The Big Ten is SO SOFT

[HawkLogic]

I tend to agree with the bold comment now versus 5 years ago. BIG loses their top young talent every year to NBA, because they recruit top talent. Teams that have older/seasoned players are doing better in the NCAA and BIG loses. Penn State is a good example of older players (ISU too but they have zero shooters) that can shoot.

IMO the other factor is the BIG is a big man conference and NCAA tourney is about athletes and guards. Iowa has neither, so............

Purdue has been 100% big man based team relying on giants for past 10 years. This year again 1 giant and 4 stiffs surrounding him. That doesn't describe the rest of the league.

While most of the B1G teams that made tourney had bigs with some scoring ability, the overall athleticism of B1G is lower, there are too many slow twitch, below the rim, skinny guys. I would say Sandfort, CMAC, PMAC all fall in some of those categories. Rebraca was decent athlete, nothing special an Kris himself is not super athlete, just more athletic than rest of the squad

 

[RocknRollface]

You guys have turned completely whiny. 5-3 isn’t terrible. If Purdue would have won then the B1G would have been at 6-2 and most everyone would have called it a decent showing. Instead 5-3 has everyone here hyperventilating.

I think the B1G still has a shot at putting a couple of teams in the S16. There are some tough matchups but you may as well say that every matchup is really a toss up in this years tournament.

The Big was in a lot of toss up games besides Purdue and they went 5-2 in those.

Actually better than most expected.

 

[RocknRollface]

Bruce Pearls comment after the game
" we are a middle of the pack SEC team athletically but the difference was obvious...they don't see teams like that in the BIG"

Frans comment when told of pearls remark"
we have teams that play fast in the BIG..its not a conference thing"
The SEC has tons of athletes in their footprint.
The BIG has Chicago and NJ/NYC for city BB recruits and they do not own those areas.

BIG recruiting of top 100 players has been pathetic in recent years.
Top 25? BIG has way too many projects not enough prospects.

Pearl is as always an idiot.

Iowa lost that game because we couldn't keep their big guy with a 5 inch vertical jump off the boards and couldn't do anything to bother his shot in the lane. A dude that transfered from a MM.

Auburn is built like a big ten team, they aren't middle of the pack athletic for sec, they are bottom of the barrel. They would be middle of the pack in the big ten.

Maybe he was watching Arkansas v Illinois and got confused on which players were his.

 

[RocknRollface]

I tend to agree with the bold comment now versus 5 years ago. BIG loses their top young talent every year to NBA, because they recruit top talent. Teams that have older/seasoned players are doing better in the NCAA and BIG loses. Penn State is a good example of older players (ISU too but they have zero shooters) that can shoot.

IMO the other factor is the BIG is a big man conference and NCAA tourney is about athletes and guards. Iowa has neither, so............

I don't think the Big ten losses more than any other major conferences.

 

[TheTruthTheWholeTruth]

The Big was in a lot of toss up games besides Purdue and they went 5-2 in those.

Actually better than most expected.

Right? One game changed the entire narrative. Now, I’m sure everyone agrees that the B1G has underperformed in recent years. No argument there.

But calling out this year specifically is bizarre. Let’s see how the R32 plays out before we judge the entire B1G’s performance on the Purdue game.

 

[OutbackBowl2017]

Still not happy with things much closer to home, but we're not the only fanbase with recent Dance troubles ....

Purdue's last 3 NCAA Tournament outcomes;

2021: Lost to a 13-seed [in 1st round]
2022: Lost to a 15-seed [in Sweet16]
2023: Lost to a 16-seed [in 1st round]

Purdue said hold my beer after UVA’s loss Thursday.

 

[fezzador]

I tend to agree with the bold comment now versus 5 years ago. BIG loses their top young talent every year to NBA, because they recruit top talent. Teams that have older/seasoned players are doing better in the NCAA and BIG loses. Penn State is a good example of older players (ISU too but they have zero shooters) that can shoot.

IMO the other factor is the BIG is a big man conference and NCAA tourney is about athletes and guards. Iowa has neither, so............

They’re a hot commodity throughout the B1G, not just Iowa.

 

[RocknRollface]

Right? One game changed the entire narrative. Now, I’m sure everyone agrees that the B1G has underperformed in recent years. No argument there.

But calling out this year specifically is bizarre. Let’s see how the R32 plays out before we judge the entire B1G’s performance on the Purdue game.

Indiana is the only higher seed game on the second round but I could see getting 2 maybe 3 into the sweet 16.

I could also see 0.

I'm guessing Indiana and msu win theirs and maybe NW.

Psu is playing great and definitely could have made 16 but I think they got probably the best overall team in rnd 2. No clue what the committee was thinking seeding Purdue over Texas

 

[DewHawk]

They’re a hot commodity throughout the B1G, not just Iowa.

Yes, I probably should have clarified that all teams are losing their top players to the NBA and college is losing its appeal for a lot of reasons.

 

[TheTruthTheWholeTruth]

Indiana is the only higher seed game on the second round but I could see getting 2 maybe 3 into the sweet 16.

I could also see 0.

I'm guessing Indiana and msu win theirs and maybe NW.

Psu is playing great and definitely could have made 16 but I think they got probably the best overall team in rnd 2. No clue what the committee was thinking seeding Purdue over Texas

Yeah I’d put the number at 1.5

 

[luvmyhawks]

You're not very smart are you? It's Iowa's fault the Big Ten sucks?..lol

lol. You claiming I’m not the smart one when you clearly suffer from a lack of reading comprehension. Idiot.

 

[luvmyhawks]

Pearl is as always an idiot.

Iowa lost that game because we couldn't keep their big guy with a 5 inch vertical jump off the boards and couldn't do anything to bother his shot in the lane. A dude that transfered from a MM.

Auburn is built like a big ten team, they aren't middle of the pack athletic for sec, they are bottom of the barrel. They would be middle of the pack in the big ten.

Maybe he was watching Arkansas v Illinois and got confused on which players were his.

Yeah. I must have missed it. I watched the entire game unfortunately. Not once did I think “wow, they are so much more athletic than we are.” Never even crossed my mind.

 

[RocknRollface]

Yeah. I must have missed it. I watched the entire game unfortunately. Not once did I think “wow, they are so much more athletic than we are.” Never even crossed my mind.

No, they played good on ball defense but nothing special.

Their advantage was size and strength in the paint.

 

[BurgHawk87]

Look at state HS 100m dash times for Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, etc and then go look at Texas, Florida, Alabama… The athletes are not in this region.

Running fast in a straight line isn't a great analogy for basketball success. Sure they may have more athletes but track success means nothing anywhere other than track.

 

[Cydkar]

My theory is that the top talent doesn't tend to stay in college for very long anymore, and then it's off to the NBA.

The talent gap between the top 2-3 seeds and the 14, 15 and 16 seeds just doesn't seem to be quite as large as it used to be.

Or I could be totally off base, lol. But maybe there are multiple reasons.

I remember it being a huge deal when a 2 seed lost in the first round. Syracuse 1991 IIRC was the first. Now we've seen a couple of 1 seeds go down in recent years.

You are correct. There are far fewer teams that can play poorly and win. Play bad…go home.

 

[QChawks]

meechigan loses to Vandy in NIT

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

I don’t think many people are surprised.

Yep. So sick of hearing morons say the Big Ten is “overrated.” Our own fans know we haven’t been a good conference in years, lol.

 

[hawkjt]

I re-watched this game and really tried to pinpoint our issues.

The key stretch in the game was when auburn went on a 12 PT run in the 2nd half to push their lead to 17.
Their guard Donaldson hit 3 straight 3 pters .All 4 they made in that stretch were transition 3's.
Fran was pleading w our guys to get back but they were crashing the boards and could not keep up with suburbs guards getting back.
I also saw guys getting beat off the dribble by their PG who got to the rim and finished. Too quick for our guards and no rim protection.

Tony,Kris, Sandford ...they all had trouble staying in front of their man.

 

[herkhatescy]

lol. You claiming I’m not the smart one when you clearly suffer from a lack of reading comprehension. Idiot.

Yeah, you're still not very smart.

 

[luvmyhawks]

Yeah, you're still not very smart.

Which would make you a complete dumb ****.

 

[PeoriaHawk]

You're not very smart are you? It's Iowa's fault the Big Ten sucks?..lol

Take a nap pal or stop drinking so much.

 

[TheTruthTheWholeTruth]

The Big 12 is as soft as baby shit.

 

[TRHawkeye145]

SEC!!! 🤮

 

[QChawks]

SEC!!! 🤮

Big ten is a wrestling conference 😎

 

[Iafootballfan]

Running fast in a straight line isn't a great analogy for basketball success. Sure they may have more athletes but track success means nothing anywhere other than track.

Uhm… Maybe you should tell the NBA and NFL that their 40 yard dash and 3/4 court sprint tests at their combine “mean nothing”, BurgHawk87 says so.

 

[joelbc1]

I don’t think many people SHOULD BE surprised.

Fixed it for you.

 

[joelbc1]

Big ten is a wrestling conference 😎

Better hope the SEC doesn't decide to start fielding wrestling teams......

 

[ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAWK]

The Big 12 is as soft as baby shit.

Big 12 is proving how much they blow.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

Purdue, Kansas, Arizona, Duke, Some big P5's at the top of the bracket are going down.

 

[OutbackBowl2017]

Better hope the SEC doesn't decide to start fielding wrestling teams......

That would require them to take money away from their football programs. No way in hell they are gonna do that.

 

[RocknRollface]

Im disappointed for PSU, they were playing well enough to make the sweet16 with a different draw.

Gave texas all they wanted and if Funk makes those 2 wide open 3s they probably win.

Psu better do everything they can to hold on to Shrewsbury. Hes good.

 

[Ronman]

Yep. So sick of hearing morons say the Big Ten is “overrated.” Our own fans know we haven’t been a good conference in years, lol.

At least as mediocrity battled mediocrity, it provided fun environments and games.

 

[BurgHawk87]

Uhm… Maybe you should tell the NBA and NFL that their 40 yard dash and 3/4 court sprint tests at their combine “mean nothing”, BurgHawk87 says so.

I'll try my best. Pretty sure neither of those things are track events, which I was replying to. Also 40 yard time is pretty dumb for most positions.