The Big Ten national championship drought extends to 25 years at the NCAA Tournament
After a red hot start to the NCAA Tournament, there was optimism among Big Ten folks that this could finally be the year that the conference ended its basketball national championship drought. As it turns out, however, that optimism was premature. With Michigan State’s loss to Auburn in the Elite Eight Sunday, the Big Ten ensured that it will go 25 years without a national title.
The Big Ten started off the tournament on fire, with its teams winning their first ten games. Although the conference faded a little bit in the second round, it still sent three teams to the Sweet 16, the second most of any conference.
However, Michigan and Purdue both fell in the Sweet 16, leaving the Spartans as the conference’s last hope. Ultimately, Michigan State just was not good enough offensively to get past an elite Auburn team that entered the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.
The Spartans’ 2000 national championship team remains the most recent Big Ten group to win it all. As evidence of how long ago that was, Jason Richardson, who was a freshman on that team, is the father of current Michigan State freshman Jase Richardson.
With the ACC, Big 12, and SEC all sending at least one team to the Final Four, the Big Ten will be the lone Power Four conference not represented in San Antonio. Surely, commissioner Tony Petitti is not thrilled about this, and will look to do what he can to improve the conference’s standing on the hardwood moving forward.
