NCAA Conference Tournaments a Joke

Question for you: What team won the Big 10 conference post-season basketball tournament last year? 

I don't know either.  Nor do I care.  Nor should anyone care if you exclude the mediocre teams that somehow seem to pull off upsets in the conference tournaments and get automatic bids to the real tournament.

The conference post season tournaments automatically clutter an already controversial system trying to include the best 64 teams.  Here's an example: Let's suppose we all agree that Northern Iowa, (Missouri Valley Conference) with a very respectable 25-4 record and national ranking during the year deserves a shot in the real tournament.  The Panthers beat Boston College and Iowa handily this year.  In the conference tournament, what if they lose to Wichita State, Bradley or lowly Evansville as they did in the regular season? Does winning the conference lead  by a full three games get trumped by losing in the conference post-season tournament?  If not, suppose Evansville (9-20) wins that conference tournament.  This is not inconceviable since the Purple Aces beat both top teams in the MVC, Northern Iowa and Wichita State (23-8).  If Northern Iowa doesn't get dropped, Evansville is in as well and a team like Wake Forest (18-9) is suddenly out or at best, on the bubble.  Evansville would be run off the court by Wake Forest.

The RPI system, while flawed, isn't bad.  The post season conference tournaments with automatic bids is not rewarding the teams for playing a season well.  This is nothing more than a revenue initiative to suck more money out of fans and line the pockets of the NCAA and the basketball programs.

Enough already.