Day 3 Reactionary Look: Big South, Big Ten and Big 12

Big South

The Winthrop Eagles have made it their personal duty to win this league year in and year out regardless of personnel, coaching or the opponent. The Eagles captured their fourth consecutive Big South tournament title aided in large part by their balanced inside-out attack. The Eagles had four players average in double figures, as they continued their remarkable March dominance in Rock Hill. UNC-Asheville won the regular season due to a tiebreaker with Winthrop and received their first ever berth to the NIT at 23-10. UNCA featured 7’7 backup center Kenny George who led the nation in field goal percentage, and also led the nation in shoe size; he wears a 28! The Bulldogs led the conference for much of the season, but when it came time for March, Winthrop’s experience ran Asheville out of the gym in the Big South title game. High Point finished third in the league and had player of the year Arizona Reid. Reid won the honor for the second straight season, and was selected for first team all conference for the third time in as many seasons. VMI utilizes the unique attack of points per possession, and they featured the nation’s scoring leader for the second straight year in Reggie Williams. Williams averaged 27.8 PPG this past year and finished with an absolutely miraculous 2,556 points over his stellar career. Liberty also welcomed in new coach Ritchie McKay to Lynchburg with a .500 season, and a semifinal appearance in the Big South tournament.

2007-2008 Big South Grade: C+
Until someone proves me otherwise, I am just going to assume that Winthrop will win this conference each and every season. They are forming a complete dynasty and winning attitude down in Rock Hill, and nobody looks poised to knock the Eagles off their perch. The thing that I love so much about the Big South has to be that they go out and play people. It may be easier to find games when you are going to big time arenas and getting schlacked, but nevertheless they are willing to go play these teams. A non-con schedule which saw Florida, Wake Forest, Ga Tech, Miami, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Kentucky and Ohio State proves to be quite impressive. If the Big South keeps this up, they will soon be able to learn what it takes to win at a national level, and that is exactly what Winthrop has done over the last three seasons.

Big Ten

Just when you think that the Big Ten has established itself as a top five conference in the country, it goes out and has a night like March 28^th. The date probably does not ring a bell, but sending two teams to the Sweet 16 and having them get absolutely taken behind the woodshed should. This night was when everything that the Big Ten had worked for was completely shredded like the cheese on my pizza. Michigan State trailed by 30 at half to Memphis before losing by 18, and Wisconsin got down 20 before losing 73-56 to Davidson. Wisconsin had a great season; 31-5 with an amazing conference run where they went 16-2 in a power league. Michigan State completely underachieved. The Spartans were a preseason pick at Midnight to March to reach San Antonio, and never seemed to match their potential as Drew Neitzel had a disappointing senior season and things are left to wonder what may have been in Lansing if they would have played like they could have. Purdue truly asserted themselves as a force to be reckoned with this year. Matt Painter looks to be building something at Mackey Arena, and look out because the Boilers return just about everyone off of a near Sweet 16 team. Indiana had undoubtedly the toughest season of any team in the league, maybe the nation. The Hoosiers lost head coach Kelvin Sampson midway through the year and interim coach Dan Dakich did a superior job as fill-in; they could just never replicate the success of the early year. Eric Gordon and DJ White had amazing seasons and will be rewarded handsomely for their performance. The wildcard of the conference was Ohio State. Buckeye fans, in three years thank me for saying this, reaching the NIT was the best thing that could happen to Thad Matta’s club. The Bucks improved tremendously throughout the ugly stepsister of the NCAA, and captured the title. Look for the Buckeyes to come back strong next season. The most difficult thing about the Big Ten this past season was the influx of new coaches and lack of immediate success. Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Indiana all had new coaches and that definitely played a role in the unbalance of the league.

2007-2008 Big Ten Grade: C
I am biased against the Big Ten; I am not going to sit here and lie to my readers and claim that I enjoy the conference. I hate it, and have no desire to watch Big Ten basketball. At the same time, I think there were bright spots to take away from this league. Although clearly not a top 5 or top 8 league, I liked what Bo Ryan did at Wisconsin this year as well as what Purdue and Ohio State managed to accomplish with amazingly young teams. I do not fully support the bottom feeders because I almost feel like these teams made no effort all season to be competitive. Teams like Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern and Penn State have a lot of work to do before they can even fathom going dancing. The problem with the Big Ten has become the lack of national support; nobody wants to watch these teams play which is unfortunate because it is one of the best defensive leagues in the country. But I guess that’s what 45-43 scores get you, low approval ratings and even less national support for the league. There is talent and there is potential, but you are sorely mistaken if you think that the Big Ten from top to bottom resembles a top tier conference

Big 12

Rock Freakin Chalk. Finally, the Kansas Jayhawks get their first title since 1988. This team did not quite play the whole year like they were the best, but there is no argument that at times (i.e. Final Four) this KU team was clearly the best around. When you really pick apart the details about conferences, I think this league featured the best top-heavy teams in the country. Kansas, Texas, KState, Oklahoma, Texas A&M could all compete with any team around on any night. Similar to the Big Ten, the Big 12 locks up on defense. None of this was more evident than in the national championship game where Kansas absolutely locked down Derrick Rose in the first half. Every team in the league was incredibly deep (sans K State) and each had superstars. Texas guard DJ Augustin is a top-three point guard around, and I would pick him to start my team right behind Rose. The Longhorns were thought to sorely miss Kevin Durant, and they did miss his scoring at times; however, the collective dedication these Longhorns made to rebounding from KD’s departure was astounding. KState featured the league’s top one-two punch in Bill Walker and Michael Beasley. Beasley broke many freshman and national records in his first and only season in college including the freshman double-double mark of 22 times. Beasley is the sole reason that head coach Frank Martin has a head coaching job in the NCAA, and is the sole reason that there was any reason to celebrate in Manhattan this winter; he will now be one of the top two selections in June’s NBA Draft. He was the Most Outstanding Player in the nation (not to be confused with Most Valuable). Oklahoma made great strides this season especially after being bitten with the injury bug in Blake Griffin and Longar Longar. Look for the Sooners to be a factor in the Big 12 next season. Speaking of next season, Baylor and Texas A&M came to play this year a heck of a lot earlier than most people thought. Evidently last year’s Aggie team was more than just Acie Law IV as Dominique Kirk and Joseph Jones had solid years reaching the NCAA second round. Baylor also was tremendous in recoping from their tragedy a few years back. Scott Drew deserves a Kudos from MTM, and promises to have something to build on in Waco. The most surprising occurrence in the Big 12 this year was Texas Tech legend Bob Knight stepping down in Lubbock for his son to receive the nod as head man.

2007-2008 Big 12 Grade: B

My favorite conference this season; the Big 12 featured everything necessary for a compelling year. Great teams, great players, lockdown defense and scorers. Not to mention, successful teams that managed to win games. The battle of the regular season positioned the league to receive six NCAA berths, all of which well deserved. Yes, Baylor was an NCAA team. The amazing thing is with all of the departing players in this league; Rush, Arthur, Beasley, Kirk, Jones, maybe Walker that the league could possibly be stronger from top to bottom next year. Baylor, A&M, Oklahoma will join forces Texas and Kansas as top teams and do not forget about Oklahoma State and new head man Travis Ford. I am in love with this league because they have everything, and could not be happier that they feature a national champion.