What is wrong with the Big10?

[BobInMadison]

Lots of truth to that.

On any given year, the Wisconsin roster has one or two or a handful at most local ladies. Generally the rest are from SoCal, Arizona, Texas, Florida and other softball powerhouse states.

I wonder if these are the girls who play in the B1G because they couldn't get the position in a PAC 12 or SEC school.

Sometimes the homegrown girls are the best players on the team, though. Ken will agree with me on that one. A few years ago, another local girl tied the school records in HR and RBI. She was a big, strong Midwestern girl.

At least the Wisconsin team does make a little effort to help develop local softball. I wish they would do a lot more, but at least they do something.

 

[WI Dad]

Softball runs in the red for these colleges, so in most cases you'll see HCs that have been there for a long period of time regardless of record as long as they have that pull with the AD they are good to go.... For example take a look at Michigan State.... I don't think the location of the schools has to do with anything as they have indoor facilities more than the actual softball culture at the schools.

 

[JAD]

High schools should be playing softball in the fall and not in the spring. Not sure you could ever swing that with college....

We played HS in the fall and DD really enjoyed it. Only downside was volleyball is also a fall sport, so DD could not do both.

 

[JAD]

Softball runs in the red for these colleges, so in most cases you'll see HCs that have been there for a long period of time regardless of record as long as they have that pull with the AD they are good to go.... For example take a look at Michigan State.... I don't think the location of the schools has to do with anything as they have indoor facilities more than the actual softball culture at the schools.

This was also true in the SEC until recently. Tina Deese was at Auburn forever, and look what happened when they fired her and hired Clint Myers.

 

[slugger3]

Here's a different angle...

It seems to me that there are more "small ball" programs in general in the BIG 10, with less emphasis on power hitting.
I'm not saying that power hitting is the only factor that contributes to the SEC's and ACC's success.
But small ball is like the dang small pox plague up here... smack the ball into the ground and run like heck...where's the power hitters like you see on the SEC and ACC teams.
I've watched quite a few of the ULL Ragin' Cajun games this year, as well as last year.
Emphasis is on vaporizing the ball...
I wonder if Lotief has a stock in the manufacturers that make the balls his players are destroying?...
Yes there are slappers and bunters on the SEC/ACC teams. But it seems to me that there are many more true power hitters in the line ups in conferences other than the BIG 10...
And yes there are some power hitters on BIG10 teams, but nothing like you see in the SEC/ACC.
Go to a showcase camp in the upper midwest (ran by college coaches)...if your DD isn't a slapper or doesn't have a "linear" small ball swing, the college coaches are instructing your DD to change her swing...

It's almost like some of the variances you see in NFL offenses...ie. West Coast Offense (passing)...vs rushing offenses...

Just a thought...

 

[BobInMadison]

Yeah, lots of slappers in the B1G. I have heard stories of girls who weren't recruited because they didn't slap.

At one point the only real power hitter Wisconsin had was a local girl. I talked to her once at a football game. She really looked like she could whomp the ball into the lake. As I mentioned earlier, she tied the school records for HR and RBI.

After that girl graduated, I once saw a Wisconsin softball game where Wisconsin needed a power hitter, so they took out the DP and let the pitcher hit instead. The pitcher was about the only non-slapper batting that day.

 

[tritonfastpitch]

That's part of the problem, we live in Illinois and have been to some big 10 camps and it seems they have zero interest in girls from the Midwest, evidently only good players are from California. If they would open their eyes they would see that there are some tremendous players right out their back door that would love to play for the home state schools.

Not always the case.....Minnesota has 7 girls on the roster from MN (including 2 from SE MN...we get overlooked often) and only 5 girls on the roster from outside the midwest.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Power conferences (HR/SB)

Big 10 (181/264) ... 290 games ... per game: 0.62 HR/0.91 SB
SEC (269/538) ... 312 games ... per game: 0.86.2 HR/1.72 SB
ACC (200/210) ... 252 games ... per game: 0.79 HR/0.93 SB
Pac 12 (193/198) ... 211 games ... per game: 0.91 HR/0.94 SB
Big 12 (111/262) ... 172 games ... per game: 0.65/1.52 SB


While it's true that the Big10 lacks power, the Big 10 ain't all that speedy, either.

Where the SEC really stands out is that it has both power and speed. No other conference is really outstanding at both.

 

[marriard]

In reality it is a matter of investment more than it is weather or style of play or anything else. Not saying weather has no effect, just that the investment levels is a much bigger factor.

The SEC has passed the PAC12 simply because they decided to put a whole lot of money into facilities/broadcast/recruiting/etc... We are starting to see the ACC do the same thing - adding in teams from Duke and Clemson with new facilities is going to be huge over time and also I am hearing there is pressure on UofMiami as well to add a team especially since they have invested so heavily in baseball over the years. The PAC 12 has more talent locally, but they need to be real wary that they don't start to lag way behind. There is no excuse that explains why the PAC 12 is not broadcasting at least 4-6 games every weekend.

Big10 is lagging behind. If they WANT to invest, they could. Right now as a conference they don't appear to want to.

 

[JAD]

Power conferences (HR/SB)

Big 10 (181/264) ... 290 games ... per game: 0.62 HR/0.91 SB
SEC (269/538) ... 312 games ... per game: 0.86.2 HR/1.72 SB
ACC (200/210) ... 252 games ... per game: 0.79 HR/0.93 SB
Pac 12 (193/198) ... 211 games ... per game: 0.91 HR/0.94 SB
Big 12 (111/262) ... 172 games ... per game: 0.65/1.52 SB


While it's true that the Big10 lacks power, the Big 10 ain't all that speedy, either.

Where the SEC really stands out is that it has both power and speed. No other conference is really outstanding at both.

The SEC as a whole has much better pitching than the B1G...