Well, the great and wonderful Big Ten, with five teams ranked in the Top 20, got embarrassed by a couple of little old basketball school called the BIG EAST in the annual Gavitt Games.

Six wins for the BIG EAST. Two wins for the Big Ten.

The Games started on Monday with new Marquette coach Shaka Smart and the Golden Eagles knocking off #10 Illinois in a one-point game in Milwaukee. Then later that night Providence traveled to Madison and beat 12th-year senior Brad Davison and Wisconsin. Both Big Ten teams were favored and both Big Ten teams lost outright. 2-0 against the spread and 2-0 with a ranked win for the BE.

The next day Creighton defeated Nebraska in a pseudo home game in Lincoln. Nebraska and the Big Ten was favored again. The Big Ten lost outright again. And we all know what happened when Seton Hall went into the Crisler Center. No need to beat a dead Wolverine. 4-0 against the spread, 4-0 outright and two ranked wins.

On Wednesday, the Big Ten finally showed a little life. Michigan State beat Butler by 21 as short favorites and Indiana squeaked out a win against St John’s in Assembly Hall.

The Big Ten had a chance to tie the Games last night with Ohio State (favored) and Rutgers (favored) to wrap it up. But the BIG EAST is too good and too deep. Xavier knocked off the #19 Buckeyes and DePaul beat Rutgers outright in Chicago. Yikes, even DePaul is winning in the Gavitt Games.

So if you’re keeping score at home, the Big Ten was favored in all eight games and lost outright six times.

Villanova and UConn, the best two teams in the BIG EAST, were left out of this year’s Gavitt Games. Nobody from the Big Ten could matchup up, so they figured why wasn’t the time. You don’t bring out the big guns for light work. Purdue, Maryland, Penn State, Northwestern, Minnesota, Iowa and Georgetown were also not involved.

Maybe we should start respecting the BIG EAST a little more and maybe the Big Ten a little less.

Or both.