[JRutledge]

A conference is should not be built on one team. If you are truly a great conference, you should not have one team that dominates it. Take Duke out of the ACC, you do not have much to speak for. There has been no kind of domination in the Big Ten, because every year a different team gets much better and makes an impact. Wow, Duke has 3 NC. So does Indiana. Michigan has been in the Final Four many times, outside of the Fab 5. They lost to Isiah Thomas when Indiana won in 1980. Indiana has been several times. Wisconsin was and Michigan were there two years in a row, recently. Oklahoma State won their conference tournament, they should have the #1 seed. Duke only got the seed because of history and making some fans happy. They did not deserve it. How many teams could lose 4 of their last 10 and get a #1 seed? Would they even consider Stanford #1 seed if they lost their last 4 contests? Duke deserves all their accomplishments that happen in the past, they earned them. But to make North Carolina and Maryland such great programs, no matter what they do is really silly. I am tired of hearing about how great this conference is when they have sub-par teams. Duke went undefeated in their conference play and lost to sorry Indiana on their way to the National Championship game. Indiana has never won a single Big Ten Tournament under Bob Knight or Butch Davis. But they were good enough to beat Duke on the way to the Final Four. I cannot think of when a Big Ten team has ever gone undeafeated in conference play. And I am talking about National Championship teams (Michigan, Michigan St., Indiana). When Michigan won the National Championship in 1989, they were not a very good team in conference, but ran the table in the field of 64 and won it all (FAB 5 was not their yet).

And what is this about Maryland?

From the Maryland scedule, courtesy ESPN.com

12/2 No. 10 Wisconsin W 73-67 4-0
12/10 at Florida W 69-68 5-2

From the last poll in December, at which time Maryland was a "bubble" team:

25. Maryland 6-2 62pts (next team had 29 points - not exactly close)
Last Week:
This Week: Def. NC Greensboro 85-58 (12/23), Lost to Florida State 79-75 (12/28)

Oh, I am sorry. Let's not bring facts into the argument!

The facts are that almost everyone said that Maryland was not going to make the tournament. If they did not win the ACC Tournament, they were not making it, just like Florida St. They made it because of an automatic bid, but to seed a team 4th that not right and you know it. Maryland had beat Florida when they were #1 I believe, but where are they now in the rankings? But remember, before Maryland won the NC, they used to be a cronic first round casuality. It used to be a given that Maryland would be watching after their first game. And it might happen this year as well. But then again I see a lot of ACC teams that might not survive the first or second rounds.

Peace