Well, despite IU notching a win for the Big Ten, the ACC will again win the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Each year everyone makes the biggest deal out of the ACC beating the Big Ten in the Challenge, but many of the years since this began, the Big Ten did much better once the NCAA Tournament rolled around.
The Big Ten has been down the last couple of seasons compared to the ACC - which is shown especially towards the bottom of each league where the ACC has the clear advantage (sorry Northwestern). However, there is something to be said about the match-ups that have been made.
IU fans should know that a lot of times the match-ups are made for TV. In the previous three seasons (2004-2006), IU has hosted North Carolina and Duke (both ranked in the Top 5 at the time) and travled to Duke the other season. IU entered each match-up as a heavy underdog, but played every game tough despite losing all three of them.
Here is my idea for how a true challenge would be set up. Have every team hold the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday open for the challenge. Then, when the media predict the outcome of the conference during media day, put the No. 1 Big Ten team v. the No. 1 ACC team. Continue doing this down to No. 11 of each conference. This is how the top games would be this season.
Michigan State v North Carolina
Indiana v Duke (again)
Ohio State v NC State
Wisconsin v Clemson
That is a more intriguing set of games than MSU-NC State, North Carolina - Ohio State, Duke - Wisconsin, Indiana - Ga. Tech and Clemson - Purdue.
What do you think? Is the ranking method a good idea? Would you do anything differently? Why does the Big Ten do so poor in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge?
