Happy Halloween microsite readers! For those of you in college or otherwise young enough to still enjoy this holiday, you’ve probably put a lot of thought into your costume and are on your way to some great costume party. For the slightly more aged, we have a more ornery disposition and our Halloween plans likely include dimming the lights and hiding from the trick-or-treaters. To those of my ilk, I sympathize with your reclusive ways. My gift to you is this post to read while you’re in the corner trying to shield the light from your tablet. For your enjoyment, I’ll throw out several random thoughts about the conference and declare whether they’ll end up being a trick or treat for Big Ten fans. Let’s begin.
The Big Ten will be the best conference in the country. TRICK. Sorry folks. I’m confident that the league will be in the discussion, but I’m not sure the bottom rung will be successful enough in the non-conference slate to avoid a drag on its overall RPI. Some of the middling teams – Illinois, Indiana and Maryland – have enough uncertainty around their lineups that it’s possible they could slide quickly in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, every team in the Big 12 looks strong, with the notable exception of atrocities like Texas Tech and TCU, and each has a reasonable shot at making the NCAA Tournament. I hope I’m wrong, but if it’s any consolation, I think the Big Ten will best the ACC and their stuffy buttoned-up fans once again. Honestly, who goes to football games dressed like this.
Maryland is joining the league. TREAT. The Terps may not be on the cusp of challenging for Final Fours and National Championships right now, but it’s a storied basketball program with a passionate fan base that should fit into the Big Ten nicely. Program highlights include a more recent National Championship than any other Big Ten school (2002) and well-known alums like Len Elmore, Joe Smith, Steve Francis, Juan Dixon and Steve Blake. Additionally, I’ve been to enough games at the “Comcastle” to know that the Terps will add another great home court experience to the league thanks to their riled up student section. Terrapin fans are also a creative bunch: The world will, for example, always be indebted to them for introducing us to “Scheyerface”. And Maryland fans, if you’re feeling a little anxious about the move to the new conference, like a mid-year transfer student on his first day at a new school, don’t be. Your program is attractive enough where fitting in won’t be a problem, even if you do have a funny accent (it’s “water”, not “wooder”, jeez).
Rutgers is joining the league. TRICK. If Maryland is the attractive new student at school, then Rutgers is the transfer student who shows up on her first day practicing her tuba mouthpiece. Let’s visit the Scarlet Knights’ resume: no remarkable program history; the last time they made an NCAA Tournament, the USSR was still intact; and the last time they won an NCAA Tournament game, North Carolina had a future somewhat dubious NBA team owner named Michael Jordan on its roster. Rutgers actually has a Final Four appearance from 1976, when the Scarlet Knights entered the NCAA Tournament undefeated and eventually lost to Michigan (who knew?), but the inclusion of this school was never about adding another successful program but about attracting New York area television viewership via their football team. Seeing as I write about basketball, I’m not seeing much added value with respect to this sport.
The new Big Ten Tournament format will be better. TREAT. Seriously, we get an extra day of the tournament, so what’s not to like? Who cares if that extra day is sure to be filled with uninspiring basketball from the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th seeds? I’m talking about an extra day of Chicago Italian Beef in 2015 and St. Elmo’s spicy shrimp in Indianapolis in 2016. That can’t be all bad. But besides the good eats, the additional day means more exposure on the ESPN family of networks, and having additional exposure on the most important cable sports channel is essential to keeping up with the ACC. Don’t believe me? Ask Big East fans how they’re loving Fox Sports 1. In college basketball, irrelevancy is scarier than anything you’ll see out there tonight. Stay safe!
