Big Ten out to prove it’s worthy
Selection Monday confirmed what many women’s basketball observers believed to be true throughout the 2016-17 season: The Women’s Basketball Championship Sport Committee does not think highly of the Big Ten.
As the Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences celebrated seven, eight, seven and six bids to the NCAA Tournament, respectively, the Big Ten limped in with four.
Regular-season co-champions Maryland (No. 3) and Ohio State (No. 5) begin the tournament with lowerthan-expected seeds. Purdue and Michigan State, both No. 9 seeds, round out the conference’s representatives.
The selection committee’s rationale lies in the Rating Percentage Index, which factors in the winning percentage of a team, and that of its opponents and its opponents’ opponents. It’s a metric by which the Big Ten, which ranks sixth in conference RPI, has been considered weak compared with other power conferences. Maryland (30-2), the conference tournament champion, ranks 16th in RPI and Ohio State (26-6) ranks 27th.
“In most years or many years, being in a conference like the Big Ten will help negate if you schedule down (out of conference) to accommodate for youth, (like) maybe in the case of Maryland, coming into the year, having some young players,” ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme said. “But it didn't this year.”
The bracket leaves the Big Ten mostly unhappy but with plenty to prove entering the opening weekend.
Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff clarified Lexington Regional first-round game 2 p.m. Friday Lexington, Kentucky ESPN2
that every tournament path is filled with difficult teams, but it was clear he wasn’t thrilled about his team earning a No. 5 seed.
“Clearly the committee basically lined up the RPI and seeded. That’s pretty much what they did. Period, end of discussion,” McGuff said. “I mean, I think if you dig deeper and you watched us play and watched other teams play, I think we probably could have been seeded higher, but, hey, I understand.”
Maryland’s only two losses were an 11-point loss at Ohio State on Feb. 20 and a six-point loss to four-time defending national champion Connecticut in late December. Still, the Terrapins landed a No. 3 seed in UConn’s region of the bracket.
“You kind of ask, ‘What more do you need to do after you win 30 games and win your regular season and conference tournament,’ ” Maryland coach Brenda Frese told the Big Ten Network. “But for us, it has always been a number in front of your name and we will continue to be the most prepared team that we can be and get ready to go out and give everything we have.”
For Ohio State, the quest to prove a seed is just a number begins Friday, when the Buckeyes take on No. 12 seed Western Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.