There’s not enough athletes in the Big 10. They don’t have speed.
The same problems the Big 10 has in football matching up with the SEC is manifesting itself in basketball too
Bingo.
The big ten is full of strong but slow (relative to the other P5 conferences) players. The style of play and way the games are reffed requires strength because you have to be able to play through everything that is a foul but isn’t called.
When you hit the tournament, you can’t brute strength people because it’s reffed like a real basketball game. The lengthy,
athletic teams can guard big ten teams 1 on 1, which is the best defensive system there is regardless of principles.
Another thing that stood out to me watching big ten teams in the tourney this year was how many times they had a numbers advantage around the rim for a rebound, but got out athleted for the rebound at the high point. Look at Alabama, look at Arkansas, look at Miami etc. Look at how many guys they have who
look/move like RJ and Sencire (ignore their skill level), and look at how much RJ and Sencire’s length/athleticism/quickness stands out on our team and in conference play.
I also talked about Mayer in a post not long ago. How often did he stand out athletically in the big 12 (spoiler: never), but he did stand out for us athletically at times in conference. But then, how many times did he stand out athletically vs Arkansas? Spoiler, never. We were arguably the most athletic team in the big ten this year. We hit an average SEC team and couldn’t match up.
Where are these lengthy, athletic kids? Same places they are in football. Big ten needs to figure out a way to get into Texas, Florida, Georgia for recruiting. Find a way to watch the the 4A/5A/6A Texas state championships, and just look at the length and athleticism on the court. Some of these HS teams look like select AAU teams from a length/athleticism perspective.