Big Ten offers a sweet rebuttal to criticism
NEW YORK – Big Ten basketball coaches have responded to criticism about the strength of their league in the most effective way possible:
By winning on the court rather than in the court of public opinion.
Maligned for most of the season, the Big Ten saw just one team receive a seeding higher than No. 5 in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field.
Yet with No. 4 Purdue, No. 7 Michigan and No. 8 Wisconsin winning two games last weekend, the Big Ten entered the Sweet 16 tied with the Big 12, Pacific 12 and Southeastern Conference for the most teams advancing.
Purdue coach Matt Painter, whose team left Milwaukee with victories over No. 13 Vermont and No. 5 Iowa State, offered the strongest commentary.
“For us as coaches and players, it’s hard to talk about it,” Painter said after Purdue’s 80-75 victory over Iowa State. “Tell (people) to go play Michigan.
“People don’t think that our league is any good, tell them to go play Wisconsin. They're not an eighth seed. I don't understand that. You don't understand basketball if you put Wisconsin as the eighth seed.
“Wisconsin is one of the toughest teams in the country, period.”
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UW coach Greg Gard, whose team advanced to the East Regional semifinals with victories over No. 9 Virginia Tech and No. 1 Villanova, appreciated the support.
“I think Matt Painter said it best,” Gard, 4-1 in NCAA Tournament games as a head coach, said when asked about the Big Ten. “He said come and play in the Big Ten and see how tough it is.
“I don’t know that we had a marquee team that went roughshod through the non-conference. That is maybe where people thought the Big Ten was down. It is pretty balanced and we’ve seen that with teams here in the postseason. We have tough places to play and there aren’t any get-well games.
“It prepares you for this time of year because you’ve been in about every situation. You’ve been tested pretty well. I think it is a credit to – 1 through 14 – the players, the teams, the coaches that you have to be really on your game every night.”
Purdue (27-7) faces Kansas (30-4), the top-seeded team in the Midwest Regional on Thursday night in Kansas City, Mo. Michigan (26-11) faces No. 3 Oregon (31-5) in the first semifinal.
UW (27-9) faces No. 4 Florida (26-8) at approximately 9 p.m. Friday at Madison Square Garden.
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“There's always going to be a lot of hype about what teams are getting most hype early, and it just doesn't go away,” said Michigan coach John Beilein, whose team ousted No. 2 Louisville in the second round. “And so as a result, I just told everybody, just wait.
“The level of coaching in this league, the resources in this league, the level of talent in this league, it will come to the top at the end of the year."