We can sum up everything in one post and close this thread if that's easier for you? I'll list some facts, and you tell me if any of them aren't true:
- ISU beat Iowa head to head on the court. True. Ranked isu, with much higher aspirations (Final Four and top five) and decisively favored trailed the majority of the game in Ames before winning by one point over an unranked Iowa team.
- ISU was ranked higher than Iowa in the final rankings of the regular season, and will be ranked higher in the final rankings after the tournament. True. isu was ranked much higher even in the preseason, yet failed once again to meet those lofty expectations falling to considerably lower rankings recently. On the other hand, Iowa began the season without any rankings or recognition only to play well enough to be ranked top twenty-five.
- Niang was named a 2nd team AP All American, Uthoff was named 3rd team. True. Quite similar to the teams each played for this season, one player received many plaudits and press from the preseason on while the other had relatively little of that recognition. The one that was deemed great from the start managed to be perhaps marginally better than the one without all of the publicity.
- ISU was seeded higher in the NCAA tournament. True. Most here will recall a team that was seeded second just last year and then went on to lose in the opening round to UAB.
- ISU made it farther than Iowa in the NCAA tournament. True. It is well documented that isu played two double digit seeds and then proceeded to lose (and, to use your phrasing - it wasn't on any last second shot) in the next game. The team that defeated mighty isu also lost its very next game.
- The highest two ranked Big 10 teams lost in the first round to Middle Tennessee State and Arkansas Little Rock. And it wasn't like MTSU upset Michigan St on a last second shot by 1, they beat them down by 9. True. The overall number one seed of the entire tourney field failed to even reach the Final Four. Care to guess which conference that team was the undisputed champion of this season?
- The highest two ranked Big 12 teams made it to the Elite 8, with one still playing in the Final 4. True. See above. In the previous ten years, including this season, the Big Ten has had more teams (8) appear in Final Fours than has the big xii (3). During the period of the big xii, version 1.0 (when the big xii had more teams) the Big Ten still placed more teams (10) into the Final Four when compared to the big xii. Not surprisingly, the Big Ten was represented in the Final Four twice as many times (8 years to 4) as the big xii during that time span.
- Many of the Big 10 teams that made it past the first round exited the tournament in embarrassing fashion in games that weren't even close. Big 10 champs Indiana got beat down by 15. Iowa beat down by 19. Maryland dominated by KU by 16. All true. And that miracle team from Ames that was all that prior to the season even experiencing a single game exited in just the same fashion. No Final Four. No top five. No top ten. For a team that spent top eight money recruiting its players and being touted by fans and pundits alike, not too sure that this season ranks right there with one of the great under-performances this year.
Not sure what you are trying to argue. That Iowa was better than ISU? Obviously not true. That the Big 10 was better than the Big 12? Obviously not true. You've lost. You have no argument. Admit it like a man and go back downstairs at your moms. There's even a whole separate thread in this forum about how the Big 10 sucked, started by Iowa fans. Bye bye.
