Maybe so, maybe so. I’m not sure prestige and popularity are quite the same, but it’s probably true that more people are avid about IU bball than Michigan hoops. I do kinda feel the poster above who says that he tends to equate IU basketball with Bobby Knight and not so much else. . .
OSU will never care enough about basketball to make them a consistently elite team in the way that Duke, UK, KU, or UNC are.
I think MSU is the best job in the B10 though the next coach will have their work cut out for them. After that it is probably a toss-up with a bunch of other schools. I actually think Maryland COULD be an interesting job given their history and proximity to a recruiting hot-bed. But their AD has been so screwed up for so long and the conference they’re now in is so competitive that I’m not sure they will ever get there.
The former blue-blood that confuses me for their fall from grace is UCLA. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be dominating the west coast at this point. They’re in a great location, they have a great history, they have a well funded AD, they have easy access to all west-coast recruits, there’s no other basketball power in their region to compete with besides Gonzaga (maybe Arizona I guess), and yet they’ve become irrelevant in the sport. They remind me of USC football - who should also still be a dominant force and hasn’t been in a long time.
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That’s true…but it doesn’t overcome some of the bigger obstacles to joining the elite programs. Just like Michigan football. Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and UNC have been in a tier by themselves for a while. Villanova and MSU are close but probably just outside. Gonzaga too.
OSU has a lot of hoops history, a huge brand name, less scrutiny than a basketball school and insane resources. There are coaches(btw including ius current one) who would tell you its the best job in the b1g. If you asked 25 various coaches around the country you’d get a wide variety of answers as to what the best job in the b1g is. Its not like the acc(duke and unc), sec(uk), pac 12(ucla and arizona), and big 12(ku)where theres a clear top job or two.
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No doubt that OSU’s financial capabilities, overall prestige, and willingness to “bend” rules make it an attractive job. But you will ALWAYS be in the shadow of the football program in a way that can’t be understated. I have the unfortunate situation where I work with a fair number of OSU fans and they literally do not care at all about basketball. I’ve tried to engage them in conversation about it even when their team has been good and they just don’t care.
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LeBron James is a huge OSU fan but cares little about their basketball.
I get the intrigue of coaching at OSU and buy that argument from a job security standpoint and everything else. Ohio also produces a lot of talent and you are the only school.
I just think the Indiana job has another level to it with a good coach. Just my 2 cents.
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HUGE OSU fan. As in he enjoys that he can bandwagon on an elite program and get sideline views. I doubt he really cares much about the program itself. I get the point though. The average OSU fan seems to care less about basketball than the average Michigan fan. Though I’d bet a lot of that is because OSU is at a peak of success in football they’ve never had, and Michigan’s in the opposite.
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As much as it pains me to say this… Michigan State.
This is true, if you ranked illinois, indiana, michigan, msu, maryland and osu basketball fan bases
Diehards and super passionate fans (whose going have the most signups for a site like this):
-
IU(tier 1)
-
MSU (tier 2)
-
Maryland (tier 2)
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Illinois (tier 2)
-
Michigan (tier 2)
6.OSU (tier 3)
Size of fan bases(who do the tv networks want for the final four)
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Michigan (tier 1)
-
OSU (tier 1)
-
IU (tier 1)
-
MSU (tier 2)
-
Maryland (tier 3)
-
Illinois (tier 3)
Creates an interesting dynamic
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Yeah, Michigan State makes sense because it is such a healthy program right now. But say Michigan State hires the next Archie Miller after Tom Izzo retires and he flops for four years. Is it still an incredible job? Maybe? Maybe not.
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Yeah MSU is an interesting case. They had a HOF coach, and followed him up with an even better HOF coach. Maybe their next hire is another HOF coach so they continue to stay in an elite tier, and this is a moot point.
But you can also look at UNC under Matt Doherty to see the drop off an elite program can have in an incredibly short time span. Doherty was a mess for a ton of reasons so obviously you don’t expect MSU to fall that far, but the next hire will be super interesting.
How you rate the msu job is so interesting because so much of it is based on how much you value the success under izzo. Despite the ridiculous success under izzo, msu has been unable to create much national recruiting draw while having a rapidly declining home talent base and is still a second or third tier school for nike.
No recruiting draw? I feel like they recruit as well as any team in the Big Ten.
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“Hasn’t been able to generate much national recruiting draw” definitely isn’t saying “no recruiting draw” FWIW.
I don’t agree with either notion very much, but I think his point is that they’re not consistently pulling in top 15 classes. Which is a thing that, what, 3 or 4 programs do?
Yeah msu has killed it in the Midwest, my point is going outside that area. I also don’t think msu has the natural recruiting drawing some of the other b1g programs do. IMO Msu needs everything going right, on court success, big time recruiter at hc, elite facilities, fan support, stability etc to recruit at the top levels of college basketball. They have had that under izzo. For example I don’t think they’d be able to recruit close to like Indiana has over the past 20 years if they had all issues iu has had.
I think Izzo has built them into the “others receiving votes” category in the blue blood rankings. They are media darlings, get get prestige coverage, they are added to all of the premier games, they get that added name recognition boost in ratings, and the media is even willing to overlook some negative things. And frankly, Izzo has earned that based on the last 20 years. This year is the first year where cracks in the foundation are showing, but their recruiting suggests that it is a blip and not the signs of him losing his fastball (ala Carr’s last couple of years at Michigan). Any blue-blood can screw it all up with the wrong hire or a scandal (see UCLA basketball or Michigan football). But MSU is still years away from that happening.
The more interesting one that I’m watching is UNC. They have far too much historical significance for a couple of shaky years to ruin their status…but let’s face it - they haven’t played like a blue blood in a couple of years. The title in 2016 buys them time, but if they scuffle to the finish this year and struggle out of the gate next year? Will be interesting. The rest seem secure, though Duke will have an interesting future when Coach K finally retires.
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Indiana has the most iconic stadium in the Big Ten. (Not sure what would be second, the barn?) And the striped pants. More of a feelingsball take, but they feel analogous to Michigan football in terms of tradition.
Their title was in 2017. 2016 they lost in the championship. I’d say that buys them a very long time. They were just a 1 seed in 2019. UNC had a couple recruiting classes in a row where they got almost no good long term contributors and that’s led to these 2 down years.
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