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Big Ten still looking for first Challenge title
November 27, 2006
By Herb Gould sun-times news group
It's time for that annual Midwestern exercise in college basketball futility known as the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
When Michigan travels to N.C. State tonight to kick off the Round 8 of this event, the Atlantic Coast Conference will be going after its eighth knockout.
And considering that the Big Ten is undergoing an unusual amount of turnover this year, an eighth straight ACC triumph wouldn't be at all surprising.
SCHEDULE Today
Michigan at N.C. State, 6 p.m., ESPN2
Tuesday
No. 25 Maryland at Illinois, 6 p.m., ESPN
Florida State at No. 7 Wisconsin, 6:30 p.m. ESPN2
Penn State at No. 19 Georgia Tech, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Indiana at No. 9 Duke, 8 p.m., ESPN
Miami at Northwestern, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2
Wednesday
Michigan State at Boston College, 6 pm.., ESPN
Virginia at Purdue, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2
Iowa at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Clemson at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2
No. 4 Ohio State at No. 2 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ESPN
The Midwestern giant has only six of its top 25 scorers back. Only one of it top 10 rebounders, and only one of its top five assist leaders, return. Only four teams - Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan - returned more than two starters. You would think that an 0-7 mark would start to become embarrassing, if not downright humiliating.
But that's really not what the ACC/Big Ten Challenge is about.
What is it about?
Well, it's a great draw, in person and on TV. It's good for the bank accounts and it's good exposure. It's even palatable for Big Ten RPIs when you factor in that many of those ACC victories have been piled up by highly ranked teams.
It would be better exposure, of course, if the Big Ten was up to the Challenge occasionally. But Big Ten coaches aren't tearing their hair out trying to come up with ways to beat the ACC.
"We've talked about it," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "A lot of it comes down to matchups - who's at home, who's not - and winning some close games. Obviously, we'd like to win and get some bragging rights. But I'm not sure it's a major issue."
One problem is that year in and year out, the cream of the ACC tends to be better than the best of the Big Ten. Duke and North Carolina happen to be great places to start.
Another problem is that the bottom of the Big Ten tends to sink lower than its ACC counterparts. Northwestern, Minnesota and Penn State are perennial bottom feeders. Nor have Purdue and Michigan been their usual competitive selves in recent years.
Which is all a polite way of saying the ACC is a better league.
Those kinds of debates crop up every year. And the ACC matches up favorably with just about everybody in the nation. The lone exception might be the Big East, which has a lot of good teams but also has a lot of middling teams - the byproduct of having more outlets than Wal-Mart.
That said, this is a great opportunity for any number of Big Ten teams to show that they - and their league - are going to be better than the low expectations for this season.
Youthful but mysterious Ohio State could make a statement at North Carolina. Wisconsin needs to bounce back after an upset loss to Missouri State.
Indiana will give more clues to its first season under Kelvin Sampson when it travels to Duke. Unbeaten Illinois could crack the top 25 with a victory over Maryland.
Michigan State, Penn State and Michigan all have chances to show which directions they're heading. The list could go on.
One motivator for the Big Ten to end its ACC drought is to tone down ESPN's ACC-laden broadcasting squadron.
That's not irritating for the Midwesterners. They also believe it might influence recruiting as well as NCAA tournament bids and seeds.
"Last year, we were pretty good as a league," Weber said. "But we lost this thing and it gives some of those guys ammo to use every night on ESPN. It seems like they talk about it the rest of the year on TV, which doesn't help us."
Weber is pleased, to say the least, that former Illini Stephen Bardo has latched on to an ESPN microphone.
"That's a positive," Weber said. "I heard he's been a little biased toward the Big Ten. We need that voice. I'm happy people are complaining about him now."
Celebrating a victory in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge would say a lot more than any broadcasters - no matter where they're from.
Chicago Sun-Times
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