But while it continued to place six and seven teams in the weekly polls, its retractors refused to admit that, at least for this season, the Big Ten was a better overall league than the Atlantic Coast, Big East and Pac-10 Conferences.

The Big Ten was subsequently rewarded with seven teams in the NCAA Tournament, tying a record it set in 1990 and tied in '94.

The only other conference to ever place seven teams in the NCAAs is the Big East, when it followed the Big Ten's lead in 1991.

However, each of those three years both conferences failed to send a team to the Final Four.

So the doubters remained, questioning the strength of a conference whose top team -- Michigan State -- dropped close games to the country's best, Duke and Connecticut, early in the season.

The odds makers in Las Vegas may have been the heaviest nonbelievers, setting the over/under for total Big Ten wins in the tournament at 9.5. Remember, there were seven teams selected. And Michigan State was a No. 1 seed.

But the Big Ten proved it was the best in the nation this season, regardless of the outcome in St. Petersburg where the conference comprises half the Final Four. Just a week ago, it made up 25 percent of the Sweet 16.

And it shattered the gambler's mark with a 13-5 record thus far.

By securing spots in the Final Four last weekend, Michigan State and Ohio State ended a combined 51-year drought of making it to college basketball's final days.

The Spartans haven't returned to the Final Four since Magic Johnson led them to the national title 20 years ago.

And after making it to three consecutive championship games in the early '60s and winning one, the Buckeyes haven't graced the Final Four since '68.

By venturing through the tournament unscathed thus far, Michigan State and Ohio State have the opportunity set an all-Big Ten NCAA final.

It's the kind of matchup that looked most probable in the Big Ten Tournament finals before an overachieving Illinois squad knocked off the Buckeyes in that tournament's semifinals.

However, the likelihood of an all-Big Ten final is, well, unlikely.

Everyone knows the well-oiled machine the Spartans will take on in Duke. The dominating Blue Devils lost one game by one point early in the season and have strung together a school-record 31 wins, most of which were basketball clinics.

The Buckeyes also have their own odds against them. Second-year coach Jim O'Brien, who used to stroll along Boston College's bench, is winless in his last 18 meetings with Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun.

But these Big Ten teams have already made superb strides this season.

The Buckeyes finished last in the conference last season with just a single victory and ended the season with a depressing 8-22 record.

Along with finishing second in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes have conquered the toughest road to the Final Four, upending No. 1 seed Auburn and No. 3 seed St. John's.

And fourth-year coach Tom Izzo's Spartans finally broke through after a couple of rocky seasons his first two years and a Sweet 16 elimination his third.

So maybe the Big Ten can further strengthen its hold as basketball's top conference this season.

But it doesn't really have anything left to prove.