SPORTS
Big Ten Intro
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Monday, January 21, 2002
Last season the Big Ten conference placed seven teams in the NCAA Tournament. Illinois and Penn State advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing, while a tough Michigan State team advanced all the way to the Final Four.
That kind of success will be repeated this season. To date, the Big Ten has struggled through an up and often down experience in non-conference play, in what most college basketball followers have called an off year for the Big Ten.
The Big Ten failed its first test of the season when they finished a disappointing 3-5 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Just as disappointing was that preseason favorites Iowa and Illinois failed to stay close to their ACC counterparts, Duke and Maryland.
Currently, the Big Ten stands as the fifth-strongest conference in the nation, according to the conference’s RPI, and has won a mediocre 65 percent of its non-conference games this season. Regardless, the Big Ten basketball schedule is now in full swing, and for a change, perennial conference favorites Michigan State and Illinois are not in their usual positions at the top of the conference. Shaky play by the Illini and Spartans has left the conference title in question. A group of solid teams with rising stars are competing to win the Big Ten title and stamp their name on a new era in the Big Ten. The title chase will culminate in Indianapolis, where the Big Ten Tournament will be held this March. The regular season champion will receive the important first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament’s first round. The championship is up for grabs. In the competitive Big Ten conference, each team will attempt to track down the title and in the process, place themselves among the nation’s elite before March Madness begins. Without further delay, The Badger Herald sports staff presents its Big Ten breakdown.
