Could the road to a National Championship be easier than winning the Big Ten Tournament?

Today we will look at the question, Could the road to a National Championship be easier than a Big Ten Tournament Championship?

For this example the current BIG 10 standings will be used. Indiana ranks as the Number 1 seed because of a tie break win over Michigain State. MSU, Wisconsin, and Michigain round out the first round byes respectively. Therefore a pre-season National Championship contender, Ohio State, would not receive a first round bye in their conference tournament.

The first round matchups would be as follows (higher ranked team first)
Ohio State vs. Penn State
Minnesota vs. Nebraska
Illinois vs. Northwestern
Purdue vs. Iowa

With the unpredictability of this year's College Basketball of course any team could go down at any moment. But for example's sake let's assume the top teams take care of business in the first round.

Last years NCAA tournament was crazy with two #2 seeds falling in the opening room but the chances that one falls again this season are extremely slim. Looking past those upsets the top 4 seeds could potentially receive Number 1 or 2 seeds equaling a first round bye.

The Quarterfinal matchups in the BIG 10 tourney would then be:
Indiana vs. Purdue
Michigain State vs. Illinois
Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
Michigain vs. Ohio State

The quarters are where things would get interesting. The Kentucky Wildcats were National Champions last season and I would argue that UK's second round matchup, Iowa State, is somewhat of an equal to the Boilermaker squad. Obviously, the other matchups would be a College Basketball fan's dream with games like upset ready Illinois vs a well coached Sparty squad. An underrated Badger team against Minnesota who is prone to heat up. And of course another matchup between the Buckeyes and Wolverines.

Again assuming the top seeds advance the semi-final matchups would be:
Indiana vs. Michigan
Michigain State vs. Wisconsin

Those matchups rights there could potentially be the National Semi-Final yet they could be in the Semis of a Conference. Kentucky faced a worse Indiana squad, Baylor, and Louisville on their championship run. All 4 teams remaining in the BIG 10 tournament would be better than that Baylor team and the Louisville team. To think Indiana would have to face a National Championship contender in a game not named the Championship would be unforeseeable in a conference tournament. And we aren't done.

The BIG 10 title game would be a hot Michigan State squad against projected National Champion, Indiana. I think it's a valid argument to say that Michigan State could rank amongst Duke and Miami the other top teams in the nation. As a cause of this, I definitely believe that it is a fair question to ask which title run will be tougher. While I've stated exactly all the reasons why a BIG 10 title would be harder, I'm going to stick with the Big Dance and say this. When it comes to March, you don't want to play the team that is hot. For example, Uconn 2 years ago. In addition, you are playing an extra game. And finally, the tournament is where upsets happen. The NCAA tournament is such a great event because you never know what is going to happen. So my closing decision would be the BIG 10 title run is almost equal to a National Championship run.