Baseball is no longer an afterthought in Big Ten

That was a good read, thanks for posting.  I'm glad to see them get serious about baseball again, more opportunity for everyone.

GO IU

Best thing the Big 10 did was to move the conference tournament to Omaha.  By game 2 of the tournament, they already had higher attendance than the ENTIRE tournament had last year.  Here on day 2, they already have set tournament attendance records I'm sure.  Nebraska supports their baseball...as everyone knows how has ever gone to the CWS.

Oh, and Go Big Red...no offense to your little red, Golfman. 

IU is not a bad program, but when they played outside the conference this year, they were just average, around .500

It was not until they started beating up on conference opponents that their record soared.

The new RPI methodology might be designed to help the Big Ten, but is it an accurate reflection of it's true strength compared to other conferences?

With this years abnormally cold weather IU came out of the field house to play their first three weekends. Since then they're 2-0 against Louisville. Last year IU was criticized in the Talahasse papers for playing a weak schedule and having an easy regional. Then IU put up 21 runs on FSU in a two game sweep.

IU is for real.  Very good coach.

I'm not knocking IU, as I know they are good. I am just suggesting they might not fare as well in a different conference if the early part of their schedule/results are any indication.

Over 60,000 pass through the turnstiles for the Big 10 tournament...well done Omaha.

Today's crowd of 19,965 was the largest single-game conference tournament crowd in NCAA history, 62,020 tournament total.  Congrats, Indiana...meet you back in Omaha in 4 weeks. 

I also just read earlier today in an article on ESPNU.com that the writer felt that Illinois got snubbed by being "penalized for their weak losses on extensive early-season road trips" and didn't get enough credit for big wins.  I'm not here to argue that Illinois should have been included in the field of 64, just adding another example of Big Ten improvement.

Illinois didn't get snubbed. The writer is probably basing his claim on Illinois' #55 RPI. What knocked Illinois out is automatic bids by mid major conferences. I don't believe there's an argument for Illinois over any of the non conference winners selected. The two or three with worse records come from much stronger conferences. Illinois had a good year. It just wasn't good enough.