ROSEMONT, Ill. - March Madness, Big Ten style?
The possibility of a Big Ten postseason basketball tournament had coaches and players alike abuzz at the conference's annual media day yesterday.
The conference's coaches voted last spring to commission a study on the feasibility of a postseason tournament. The study's findings will be presented to university presidents at a meeting in December, and if the study recommends the implementation of such a tournament, the presidents could then vote in favor the postseason affair. Tournament play could begin as soon as March 1998.
The issue has long been a divisive one among the league's coaches, with Indiana coach Bobby Knight and Minnesota coach Clem Haskins leading the opposition.
"I don't think there's any need for a conference tournament," Knight said. "To me, a conference tournament really detracts from the conference season."
Haskins had different - but no less vehement - objections, citing the fact that such a venture places too much emphasis on making money for the league and its members and not enough on benefiting the players and their families.
"We will have (the tournament) with my vote or without it," Haskins said. "We continue to use our college players to our advantage, to make money, and we don't put anything back into it for the kids."
Illinois' Lon Kruger, the conference's newest coach, was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the tournament. Kruger is entering his first season with the Illini after five seasons at Florida, which competes in a league with a postseason tourney.
"I think a postseason tournament in the Big Ten could be an unbelievable event," Kruger said. "Imagine getting fans and alumni of 11 schools together in one place at one time. That would be a tough, tough ticket."
Kruger said another major advantage of a tournament would be to give the Big Ten increased national visibility, helping to give the league the recruiting advantages enjoyed by other conferences with tournaments.
"I think it's outstanding (exposure)," Kruger said. "(In the past), the Big Ten has been competing for exposure, which all the other leagues are getting because of their tournaments."
Michigan coach Steve Fisher, who only recently voted in favor of the tournament after many years in opposition, cited the input of Kruger and Wisconsin's second-year coach Dick Bennett as factors in his change of heart.
"I listened to (Kruger and Bennett) ... talk on the positive benefits of having a tournament, and it made sense," he said.
Fisher also informally polled his players and found them enthusiastically in favor.
"To a man, they have all said they'd love to play a tournament," Fisher said.
Penn State junior guard Pete Lisicky was among the players in favor of a tournament.
He said the experience of such a tourney would have benefited last season's Nittany Lions squad, which lost to Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"Knowing what kind of intensity is going to be there (in a tournament) - people put everything on the line, because if you lose, that's it," Lisicky said. "(A tournament) would've made a difference for us."
If plans for a tournament are approved, the Pac-10 and the Ivy League will be the only major conferences without a postseason tournament.