Very impressive wins by the Badgers and Spartans last night. For a conference that everyone wrote off all year and sits 6th in the RPI, the Big Ten sure has a number of victims that might disagree with this ‘weak’ presumption. The Big Ten can’t run and score offensively like they do in the Big 12? Wisconsin might not have to run up and down the court imitating chickens with their heads cut off like they do in the Big 12, but they can sure play defense shutting down all-galaxy Michael Beasley. The Big Ten can’t compete with the depth and ruggedness of the Big East? Michigan State out-toughed Pittsburgh on Saturday in a game where a Pittsburgh player was literally swung down to the floor by Raymar Morgan just 1 minute into the game.

Yet the critics won’t stop. “The Big Ten is considered a top-heavy conference with a weak underbelly” claims Andy Glockner at ESPN. Would you kindly explain yourself Andy? Last I checked, that Spartan team that just won a 10 round slugfest with Pittsburgh was beaten by Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa who are #2, #3, #5, #7 and #8 in the 11 member Big Ten this season. The Wisconsin team that dismantled the high flying Kansas State team from the Big 12 with surgical precision barely beat second to last place Michigan by 3, Iowa by 6, and Ohio State by 5.

So why aren’t those critics all over Kansas State for barely keeping up with the Badgers having lost by 17. Or over the Big 12 for being weak considering their champion Texas lost to both Wisconsin and Michigan State this season, Kansas State still recovering from the mack truck Wisconsin team that ran them over on Saturday, and Baylor having lost to Purdue by 11 in a game that was not as close as the double digit win indicates. Those teams with the exception of Texas currently watching the rest of the tournament at home, sit #1, #3 and #5 respectively in the Big 12 conference. But hey, the RPI ranks the Big 12 as the #2 toughest conference in the nation so it must be true. Lets hand that very Texas team that lost to two Big Ten teams in consecutive games the #2 seed and give the regular season AND tournament champion from the Big Ten that beat the #2 seeded Texas, a #3 seed. Makes sense doesn’t it.

All because Wisconsin comes from a conference that computers dictate the 6th toughest in the nation. All the while, the three conferences sitting at #1, #2 and #3 in the RPI are currently licking their chops.

#1 ACC watched as (2) Duke once again shows why winning in the ACC does not guarantee success in the tournament, (5) Clemson fall to (12) Villanova despite leading by as much as 16, and Miami just lost to (2) Texas.

#2 Pac-10 held their collective breaths as top seed (1) UCLA beat (9) Texas A&M on a last minute tip-in and (3) Stanford barely beat (6) Marquette eventually pulling it out in overtime. (6) USC, (10) Arizona and (9) Oregon all fell in the first round. Me thinks a tad too many bids and a tad too overseeded, don’t you? Granted, most teams are playing their best in the tournament, but the tournament is just as every bit about skill and talent as it is about the seeding and the path you need to clear to reach the Final Four.

And the #3 Big 12? Well, the fact that Kansas State, Texas A&M, Baylor and at the time of this posting, Oklahoma are booking early flights home should tell you enough.

There is no denying the significance of seeding when it comes to success in the tournament. And it is exactly because of the influence of seeding that peeves me when people continue to berate the conference influencing the committee to some extent in offering lower seeds to Big Ten teams hence a much tougher road simply because of the perceived notion that the conference is ‘weak’. It is because of this perceived ‘weakness’ that has Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana playing tougher matchups than teams given an easier ride simply because of a supposed truth that the record indicates is clearly a load of crap. But hey, unlike the BCS at least it can be settled on the hard court.

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