Purdue men's basketball coach Gene Keady laughed when I told him that UAB is projected to make the NCAA tournament and Indiana isn't.
"I respect all those [Conference-USA] teams, but that's a joke," Keady said.
It looks like the joke is on the Big Ten this season. Both CBS sportsline.com's Tony Mejia and espn.com's Joe Lunardi project the conference to get just four bids.
I apologize Gene, but I'm going to have to agree with Tony and Joe on this one.
The Big Ten is in a sad state and that is reflected by the conference having just one ranked team, No. 17 Wisconsin, in the AP poll. This is the first time that's happened since 1977. The Badgers were just pounded by conference whipping boy Northwestern by 18 points. The other three teams currently projected to get into the NCAA tournament are Purdue, Michigan State and Illinois, but no bid is safe in the mediocre Big Ten.
There are three teams lurking behind those four in the standings and primed to make a NCAA run. Michigan, Indiana and Iowa are all at .500 or above in both the conference and overall, but currently lack the necessary credentials to get into the Big Dance. Keady disagrees with the assumption that Big Ten teams will be fighting for four bids.
"We should have six or seven, [teams] that's not even a question," Keady said. "People that are saying that [the Big Ten is only getting four bids] are not doing our games and not around us. Thank God those guys are not on the committee."
Unfortunately, for the conference both Mejia and Lunardi have been pretty close to being dead on over the past couple years projecting the NCAA field.
Lunardi has Wisconsin, the conference's top team as of Monday, receiving a No. 6 seed. In the 2001 NCAA tournament, Penn State, the conference's seventh best team, received a No. 7 seed.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber, former coach of mid-major Southern Illinois, is a little more realistic about the situation.
He said he has a soft spot for the mid-majors and that a team like Southern Illinois deserves to make the tournament even if it doesn't win its conference tournament.
"The biggest problem is there a big mess of teams in the middle," Weber said. "We will see how it unfolds, who stays in the top of the pack, does anyone rise themselves out of the middle of that pack and isolate themselves. That's where I think we should get the fifth team."
The question now is who is in best position to get that fifth spot if the selection committee deems it appropriate. Michigan is in the best position to make the dance because of its stellar RPI.
The Wolverines are the fourth Big Ten team in the Top 50 RPI coming in at No. 47, which is higher than current tournament team No. 72 Purdue and other competitors No. 73 Indiana and No. 85 Iowa.
The tournament committee makes its judgments on the comparative strengths of conferences based on how they fare against each other.
The Big Ten has exactly two big non-conference victories this season. Purdue is still the only team to beat Duke and Iowa knocked off Louisville.
If either matchup happened today, Purdue would be run off the court and Iowa would be lucky to reach the court without losing another player.
The fact is that the conference as a whole is 11-30 against the Big East, SEC, ACC and Big 12. That is why the conference has gotten no respect this year.
Teams are going to have 10, 11 or 12 wins in conference play because someone in the conference has to win.
However, the non-conference wins are where a conference earns its reputation. Indiana's 30-point losses combined with Ohio State and Minnesota struggling with the Furmans and Duquesnes of the world make for a sad conference.
The conference currently features seven teams with .500 records or better in Big Ten play. It also features 0-9 Minnesota, which allows the rest of the teams in the conference to bulk up its records.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, Big Ten teams with a .500 record or better in conference play have been extended NCAA tournament bids 103 out of 115 times.
In the past seven seasons, just three Big Ten teams have been denied tournament bids with .500 records or better, Minnesota twice and Penn State once. There is the possibility this season that three teams from the conference will be denied with .500-plus records.
Oh by the way Gene, according to Mejia, Purdue is one of the last four teams in the tournament with a No. 11 seed while UAB is No. 9. Mejia isn't on the committee but CBS sportsline.com's final projection has nailed at-large bids at over a 96 percent success rate and that's no joke.
Upset of the Week
No.4 Pittsburgh takes out No. 5 UCONN in the weekend's best matchup. The New York City tandem of Carl Krauser and super freshman Chris Taft gets the best of Ben Gordon and Emeka Okefor. At the same time on Sunday, No. 18 Wake Forest will knock off No. 12 Cincinnati.
Last Week: Providence got the job done against the 'Cuse for me, but Bobby Knight was too busy at the salad bar and Texas Tech wasn't ready for the Jayhawks. My record stays even at 4-4.
