I'm always interested to see how many bids each conference gets. This year, the Big Ten got far less than other major conferences. So may say that it was because the Big Ten wasn't very good this year. I disagree.
This year the Big Ten screwed itself. We collectively scheduled poorly.
As a conference, The Big Ten played:
94 RPI Top 25 games
24 RPI 26-50 games
77 RPI 51-100 games
Schools killed our conference RPI by having too many high end games and not enough quality but winnable games. The result - The middle of the Big Ten had no shot at the post season.
Consider Maryland. Maryland was 0-8 again the RPI Top 25, 1-1 v. RPI 26-50, and 2-2 v. RPI 51-100. That schedule eliminated any shot Maryland had of getting into the NCAA tournament. What if Maryland went 0-2 against the RPI Top 25 and split 8 or gone 4-4 against RPI 26-50 games? They'd look a lot like Florida, Alabama, or Arkansas...all of which made the tournament.
My feeling is the conference gets killed by things like The Big Ten/ACC tournament and the Gavvitt Games. We've gotten unfavorable match ups for our middle of the road teams over the years. This year is no different and I think it cost the conference.
This year the Big Ten screwed itself. We collectively scheduled poorly.
As a conference, The Big Ten played:
94 RPI Top 25 games
24 RPI 26-50 games
77 RPI 51-100 games
Schools killed our conference RPI by having too many high end games and not enough quality but winnable games. The result - The middle of the Big Ten had no shot at the post season.
Consider Maryland. Maryland was 0-8 again the RPI Top 25, 1-1 v. RPI 26-50, and 2-2 v. RPI 51-100. That schedule eliminated any shot Maryland had of getting into the NCAA tournament. What if Maryland went 0-2 against the RPI Top 25 and split 8 or gone 4-4 against RPI 26-50 games? They'd look a lot like Florida, Alabama, or Arkansas...all of which made the tournament.
My feeling is the conference gets killed by things like The Big Ten/ACC tournament and the Gavvitt Games. We've gotten unfavorable match ups for our middle of the road teams over the years. This year is no different and I think it cost the conference.
