Big Ten basketball is a mess

[Magnanimous 4,399]

Nine teams in the tournament and the conference will be lucky to have two teams get through to the second weekend. Plenty of competitive teams, but still only one national title in the last 31 years. Another year, the same story.

So what can be done about this? IU has had its own issues the last 20 years, but it is not just an “us” problem. Should we start the BTT a day earlier and end on Saturday? Should the conference officiating change to allow for a more finesse style of play that translates to the NCAAT? We’re getting plenty of talent and usually fielding several contending teams a year, but come tournament time it’s egg after egg. What else is there to it?

[Hoosierfan2017 19,903]

It is every year. It has a rep of a great conference, the voters buy into the rep every year by putting a bunch of B1G teams in the polls, and then they choke in the tournament. Houston over Illinois was a really easy pick earlier today because Illinois isn’t built for tournament ball. I picked Michigan to make the sweet 16 because they don’t really play a Big 1G style. Officiating needs to change. Tackle basketball isn’t played in any other conference. 

[Hovadipo 52,979]

It begins and ends with the conference office figuring out the style of play problem, imo. It kills teams in the tournament and allows other conferences to recruit against us. Combine that subpar talent with the style of play they get used to from January-March and it results in getting punked every year in the tournament. A vicious cycle that could be taken care of by knocking Bo Boroski and his cronies down a rung. 
 

I don’t care about other B1G teams and hope none of them ever win a national title, but that’s just how I see it. 

[Uspshoosier 44,310]

10 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

Nine teams in the tournament and the conference will be lucky to have two teams get through to the second weekend. Plenty of competitive teams, but still only one national title in the last 31 years. Another year, the same story.

So what can be done about this? IU has had its own issues the last 20 years, but it is not just an “us” problem. Should we start the BTT a day earlier and end on Saturday? Should the conference officiating change to allow for a more finesse style of play that translates to the NCAAT? We’re getting plenty of talent and usually fielding several contending teams a year, but come tournament time it’s egg after egg. What else is there to it?

The conference doesn’t recruit well compared to other top leagues.   All the top end talent go elsewhere.  Other conference recruit against the style of play.   Go back and look and the where the top 50 kids have gone.  The B1G is lucky to get any of them.    No McDonald’s all Americans again this year.   JHS is the top recruit.   Until the officiating and style of play changes this is what everyone will talk about at the end of years.  

[lillurk 3,689]

4 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

It begins and ends with the conference office figuring out the style of play problem, imo. It kills teams in the tournament and allows other conferences to recruit against us. Combine that subpar talent with the style of play they get used to from January-March and it results in getting punked every year in the tournament. A vicious cycle that could be taken care of by knocking Bo Boroski and his cronies down a rung. 
 

I don’t care about other B1G teams and hope none of them ever win a national title, but that’s just how I see it. 

Yep, and rewarding talent/skill leads to a better television product, which makes the league more money, too. Selfishly it also benefits the half of the conference that can recruit top talent, which would help IU (though not exclusively IU, of course). A virtuous cycle.

[Stuhoo 75,757]

The overall talent level is not commensurate with the coaching and fan interest.

That’s a big problem.

[Josh 12,380]

Don't Big Ten officials work in the tournament?  I have a hard time believing it's officiating.  I tend to agree with USPS on the talent disparity

[LIHoosier 25,013]

10 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

It begins and ends with the conference office figuring out the style of play problem, imo. It kills teams in the tournament and allows other conferences to recruit against us. Combine that subpar talent with the style of play they get used to from January-March and it results in getting punked every year in the tournament. A vicious cycle that could be taken care of by knocking Bo Boroski and his cronies down a rung. 
 

I don’t care about other B1G teams and hope none of them ever win a national title, but that’s just how I see it. 

Its from the conference. I saw Bo-Bo call a game in the Pac 12 in February (USC/Wash St) and the game wasn't a sumo match inside. Stuff that we wouldn't blink an eye at in the B1G physically was called as normal basketball is called in that game. It starts somewhere at the top.

[Uspshoosier 44,310]

Just now, Josh said:

Don't Big Ten officials work in the tournament?  I have a hard time believing it's officiating.  I tend to agree with USPS on the talent disparity

They do officiate in other leagues during the year as well but the same official will officiate those games differently as he does in the B1G.  It’s a wild thing to watch during the year 

[kreigh8 2,008]

Just now, Josh said:

Don't Big Ten officials work in the tournament?  I have a hard time believing it's officiating.  I tend to agree with USPS on the talent disparity

Talent disparity could be caused by the style of the basketball. If you're a guy looking to make that leap to the NBA as soon as possible, you'd want to go to the a conference that allows to showcase those skills. The way the conference is called now, there are far more appealing options

[Hovadipo 52,979]

1 minute ago, LIHoosier said:

Its from the conference. I saw Bo-Bo call a game in the Pac 12 in February (USC/Wash St) and the game wasn't a sumo match inside. Stuff that we wouldn't blink an eye at in the B1G physically was called as normal basketball is called in that game. It starts somewhere at the top.

Just bizarre. I can’t wrap my mind around what the conference gains from playing that style. I’ve never seen anyone really defend it either. Woody was outright confused by it earlier in the season in a postgame presser. 

[HoosierAloha 29,897]

This is fun. I believe we've had the same conversation in previous years but the argument was a handful of Final Fours and a couple of title games by the Michigan unis.

I believe the root cause is the officiating. As USPS mentioned above, the same official will call games differently in/out of the Big 1.o. Hell, the same official just made a completely different call on Davison as he did all season. That's not a coincidence.

Why do Big 1.o teams perform relatively well in noncon? Typically, there isn't a lot of turnover on Big 1.o teams and typically older. That means teams aren't getting a lot better relative to teams in other leagues. Those leagues have more/younger talent that develops over the season. They don't perform as well in the noncon but start putting it together in post season play.

[Josh 12,380]

The Big Ten Senior Director of Officiating graduated from Purdoo.  Hmmmmmm, maybe that is the problem

https://bigten.org/staff.aspx?staff=14

[Hoosier Guy 7,472]

The only team I want to advance in the NCAA tournament is IU. I couldn’t care less if every other team lost in the first round. Michigan is the only team that makes runs in the tournament consistently. Five straight S16 appearances for them

[LIHoosier 25,013]

11 minutes ago, Josh said:

The Big Ten Senior Director of Officiating graduated from Purdoo.  Hmmmmmm, maybe that is the problem

https://bigten.org/staff.aspx?staff=14

I think its this dude https://bigten.org/staff.aspx?staff=7

and Purdon't Global is an online school.

[Josh 12,380]

5 minutes ago, LIHoosier said:

I think its this dude https://bigten.org/staff.aspx?staff=7

and Purdon't Global is an online school.

That dude has no profile listed at all, just a name and a title.  Shaaaaaady

[RaceToTheTop 23,785]

50 minutes ago, Uspshoosier said:

The conference doesn’t recruit well compared to other top leagues.   All the top end talent go elsewhere.  Other conference recruit against the style of play.   Go back and look and the where the top 50 kids have gone.  The B1G is lucky to get any of them.    No McDonald’s all Americans again this year.   JHS is the top recruit.   Until the officiating and style of play changes this is what everyone will talk about at the end of years.  

I believe Jalen Hood-Shifino is ranked like 20 on 247…..and he’s the top ranked Big Ten recruit. you are correct that it’s not getting the top recruits.

[LIHoosier 25,013]

Yup its this guy. Here's an article on how he's horrible at his job

http://dalydoseofhoops.blogspot.com/2017/11/rick-boyages-big-ten-associate.html

[hoosierdogg 3,092]

Big needs to start the BTT a day earlier and end on Saturday.  Or do away with four double byes and four first round games.  Perhaps two byes for top two teams, the other 12 start day one, four day tournament.  Whatever it takes to not play on Sunday.        

Officiating in this tournament on every game I have seen is inconsistent and just awful, missed calls, bad calls, and just plain wrong calls.  Three flop calls in the IU-St. Mary's game (all legitimate), but so many other obvious flops in other games not called is one example. And the reviews are insufferable.  The call of a foul when Race was flung to the floor was reviewed for a possible flagarant, but then was reversed and a foul called on Race was a blatant error. There obviously has to be better training, consistency and qualifications for officiating, especially for those chosen for the tournament. 

[DChoosier 7,056]

One thing I rarely see,  when watching the non-Big Ten games, is a big guy getting the ball in the post and then creating separation by repeatedly banging into his defenders chest.  I have no idea why that isn’t a foul and it leads to play getting bogged down while 8 guys watch two dudes slam into each other like two huge rams. 
Unfortunately that scenario is allowed in the Big Ten, a lot.