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.
