So now there are national broadcasters and writers taking their shots at the Big Ten in basketball.  The conference has become an easy target against the SEC in football and now it's not up to snuff in hoops either because of the style the teams play. They watch Michigan and Indiana battle and fight to a one-point difference Sunday and leave that game thinking, "it's not my kind of basketball." I would ask them what is? There is a complaint that the conference "beats each other up," what would have them do: lay down so their can be one dominant team.  The Big Ten has four (Burke, Oladipo, Thomas and Zeller) finalists for the National Player of the Year Award-the most by any once conference.  The Big Ten has five teams in the top 25 (as of last week) and two more receiving votes; it has shown that no lead is safe (UM up 15 on PSU and IU up the same at Ill.) and it has shown it's toughness on the road with IU winning at MSU, UM, OSU, and Wisconsin winning at IU and Purdue winning in Madison.  It features some of the toughest teams in the country (MSU, OSU) that pride themselves on defense with a mix of teams that accentuate highly skilled players (UM, IN, MN). Is the national media so enamored with teams like Duke and Miami and Kansas that it has forgotten the flaws of those teams like the Blue Devils getting blown out by 25 at Miami and losing to Maryland and Virginia? Has it missed out on the  'Canes dropping three of five, including a 15 spanking at Wake Forest, and ranking 136th in points and 119th in rebounding.  Has it conveniently lost sight of the Jayhawks three game slide in early February and their end of the season loss to Baylor.  Part of the allure for the Big Ten is the diversity of styles and yet the toughness the teams must possess to get through such a physically demanding conference slate.  Not every game in every conference will be pretty, but no basketball conference in America gives its fans the uncertainty and enteratinment the Big Ten does and that's what makes it the best league in the country.