Come on, Ldandy. I hate Rutgers as much as the next man, so its hard for me to defend them, but let's not pretend the Big 10 is this incredible athletic power. Its a good conference with some top end teams, but they aren't the best in much of anything. Rutgers will not be any more of a punching bag in the Big 10 than they were in the Big East or the AAC. They will have a mediocre to bad football program, a bad basketball program, but guess what? Last I looked Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana were all in the Big and none of them are exactly lighting it up in football and/or basketball. The last big team to win a National Championship was Michigan State in 2000. Before that you have to go all the way back to 1989. Its been 7 years since they last won a Mens hockey title, Their only womens basketball title was Purdue in 1999 (note UConn has won 8 since then). The Rutgers women have been to more final fours than any Big 10 program but Purdue, but Rutgers has been there in this Century. Even in football, the last Big 10 national Champ was in 2002. Seriously, I wouldn't worry about Rutgers. they aren't very good and they will rarely be anything but cannon fodder for the top programs, but they'll fit right in with Indiana, Illinois, Purdue and the rest of the lower and mid tier Big 10 programs. They aren't going to help the conference power rankings in any sport. On the other hand, they aren't they won't hurt it more than say Indiana football or Purdue basketball has of late. Maybe they'll even be better than some. Now, I hope this is the last time I ever say anything positive about the Ruts.
I don't disagree that B1G Football has been down as of late, especially in bowl matchups against The SEC. That said it appears to be on the rebound with Meyer and Franklin now recruiting strong in the East. That said under the current NCAA System no conference will challenge the SEC for year to year superiority in football.
Mens Basketball has not won a National Title in over a decade, this is true, but overall the conference has been quite strong nationally for a long time. It consistently places multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament including regular FF appearances from various conference members. While certainly not as prestigious, we have also had multiple NIT Champs over the last decade plus as well. One or two key additions would likely put the conference on top in a major way.
Women's Basketball, while supported fairly well in the B1G, is much further down the ladder interest wise than at a school like UCONN which has experienced such incredible success. Rutgers has been pretty good here, so they should help out. Obviously a UCONN addition would raise the overall profile tremendously.
Hockey just finished its 1st season as a recognized conference sport and had finalists in both Men's and Women's but unfortunately no titles. Seven years feels like a long time, but with Minny, Wisky, and UM making up the top group, it is only a matter of time before someone breaks through and takes a title in Men's again. Wisky and Minny have won women's titles OOC in recent years.
My arguement was not whether or not The B1G has been the best in football or basketball over the last decade plus. It has not been. It was whether or not Rutgers entire Athletic Dept is ready to compete across the board in all sports. If you research the conference you will see that it consistently places multiple teams in national tournaments every year across a wide range of events. It regularly wins multiple national titles every year as well as getting to national semis and finals in others. If it is not the best overall it is pretty darn close.
At this point Rutgers is likely top tier women's basketball, mid tier in some sports like football, baseball, and maybe soccer or wrestling, and bottom tier in the majority of the rest. The B1G like the PAC and ACC takes all sports seriously. Olympic sports are not going to punch anybody's ticket to a P5 Conference, that is almost entirely due to market size/cable subscriptions available. That said those in the conference will see less promotion of their non revenue sports on TV if they do not invest in making them at least reasonably competitive.
