For most of the year, the Big 14 puffed their chests out. Until late, they claimed the best conference in the KenPom era. Alas, the 2004 ACC still holds that rank but it was an incredible year for the Big 14. They entered the tournament with 6 top 20 KenPom teams and 8 of the top 40. It was an incredible year. They earned two 1-seeds and two 2-seeds. There was nothing fluky or undeserved about it. Then the tournament started and the bottom fell out. Here is the good, bad and ugly.
The Good
Michigan- When they lost Isaiah Livers, it became trendy to pick LSU to beat them. While his loss is a big one, they are a pretty deep team. FSU will be a big challenge but I wouldn’t count them out. A 4th straight Sweet 16 and surviving some haymakers from LSU and the fan base has to be pretty thrilled.
Rutgers- Rutgers?!? Yes, Rutgers. Based on KenPom, they were slight favorites over Clemson but they hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1991. They probably should have beaten Houston but that shouldn’t diminish from the turnaround orchestrated by Steve Pikiell. Plus, his name hasn’t been mentioned for any other jobs. This shouldn’t be a one-off.
The Bad
Wisconsin - Remember the pre-season polls that had them in the top ten and the excitement over having almost all of their minutes from last year back? Remember the talk of expereince? Good. Because you’ll hear that in 3-4 years again and those kids aren’t as highly regarded as this group was.
Illinois - The Illini avoid the ugly because Loyola was so much better than an 8-seed. They also had to deal with the fact Loyola was going to be amped to beat the big(ger) brother. Illinois had a knack for playing “down” or sloppy. This was how it was going to end for them at some point. Illini fans may think better days await but this was a legit title contender that melted away in dispiriting fashion.
Michigan State - Izzo is March or something. They were soft, undisciplined and often uninspiring. He may not admit it, but I bet this was one of Izzo’s least favorite squads.
Maryland - Hey, they surprised me and beat UConn, so good? Well, they got blown off the court by Alabama and Mark Turgeon said, “what did you expect?”. I bet Terps fans expected a lot more when he replaced a coach who won a national championship.
The Ugly
Ohio State - Oral Roberts may be in the Sweet 16 but that doesn’t excuse the Buckeyes losing to them as a 2-seed. Ohio State was always a suspect team in our book, but losing to the 5th place team from the Summit League in the opening round? That’s ugly.
Purdue - The Boilermakers quietly had an excellent year and were staring at a potential Sweet 16 with a leaky Villanova team or maybe even Winthrop awaiting in round two. Instead, they laid an egg against North Texas who Villanova ran off the floor two nights later. And the game was in their home state. That’s ugly.
Iowa - Thw Hawkeyes made the Sweet 16 4 times in the 80’s. They have made it that far 1 time since. That was in 1999. They’re o-fer the millennium. As a 2-seed, a 7 or 10 can be problematic but Oregon entered the dance 36th in KenPom, not exactly an over seeded 7. Plus, giving up 56 in one half and 95 overall is pretty ugly.
No comments:
Post a Comment