Maybe Big Ten men's basketball teams just play the world's best defense.
And maybe the conference's tournament is only a paper moon sailing over a cardboard sea.
Heading into Saturday's semifinals, the show it the league was putting on in Indianapolis wasn't fit for a state that thinks it invented, molded and perfected basketball. It wasn't fit for many states, really.
Michigan went 11 minutes without a field goal against Iowa Thursday, but it didn't matter because the Hawkeyes went 16 minutes without a basket against the Wolverines. Then Michigan shot 20 percent from the field against Wisconsin in scoring 34 points Friday. Wisconsin shot 34 percent and won easily.
Illinois was 8-of-20 from the foul line and made 23 turnovers, and still beat Purdue in Friday's quarterfinals.
Minnesota was the better-shooting team in its win over Indiana Friday, with a blistering 33.4 percent from the floor.
In the first five games of the tourney, 43.6 percent was the best any team could muster.
Meanwhile, Tennessee beat South Carolina 89-87 in an SEC quarterfinal that was what basketball looks like when it is played with a little pep and athleticism. Duke and North Carolina each scored 82 points in ACC quarterfinals. It's not defense isn't in vogue in the SEC or ACC, you know.
But today (Saturday) is another day. Illinois plays Minnesota in a Big Ten semifinal this afternoon, and I can't wait. Both played last night, so you know their legs will be weary. And since neither is all that wonderful to begin with, oh, what a mess this thing could be.
SATURDAY ADDENDUM
Illinois' 54-50 win over Minnesota was everything I expected and less. The UCLA-Stanford Pac-10 final that followed on CBS featured basketball that was so much better, with UCLA winning 67-64.
I didn't see a second of it, but Arkansas' 91-90 victory over Tennessee in the SEC semis Saturday must have been something else.
Speaking of the SEC tourney, it's wonderful that no one got hurt in the Georgia Dome Friday night when a tornado did some (apparently) minor damage there during the quarterfinals. Not to make light of what could have been a true tragedy, but maybe the basketball gods were telling the conference not to play its tourney in a football stadium.
I've attended NCAA games played in the Metrodome in Minneapolis, the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, and the now-gone Kingdome in Seattle. None were fit for basketball, and neither are any other domed stadiums. Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, where the Big Ten has made its postseason tourneys home, is the gold standard for basketball venues.