What We've Learned

The North Carolina and Duke games were on neutral courts (Bobcat Arena) as both teams wanted to show their whole state appeal.  Still, point well made and one that McKillop refers to. 

Davidson's season has been amazing even with those losses.  Living in a city whose sports reporters bleed Tar Heel blue, the respect Davidson received after that game was unbelievable.  Understand, UNC and was considered the elite team, like Kansas is now.  With its awesome firepower and defensive presence, Curry still had 24 points.  Richards had 12 and 8 assists and only lost by 4.  Against Duke, Curry had 20 and Richards had 14 and 11.  Against UNC, Duke and UCLA, they averaged 12.67 turnovers a game. 

Expect the same against Kansas in the Regional Finals.  Who knows who will win at this point.  That is why they play the game. 

By the way, best stat from the Wisconsin game was the plus 1 rebounding margin against the big bad bruising Big Ten's best team. 

We've learned the Big 10 is the weakest of all major conferences.  Not that this Big 10 fan didn't really deep down already know it, but still you would have hoped for at least one to reach the elite eight.  If not that, how about being competitve in your last game.  MSU geting destroyed as well.

Since Michigan won in 1989, you have ONE Big 10 national championship... nearly 20 years, and MSU's win in 2000 was it.  That sucks.  We are an inferior conference, and prone to be embarrased year after year in the NCAA tourney.  Anyone see any change on the horizon?

If davidson has a bad shooting night can they beat Kansas? How deep is there bench?

I agree, I was disappointed in both WI and MSU tonight, I really thought they were better than that. I thought WI being tied at half was a good thing, they would make adjustments and win in the 2nd half, but Davidson is a lot better that I thought. They are very underrated as a 10 seed.

But c'mon, don't be too harsh on the Big Ten. If you judge a conference by how many NCAA championships they have, look at the Big 12, they have just one in the last 20-30 years, when Kansas beat Oklahoma, and that was the last time they even put anybody into the championship game. At least the Big Ten isn't too bad in that respect, they often put teams into the Final Four and the championship game, even if they don't come out on top that often.

That said, I do have to agree this was a down year for the Big Ten. Outside of White for Indiana, there really were no noticeable stars in the conference and that's what it will take to get the Big Ten back into the spotlight. Look out for Purdue next year and MSU again, and even Ohio State. Not sure about Wisconsin, but I'll still have faith in Bo Ryan to put another NCAA tournament team on the floor.