SEC vs Big Ten vs ACC vs Pac-10
by graham hallman
(Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
Regarding men's college basketball, your stats on Big 10 national titles is wrong. Indiana = 5, Michigan State = 2, Michigan = 1, The Ohio State (i hate saying or writing this school) = 1, Wisconsin = 1 for a total of 10.
Moreover, you should post the NCAA tourney winning percentage of each conference. It's in the NCAA record book you seem to be using. The top three in order are: ACC, BIG 10, Big East. Though 2007 isn't calculated yet.
By the way I'm an yank married to a rebel as well. Life's always interesting in the house when it comes to the "big two": mens football and basketball.
My wife is a Georgia Tech undergrad grad who started grad school at Florida, and I'm a Minnesota undergrad grad.
As a big10 fan I have to eventually concede we are second best, historically, in these two sports.
The ACC wins the matchup in men's basketball, and the SEC wins in the football debate. It used to be much more of a North/South matter with the ACC, but with Boston College now in, Maryland kind of always being there, and all those upper- eastern seaboard snobs that attend school in the ACC, especially Duke, Wake Forest, and Maryland, I can't really make the case for heated rivalry like I can with the SEC.
Further, Florida, minus the panhandle, is made up of countless east coast yanks and midwestern retirees. Like California and the southwest, it's a transplant destination Thus Miami really doesn't count.
And a case can be made with Florida, not FSU, for having a lot of non-southern students. Florida does not have the same southern vibe as FSU, at least that's my take from the games I've seen there when I lived in Florida between 97 and 98..
Anyways, I like your site. It brings good humor and mostly accurate research into the equation. This is the kind of competitive rivalry I enjoy. Not war or anything that resembles violence and stupidity. And it's far more enjoyable to read than message boards, which are loaded with retards.
By the way, the PAC 10 is the all-around best conference in sports - bar none! See the Sear's Director's Cup results year in and out. It's the weather man, it's all about the weather.
Yours,
Graham