Big Ten-ACC Challenge: Advantage ACC

It’s not exactly breaking news that the ACC is a better college basketball conference than the Big Ten. However, I do have reason to feel more optimism about the status and the future of the Big Ten (in spite of the fact that the league’s two top teams were slaughtered in their home states during the challenge as Purdue was whipped by Duke and Michigan State was smoked by North Carolina). The ACC is better than the Big Ten, right now, but I expect Michigan State to be much better by tournament time (health permitting). I also expect Purdue to be better by the end of the season. Will that make them better than North Carolina and Duke … not likely. But, in the NCAA Tournament, anything can happen. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge still makes for good theater. Hopefully the Big East, one of the best college basketball leagues in the nation, can get some kind of a challenge started with maybe the Southeastern Conference (SEC). These challenges seem to have the fans excited.