to the physical play. The problem is you have officiating crews from all over the country and you don’t know what you’re going to get in the tournament. So, you really have to adapt. It will be very interesting…if teams like Michigan State and Ohio State get a different crew that calls more fouls, to see how they react to that.”
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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