College Basketball

When judging Big Ten basketball, look beyond national championships

Published Oct. 12, 2021 8:36 a.m. ET

By Andy Katz
FOX Sports College Basketball Analyst

The Big Ten hasn’t won a national championship in men’s basketball since 2000.

But does that define the strength of the conference?

Hardly.

"It’s discouraging," said Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo, whose Spartans beat Florida for the title in Indianapolis in 2000. "But my definition of success is what we do on a nightly basis. I don’t think there’s anyone who wants to face a Big Ten team. That’s my point of reference."

The numbers don’t lie.

The Big Ten has had double-digit NCAA Tournament wins in five of the past nine tournaments (there was no 2020 NCAA Tournament). The Big Ten has placed nearly half the league or more in six of the past nine tournaments.

Michigan played for the title in 2013 and 2018. Wisconsin played for the championship in 2015.

"We’ve been one game short three times," said Maryland coach Mark Turgeon, whose Terps won the 2002 title under Gary Williams when Maryland was a member of the ACC.

"Go back to 2010, and we’ve had the most tournament wins, the most teams in the tournament, most Sweet 16s, second-most Final Fours, most AP All-Americans, player of the years," said Turgeon, referencing Iowa’s Luka Garza (2021), Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky (2015) and Michigan’s Trey Burke (2013).

The 2021 bubble tournament stings still.

"We had a black eye in the NCAA Tournament," Izzo said.

Nine Big Ten teams made the NCAA Tournament. None made it to the Final Four.

*No. 4 seed Purdue was upset by North Texas in the first round.
*Oral Roberts bounced No. 2 Ohio State in the first round.
*No. 1 seed Illinois lost to Loyola-Chicago in the second round.
*No. 2 seed Iowa lost to Oregon in the second round.
*Michigan State fell to UCLA in the First Four.

But …

Maryland won a game against UConn before losing to No. 2 seed Alabama.

Wisconsin beat North Carolina, giving Roy Williams his last loss before losing to eventual champ No. 1 Baylor.

Rutgers beat Clemson before losing to No. 2 seed and Final Four team Houston.

And No. 1 seed Michigan lost to No. 11 UCLA in the Elite Eight — one stop before the Final Four.

"Last year I thought we had the best league in the country, but we didn’t help ourselves in the tournament," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "The hardest thing is to win a true conference championship. It’s hard to win a national championship, but you don’t win six games to win a conference championship. But that’s how things get defined."

Painter said that going from 16 to 18 league games and then 18 to 20 ultimately put more Big Ten teams in the tournament.

"You’ve just got to get as many in there to have as many cracks at it," Painter said.

Painter’s Boilermakers were one possession away from taking down Virginia in an epic Elite Eight game in 2019. Beat the Cavaliers in Louisville, and Carsen Edwards and the Boilers would have had as much of a chance to win the national title as Auburn, Texas Tech and Michigan State.

Oh, yes, that Michigan State team did take out Duke, Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett in the Elite Eight in Washington, D.C. Shouldn’t that mean something?

The Big Ten had its best chance against Duke when Wisconsin was in position to win in 2015, before Grayson Allen came off the bench and derailed the Badgers' chances. That Wisconsin team took down the 38-0 Kentucky Wildcats, the prohibitive favorite to go 40-0 and win the title.

Does that mean something? Of course.

Should the consistent attendance-leading league be knocked for not winning a national title? Villanova’s titles didn’t mean the Big East was the best conference in 2016 or 2018. And if Gonzaga had beaten Baylor last April, no one would have said the WCC was No. 1.

The regular-season grind, the attendance and the overall top-to-bottom strength make it a difficult argument to go against the might of the Big Ten.

"The question will follow us until we break through," Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. "It just will. It’s only a matter of time. We’ve had some teams on the brink in the last decade.

"Coaches know. Every night you’re playing, it’s a challenge. You can’t be on your C-game and win. I was in the Big East. And it was a great league, but this is by far the best league from top to bottom. Us, Purdue and Illinois didn’t play well or had tough luck with injuries [last March]. We’ve got enough good teams that will advance and break through."

And even if the Big Ten brings home a title in 2022, that won’t mean the past 21 years didn’t produce greatness. Really, the conference has had only three "down" years in that span, putting just three teams in the tournament field in 2004, four in 2008 and four in 2018. That’s it.

The league should get at least eight, maybe nine and — who knows? — possibly 10 tournament tickets in 2022. Getting the bids and then advancing deep is the barometer. It has happened, and it will continue to happen in the coming years.

"The stats are there," Turgeon said. "The facts don’t lie."

Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball writer, analyst and host. He can be seen on FOX Sports and Big Ten Network platforms, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast "March Madness 365." Katz worked at ESPN for nearly two decades and, prior to that, in newspapers for nine years.