The things that were

It's 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It's time to get away from Journalism 321 and kick off the shoes and socks and let that tease that is spring weather come right through my window.

What's stupid is that it is still February, and it feels like mid-March. It's basketball season, not baseball or football. No, I am still patient enough to wait to break it to my Cubbie friends that this year will make it 102 years of waiting. After a 3 hour nap and some good timing, it was close to ESPN360 time. When you can't provide your own TV, the laptop and the internets can be your next-to-best friend.

"Who's on tonight?" Listings say that Purdue and Michigan are facing off in Ann Arbor. Tensions rise easily because of the fact that it's Michigan. This was a good opportunity for me to see the Boilermakers advance toward a possible Big Ten regular season championship. Michigan, under the coaching of John Beilein, have proven to be a good team with flashes of greatness. Their victory over Duke in December was pretty exciting and gave many a newfound appreciation for Michigan basketball (The Fab 5 were awesome to watch growing up.)

Throw out that garbage. Purdue has 21 wins under their belt, and the Wolverines are fighting for an at-large spot at the Big Dance. The Boilers had a lead until near the 5 minute mark of the first half, and they never regained it. Michigan took complete control in the second half with the help of DeShawn Sims, who scored 29 points on the night. Once the final seconds ticked off of that scoreboard, it made me wonder how messed up the Big Ten really is.

What the hell happened?

You have teams like Michigan State losing at home to Penn State and Northwestern; you have Illinois posting 36 against Minnesota and 33 on Penn State for the entire game; and the brainy institution known as Northwestern is being considered as a 12 seed across some prognosticators' boards.

What?

Surely, you can't place Michigan State as high as ninth in either poll. That's a mistake. Friends and other guests are more than welcome to comment on this, but who here really thinks that any team from the Big Ten is going to advance to the Elite 8? Or even the Sweet 16 for that matter? The idea is ludicrous, and it's just not going to happen--just like a Cubs world championship isn't going to happen.

The bright side is that the Big Ten should be able to ship out a boat load of its members to the Madness. Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, Ohio State and Penn State should be in. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan have a small amount of time to do work with their resumes but strong finishes in the conference tournament would help their cause.

I miss seeing Big Ten like it used to be. Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, MSU, Wisconsin and Ohio State had some of the best teams I had ever seen in my life. Perhaps they will return to their true selves in a few years...

...or I'm just going to see them all lose to second and third-tier programs in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.