Hlas: Big Ten 2017 basketball has gone flat

For a while, I thought it was just me.

I'd been so focused on dedicating my Grammy acceptance speech to Beyonce that I haven't found Big Ten men's basketball all that compelling.

But for once, it's not a 'me' problem. The conference's hoops simply are mundane, something you couldn't honestly say in a long time.

Michigan State, which has never had a losing Big Ten record since Tom Izzo became head coach in 1995 and was 12-6 or better in the league the last five years? Down. (But far from out, of course.)

Ohio State, which had a winning Big Ten record in each of the previous 11 seasons? Down. The Buckeyes looked lost when they played at Iowa on Jan. 28.

Illinois and Indiana, the next two teams visiting Carver-Hawkeye Arena? The Fighting Illini simply aren't very good, and the Hoosiers are in disarray.

Indiana Coach Tom Crean described his team's offensive problems as 'absolute remedial nonsense' Sunday after its 75-63 home loss to Michigan.

Absolute remedial nonsense. That's a new one. No coach-speak there, at least. Oh, Indiana won the Big Ten last year.

Iowa, as it may have come to your attention, has endured a drop-off of its own. After finishing the last three seasons in the top 25 of the Kenpom rankings, the Hawkeyes are 71st in the current edition.

That bears no resemblance to a crisis. It's a rebuilding year and has always been one. If Iowa is 71st in the Valentine's Day 2018 or 2019 Kenpom rankings, then the chocolates will taste funky around here.

The Hawkeyes would be worse than 6-7 in the conference (with a decent chance of finishing 9-9) if the league itself wasn't tilting downward.

Just three Big Ten teams are in the coaches' Top 25, none higher than No. 10 Wisconsin. In the Kenpom rankings, only two — No. 11 Purdue and No. 15 Wisconsin — are ranked higher than 30th. The ACC and Big 12 have three teams apiece in the top 10.

These things are cyclical, so it isn't a sky-is-falling deal. Top preps haven't all banded together to boycott Big Ten programs.

After several consecutive seasons ranging from good to great, the league was bound to eventually have a year that is lackluster. This is that year.

But it's still jarring. The Big Ten had two teams in the 2015 Final Four. Do you see a Final Four candidate in the bunch this year? Purdue ... maybe.

Northwestern's victory at Wisconsin Sunday was perhaps the best for any Big Ten team all season. Barring a collapse, the Wildcats are on their way to the NCAA tourney for the first time in school history, giving the Big Ten the best story in the first week of the tourney.

But this season's Wildcats haven't encountered as much resistance as they would have in many seasons. On the other hand, you face less resistance when you create more of it, and Northwestern has created plenty.

NBA mock drafts in February are to be taken with a shaker of salt. That said, CBSsports.com's latest version has three players from the Pac-12 in the top five and three from the ACC in the top seven.

Four Big Ten players are among the 30 players named, but none are higher than Michigan State freshman Miles Bridges at 19th.

The Big Ten is holding its conference tournament in Washington, D.C., next month. This isn't the best year for that. Washington is a market conditioned to the NBA, the ACC and Big East.

The dull games the Big Ten will stage on the first two or three days of the five-day event won't have Washington begging for more. Rutgers vs. Illinois doesn't even play in Peoria, let alone the Beltway.