All Hail The Mighty Big Ten

Originally published on AOL Hometown

The Elite Eight is now set in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and the conferences the experts touted all season have proven their worth by dominating the final eight spots in the brackets.

Actually, Mr. CourtMaster, that's not correct.

What are you talking about? Certainly the mighty ACC is well represented.

Not so much. Only North Carolina made it, and they only barely defeated a Villanova team without their best big man, Curtis Sumpter.

Okay, well then at least the Big East teams stepped up big, didn't they?

None of them outside of West Virginia. Syracuse, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh didn't make it out of the first weekend.

Oh my! That really must have opened things up for the Big 12 then.

Have you even watched these games? The Big 12 teams are all gone. Mighty Kansas lost to Bucknell for crying out loud!

So I suppose that leaves.....

The Big Ten. They've got three teams in the Elite Eight. Illinois making it is no surprise, but Wisconsin and Michigan State also got there. The Spartans even beat Coach K for the first time!

I have been watching the games, I just lost sight of them and was looking at my pre-tournament bracket predictions, which have become almost totally irrelevant. Anyway, I thought this was supposed to be a dreaded "down year" for the Big Ten.

Apparently no one told them that. Last night, Michigan State's Paul Davis, who you have said should have two bolts in his neck, outplayed Duke's All-American big man Shelden Williams. Wisconsin held NC State's leaders, Julius Hodge and Ilian Evtimov to a combined 6-26 shooting while Alondo Tucker lit up the Wolfpack with 22 points.

It looks like the key here is the Big Ten teams have players who are stepping up in the big games, and they are holding down their opponents' stars. Speaking of that, what happened to J. J. Redick of Duke last night?

Hecame up rather small, shooting only 4-14. He was not a factor down the stretch.
Redick didn't help himself in that debate regarding who is better, him or Arizona'a Salim Stoudamire, did he?

Not exactly, since the night before Stoudamire made the game-winning shot for Arizona.
Here we are, after all the talk about mid-majors this season, with the Elite Eight consisting entirely of teams from the six power conferences.

That's right, CM, and the Big Ten is the only one with more than one team standing. Didn't see that coming, did you?

Oh there's a whole lot in this tournament I didn't see coming. At least my pick to win it all, Illinois, is still alive.

The Illini are now officially doomed!

Hey, who are you anyway?

I'm your father, Luke.

Great, a mysterious voice that's a wiseass. Will I hear from you again?

I'll be back!