Big Ten's early success likely will mean more NCAA tourney bids

Illinois coach Bruce Weber calls it "getting interest on your money."

No, he's not referring to how Memphis' recruitment of Derrick Rose paid off in a trip to the 2008 NCAA title game.

Instead, he's talking about the Big Ten's startlingly good showing in pre-conference play.

With just three more days until Illinois and Purdue kick off the Big Ten's 104th season in West Lafayette, Ind., the computer rankings show Jim Delany's league in great position to earn a ton of NCAA Tournament bids.

According to both CollegeRPI.com and Sagarin, the Big Ten ranks a close second nationally to the ACC in conference strength.

The Big East, hailed in the preseason as potentially the most monstrous league in history, ranks a distant third.

Here's why the Big Ten's 96-23 record against all Division I foes (and 18-16 mark against teams from the other five BCS conferences) means so much when there's still 11 weeks to go until Selection Sunday:

Since the league has just three more games against power-conference teams (West Virginia at Ohio State today, Kansas at Michigan St. on Jan. 10, and Michigan at Connecticut on Feb. 7), the Big Ten is all but guaranteed a top-two spot in the final RPI standings.

That, in turn, makes it statistically more probable to earn a bunch of NCAA Tournament at-large bids.

(Last year, a beleaguered Big Ten received just three at-large bids. In 2004, when the Big Ten also ranked sixth in overall RPI, it received two at-large bids).

Well, a high collective RPI makes it easier for the league overall. It doesn't make it easier for the individual teams.

"It's good because the games in the league get much more value," Weber said. "It's like getting interest on your money.

"The bad is there's great depth and competition in our league. It means we're going to have to be hooked up even more as we get into conference."

Weber said this before the Illini crushed No. 25 Missouri by 16 points - a victory that will make this Associated Press voter relent and put Illinois in his top 25 for the first time since Dee Brown and James Augustine played their final game.

Illinois (11-1) leads all Big Ten teams in RPI as it ranks ninth overall. Weber's guys are snuggled between North Carolina and Northwestern on the RPI list.

This is not to suggest the Illini and Wildcats are two of the nation's top 10 teams and the new Big Ten favorites - RPI isn't the best barometer when it comes to these things.

But it's fair to say Illinois and Northwestern (8-2) join Minnesota (10-0) and Michigan (8-2) as four of the nation's best surprises of pre-conference play.

In the preseason, they looked like the teams hoping to finish fifth in the Big Ten with an NIT consolation prize.

Now, a fifth-place finish (or even sixth- or seventh-place) should be good enough to make the NCAAs.

And that, in what was supposed to be a weak year for the Big Ten, would be little short of amazing.