This might be the silliest thread ever.
A) it is Pike's 100% responsibility to "sell RU, sell the B1G, sell the conference". It is completely dumb for anyone to say Pike should not say that. How do you think recruiting gets done, by Schiano or Pike saying the SEC is better??
B) The B1G has come up short because some of it is lack of guard play. But the item about a National Championship is kinda based on how mature or experienced are your rosters.
C) Then once you have a mature enough roster, do you have the ability to defend 1 through 5 and does your roster have the abilities to beat good defenders 1 on 1.
I keep seeing fans complaining about "RU needs to run an offense", but every consistently winning program, typically advances because of their ability to defend.
Any team that expects to win 4 games (Final Four bound) or 6 games, needs some lucky bounces with who you play to get there AND, can tour players make individual plays 1 on 1.
I won't waste the time of each and every National Championship team in the last 10 to 20 years. But in 95% of them, not only did you have a Top 20 to 30 type defense AND some of those top players could not just defend, they could also break down their defender and score.
It is more likely that you will have at least 10 NBA players across the 4 Final Four teams in most years. You need players that are not just "1 & dones", the ideal situation is you get a Kemba Walker for 3 to 4 years of college....a Jalen Brunson, Mikail Bridges and Josh Hart at Villanova for 3 or 4 years......Kansas last year had 2 to 3 players that are NBA kids, some played 2, 3 or 4 years. Same with Baylor 2 years ago.
The only item that is hurting the B1G in my opinion is the officiating on a whole, is terrible. It is definitely slanted towards those teams that are projected to be good and it gives those teams, Inflated records and seedings.
Then those teams get to the NCAAs and are not truly elite athletically and then the NCAA referees are not handing them foul calls like they did in the B1G regular season.
If the B1G can self correct themselves and not continue to prop up the teams that way, the evaluation of the league will change.
It's not a surprise that MSU advances to the Sweet 16, 60% of the time in the last 25 seasons (Sparty has advanced to 15 out of the last 25 NCAAs).....it's been a 1 seed, 2 seed, 4 seed, 7 seed, 8 seed....doesn't matter.
MSU recruits a roster designed to create depth over 4 months.....they sacrifice wins in the regular season to develop depth. They are looking to improve in February and March, when other teams are either peaked or out of gas by March
The B1G needs to recruit deeper rosters, if it wants to advance. Every team has quality 5 to 6 players or starters. Unless those players are 1st round NBA kids, you need 9 legitimate options and probably another 2 to 3, that can fill in, if an injury pops up. And MSU lost starters to injury for games, so it's here because it can defend, rebound and is well coached.
I think RU is on the right path towards closing those gaps. But do I think the B1G programs should ignore the talent in their own backyards in both sports?? Not realistic. Kids in Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin are going to want to go to B1G schools.
RU just needs to keep building and it has the likelihood to break through much more than a Iowa, Purdue, Nebraska, Wisconsin in the long run, by recruiting the entire Eastern US and Southeast as well.