Saturday, September 22, 2007

B101's Bold Prediction No. 21

No. 21: The Big Ten Stinks (Please Tell The Committee)
Last year, aside from Ohio State and Wisconsin, we were down on the Big Ten all season. In our final bracket, the selection committee showed that they thought otherwise. We seeded Indiana at a 9 seed and they ended up as a 7, we seeded Purdue as a 12 and one of our last four in and they (somehow) got a 9, and most ridiculous, we left Illinois out and they got a 12 seed to give us one of our two mistakes.

Despite the committee's love of the Big Ten last year, we still think the league will be a disappointment in 2007-2008. Yes, the league has two All-Americans in Drew Neitzel and D.J. White and because of them, Michigan State and Indiana are legit top-3 seeds entering the season, but the middle and bottom of the league is weaker than that of any other BCS conference. Ohio State will slip but has enough talent left to stay afloat and Wisconsin's style of play makes it a tough team to bet against even without Alando Tucker, but no one else in the league registers as anything close to a dangerous team.

That said, our Bold Prediction No. 21 is that only four Big Ten teams will make this year's NCAA Tournament: Indiana (a 2 seed), Michigan State (3 seed), Ohio State (7 seed), and Wisconsin (9 seed). Our apologies to our buddies at the Illinois message boards...you won't sneak in again this year, too.

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