Tom Izzo Saying The Big 10 Is The Best Basketball Conference In America Is The Most Incorrect, Outrageous And Asinine Claim
Did .... did this man just talk about Wisconsin being in the NIT Final Four as a sign the league is good? Did I hear that right? There's carrying water for your league and then there's just sounding desperate. That's what Izzo sounds like here. It just sounds .. pathetic. Here's some stats for the Big 10:
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That's just pathetic. And Izzo can claim 'I'd like to see these guys come deal with the Big 10.' Hey, Tom. How about you go to the Big 12? Pretty sure you'd be like 7th. The Big 10 is in fact not a great basketball conference. They fell behind the Big 12, Big East and SEC this season. I don't even know how you can debate this.
Here's the truth. The Big 10 needs to stop getting plodding big guys and start recruiting guards that matter. You don't win in March by playing through bigs. The Big 10 is stuck in 1990. They want to slow it down, be physical in the paint and post up a guy. Cool. That's how you get torched by Nowell. That's how you get torched by FDU's guards.
And to answer Izzo's statement. You didn't get a bad seed because you 'beat each other up' in the Big 10. You got a bad seed because you lost to Gonzaga, Alabama and Notre Dame in the nonconference. Northwestern lost to Auburn and Pitt. Go up and down the Tournament teams and there are very few notable nonconference wins. Purdue had obviously most of them and then it was Indiana at Xavier and Illinois beating UCLA. Maybe beat power conference teams outside of the Big 10 and you can make this claim.
Izzo's right. How could anyone survive playing Minnesota or Nebraska or an empty BJC at Penn State. Nothing like the cakewalk of going to Kansas, Hilton, Little Manhattan, Texas Tech, etc. Impossible to recreate the magic of the Big 10. No one can do it. That's why they always lose in the Tournament. Simple math here by Izzo.
Izzo should be proud of the league. They collapsed so he can still be the face of the league. He's still the last coach to win. He's not getting passed over. I actually believe him with that. But my God, saying you want Wisconsin to win the NIT to show how tough your league is might be rock bottom.
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