The Big Ten is portrayed in the national media as the black sheep of the major conferences, and Tom Izzo doesn't like it.
With the Big Ten's best record, MSU (16-9 overall, 11-3 Big Ten) is nearly a lock for the NCAA Tournament. Unlike most years, only a couple of teams in the Big Ten - Wisconsin and Illinois - are as comfortable as MSU right now because of the conference's perceived weakness.
"I get tired of hearing the Big Ten is a piece of you-know-what, and I don't believe that," said Izzo, the Spartans head coach.
Mock tournament selections are all over the Internet, and though they hold no bearing on which teams actually get invited to the NCAA Tournament, the consensus among most of them is the Big Ten will get no more than four bids to the tournament. Two frequently trafficked sports Web sites, CBS.SportsLine.com and Sports Illustrated's SI.com, project the Big Ten will get four and three bids, respectively.
Purdue coach Gene Keady said people who think the Big Ten is down "don't have to coach in this league."
"I think they're observing the fact that maybe we don't have a lot of NBA players this year, and we're young," he said.
For the past 19 seasons, the Big Ten has received at least five bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Generally, the number of tournament bids a conference gets is a reflection of its overall quality. If the Big Ten receives fewer bids to this year's NCAA Tournament than it has in 20 years, it must be a down year for the conference, right?
"Realistically, what conferences are so much better besides the ACC anymore? All of a sudden, does the Big 12 look as invincible, does the Big East look as invincible?" Izzo said.
"I'm not trying to sit here and say that we're the best conference in the country, and I'm not begging for anything because, you know what, I don't care anymore," he said. "I question the way a lot of it's done."
Izzo and Keady both said they expect the Big Ten to get five bids. Purdue (17-9, 7-6) is among the "bubble" teams in the conference. Izzo said the Boilermakers should be a shoo-in, because they have played through an injury to their top scorer, guard Kenneth Lowe.
Recent history shows the Big Ten produces quality tournament teams. Last year, for the first time since 1998, a Big Ten team didn't reach the Final Four. Still, MSU went to the Elite Eight in 2003.
"Our league has done pretty well in that thing in the last five or six years," Izzo said.
The Spartan redemption
After the Spartans lost six nonconference games, all to quality opponents, the team's confidence was down and some questioned whether it was a good idea for Izzo to put his team through such a tough schedule.
Now, the team is in first place in the Big Ten and the criticism has died down. Some of the players even credited Tuesday's comeback win against Michigan to the team's early season hardships.
"We've been in some tough situations," junior guard Kelvin Torbert said. "That's where that early season schedule helps. We're maturing a lot."
The Spartans endured the disappointment of losing those nonconference games and the embarrassment of falling out of the national rankings. But it was the struggle that sweetens MSU's recent success.
"We've been through so much - the schedule, just everything," junior swingman Alan Anderson said.
