[NU Sports] Big Ten hoops!!!

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

A thrilling finish in Madison should seal (barring a collapse by OSU) a win -- finally -- for the Big Ten in that blasted challenge! Doesn't mean too much in reality, but the perception for the league will be HUGE and at the very least, we can tell the ACC folk to shove it for the next few months.:)

It certainly speaks well of the Big Ten that we can win this despite some of the upsets today with Michigan and Minnesota falling and MSU not looking like the team we expected the previous night. Nice comeback by Illinois and a gutsy effort by Wisconsin.

It's good news for the Cats as well because it helps the league's RPI and status nationally for tourney selection time. We know Purdue and MSU are Final Four contenders and OSU, Wisky, Illinois and Minny are pretty solid bets to be tourney teams. We're going to be fighting with Michigan and PSU to get a bid and the better the league is viewed, the better our chance of sneaking in. 

Plus the better the chance we'll be ranked and taken seriously outside the league when we beat some of these top 20 teams!:)

It's what the Big Ten needs to do in football this December and January -- get some big wins, smack down the SEC a bit and set it up so that next year, an 8-4 team that finishes 4th and wins 5 of its last 6 games (including two over ranked teams) is IN THE TOP 25 and FORCED TO BE TAKEN by the friggin' Outback Bowl!

GO CATS!!!
And yes, Go Big Ten!!!
- SjT


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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!