What We've Learned

The North Carolina and Duke games were on neutral courts (Bobcat Arena) as both teams wanted to show their whole state appeal.  Still, point well made and one that McKillop refers to. 

Davidson's season has been amazing even with those losses.  Living in a city whose sports reporters bleed Tar Heel blue, the respect Davidson received after that game was unbelievable.  Understand, UNC and was considered the elite team, like Kansas is now.  With its awesome firepower and defensive presence, Curry still had 24 points.  Richards had 12 and 8 assists and only lost by 4.  Against Duke, Curry had 20 and Richards had 14 and 11.  Against UNC, Duke and UCLA, they averaged 12.67 turnovers a game. 

Expect the same against Kansas in the Regional Finals.  Who knows who will win at this point.  That is why they play the game. 

By the way, best stat from the Wisconsin game was the plus 1 rebounding margin against the big bad bruising Big Ten's best team. 

We've learned the Big 10 is the weakest of all major conferences.  Not that this Big 10 fan didn't really deep down already know it, but still you would have hoped for at least one to reach the elite eight.  If not that, how about being competitve in your last game.  MSU geting destroyed as well.

Since Michigan won in 1989, you have ONE Big 10 national championship... nearly 20 years, and MSU's win in 2000 was it.  That sucks.  We are an inferior conference, and prone to be embarrased year after year in the NCAA tourney.  Anyone see any change on the horizon?

If davidson has a bad shooting night can they beat Kansas? How deep is there bench?

I agree, I was disappointed in both WI and MSU tonight, I really thought they were better than that. I thought WI being tied at half was a good thing, they would make adjustments and win in the 2nd half, but Davidson is a lot better that I thought. They are very underrated as a 10 seed.

But c'mon, don't be too harsh on the Big Ten. If you judge a conference by how many NCAA championships they have, look at the Big 12, they have just one in the last 20-30 years, when Kansas beat Oklahoma, and that was the last time they even put anybody into the championship game. At least the Big Ten isn't too bad in that respect, they often put teams into the Final Four and the championship game, even if they don't come out on top that often.

That said, I do have to agree this was a down year for the Big Ten. Outside of White for Indiana, there really were no noticeable stars in the conference and that's what it will take to get the Big Ten back into the spotlight. Look out for Purdue next year and MSU again, and even Ohio State. Not sure about Wisconsin, but I'll still have faith in Bo Ryan to put another NCAA tournament team on the floor.

I have to agree, he is the real deal, it looked like he could create from anywhere tonight.

It will be interesting what the game plan from Kansas will be. My guess is to play reasonably tight D, but you will have to get Davidson down earlyDavidson and keep it going. Kansas and NC can do that, but the question is, will they?

WISCGC:

I hate to kill your otherwise accurate post, but KU has played in two other finals since winning the championship in 1988. The Big 12 (est 1996) definitely needs to establish itself in the championship bracket. This could be that year with the Big 12 being the only conference with two in the elite eight. This appears to be a down year for the Big 10 with no one in the elite eight, but with the Big 10 having a stellar recruiting year, it is only a matter of time before they are back on top.

WISCGC:

I hate to kill your otherwise accurate post, but KU has played in two other finals since winning the championship in 1988. The Big 12 (est 1996) definitely needs to establish itself in the championship bracket. This could be that year with the Big 12 being the only conference with two in the elite eight. This appears to be a down year for the Big 10 with no one in the elite eight, but with the Big 10 having a stellar recruiting year, it is only a matter of time before they are back on top.

if there's a team with the defensive backcourt to slow down davidson's hot streak right now, it's kansas. robinson chalmers and rush, meet richards curry and friends...

i'd bet on the winner of the midwest region to win it all barring injury or kevin durant suddenly returning to claim a couple games of eligibility at texas.

In regards to strength-weakness of conferences, i think it is a bunch of bullshit in both basketball and football. Everyone said the pac 10 was the best conference this year, yet only UCLA remains, barely. All that matters in the NCAA tournament is matchups, had Wisconsin played Georgetown they would have won and everyone would have been saying wow, wisconsin really is great and maybe the big ten wasn't so bad after all. Then after that we would have got blown out by Kansas, because they are far more superior athletically and play just as good as defense, with better offense than wisconsin. Heck after the first few rounds people were already saying the Big Ten wasn't as down as everybody thought. I still think the Big East is the best, even though only Louisville remains out of the 8 teams they sent dancing. Some teams have trouble matching up with strengths of other conferences, that does not make that team better or worse.

e.x. wisconsin struggles with athletic, 3 point shooting teams (Duke, Marquette, Purdue, Davidson)-- same issue every year with us, recruit some star power Bo. I am not satisfied with just grinding through and competing in the Big Ten every year, because once you get out of conference it is a whole different ballgame. lose a few more games in the big ten, cuz the last tourney is all that matters

texas- has trouble matchin gup with big ten in losses to wisco and mich st, but obviously have gotten better since they beat stanford handily..

whatever my point is made, conference comparisons are ridiculous