Good write up and forecast for the Big 12
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So the article basically brings up HEM’s oft debated question. Is it a successful conference season if 7 teams make the dance? Or is it a successful conference season if a few league teams make deep runs in the tournament?
By one measure the SEC had a great season. Half of the final four was from the league and three made the sweet 16.
But was the leagues strength masked by a lot of good teams but no outstanding teams? Again, we don’t know if KU or even ISU were outstanding because of their key injuries.
As a Big1G fan I’m tired of having the mantle of the strongest league for a few years now and not producing anything postseason. So being called the best league is kind of hollow when nothing exciting happens postseason.
In some ways league pride is kind of strange. Teams we compete against and often loathe as our rivals suddenly become teams we pull for? I know I never cheered for Missouri or KState even if it meant league pride.
Pulling for leagues leads to some strange occurences. In Baton Rouge this year there was an article in the local paper in which the columnist said LSU fans should really hope Bama beats LSU because beating Bama will hurt the leagues chances of getting a team in the national championship game and winning an 8th championship for the league. I know some LSU fans didn’t take too kindly to it.
Ultimately how KU fares is what’s most important.
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@wissoxfan83 - “Ultimately how KU fares is what’s most important.”
Bingo. A point of which there is no debate.
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@wissoxfan83 You are right, there is a conflict in pulling for the league, but i do it just after pulling for KU. Obviously when big12 does well in post season play it reflects well, and gives someone like SEC fans less ammunition to attack our league’s strength. So I pull for the league, up to a point. I pick and choose them as I want some success, but not too much success.
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The big10 makes me laugh, they always say they are great in basketball and football, but they just really beat up on each other. Wisconsin started out the year on fire, then when conference play started they dropped like a flat ball. Ohio st the same thing, and their season even ended worse than KU’s. Michigan has a nice team here and there but not consistent. Nebraska finished 4th this year in the Big10, really, wow. Michigan St carries them it seems year in and year out with Wisconsin a close second, but this was their first Final 4 in how many years?
Call me stubborn, but I have a hard time cheering for a team that is gunning for my team every time out. Try this pick a conference and pick your favorite team from it and just keep moving across the country, when you get to the Big12 pick a team other than Kansas that you could see yourself cheering for all year long, football, basketball and so on.
I can pop off all the other conference’s with team I like, but the Big12 is hard, maybe I would choose OU, but that’s if I had too.
I just have a hard time cheering on a team from our conference, maybe I stand alone, but once KU was done this year I didn’t cheer for either Baylor or ISU. Why should I?
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The Big 10 gets a lot of credit for name recognition and history. Ohio State wasn’t that strong, but their perceived strength added credibility to the Big 10. Indiana was pretty weak, but again, their perceived strength in a bad year made it seem like the league was better than it probably was. Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin were really all the league had, but you could make enough noise about other perceived powers (OSU, Iowa, Indiana early in the year, etc.) that people just sort of assume they are strong.
The Big 12 doesn’t have that benefit. If K-State isn’t good, nobody is going to assume that they are. Same with basically the rest of the league, except for maybe Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. The Big 12 doesn’t get a name recognition bump, so it is assumed that the league isn’t as strong if KU isn’t in the F4.
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I indicated several times that “the” Ohio State record was built on such weak early schedule that their presumed strength was just smoke and mirrors. Once they got to the conference portion of the schedule, they were exposed as a run of the mill team, and not the one that at one time was ranked as high as #2, and stayed in the top 3 for several weeks. Iowa was also another overrated Big 10 team.
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@JayhawkRock78 I will passively " root " for any Big 12 team other than Iowa State. I can’t get too wound up about West Virginia either.
As far as the traitors go - have NEVER rooted for Missouri, under any circumstances. Pretty much have nothing but contempt for Nebraska and Colorado too.
