It's funny to look at the top of the conference

As of this very minute:

Purdue #23 11-1
Wisconsin #14 10-2
Indiana #12 9-2
Michigan State #9 8-3

It's a brutal year for Big Ten basketball and it will continue to be brutal. The 2008 NCAA tournament will probably look like last year's edition, with nary a Big Ten team playing in the second weekend's matchups. Tom Izzo's Spartans look unfocused. Kelvin Sampson's lying, cheating ways will have the Hoosiers spinning out of control in no time. The Badgers have never been consistent performers in the Big Dance, and Purdue has simply played its cards well and risen to the top of a weak conference. Ohio State will probably get a bid but their 8-4 record is built upon wins over Illinois, Michigan, Northwestern, and other terrible teams. And nobody else is playing .500 basketball in the Big Ten.

The lack of excitement is palpable, and the conference's prospects have been further deflated by the fact that the Big Ten Network has made viewing the games physically impossible for most people. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise; we won't be subjected to the hideous nature of our conference's teams.