TwoSaints wrote:

SumnerCountyDore wrote: Seems like the Big 10 this year is looking like the SEC does in football. They have 6-7 teams in the top 25. Have they taken over as the best basketball conference or is this a short-lived thing? I think with the conference re-alignments, they may just be there for a while. It's baffling to me that the SEC can be so dominant in football but not good overall in basketball.

Fool's gold. The SEC has won, what, eight national titles in a row in football? How many national championships has the Big 10 won in the last ten years? 0. They haven't won one since Michigan State did it in 2000--and that was their first one since Michigan in 1989. So that's one championship from 1990-2012, as span in which the ACC has won 7 titles and the SEC 8. (Although in all fairness they've had quite a lot of runner's up in that span.) Also, check out how many highly ranked teams they had last year, too.

Really, the Big 10 this year is looking to me like the Big 10 usually does in football: Lots of hype, lots of highly ranked teams, and little post-season success. Of course, I've been wrong before...

^^ This.  The Big 10 may well be the best conference this year, but that's a long way from being the "SEC football of basketball".  Even this year outside the big 10 there is still Duke, Louisville, Kansas, Syracuse, and Arizona that have legitimate claims that they are (or think they are) the best team in the country.  In truth, I'd add Butler to that list as well (I'd be shocked if Butler fails to make the sweet 16 this year, and unless they are in the same region as Duke or Louisville, I'd give Butler better than 50% odds to make the Final Four).

Then, looking forward to the future, UK is already expected to be the preseason #1 next season, and there's no reason to think that Michigan, Indiana, or Minnesota is suddenly going to become an Alabama-type juggernaut (though Ohio St. has seemed to become a perennial top 10 team despite their lack of title so far).  

Best of the year, but nowhere close to SEC-football level.