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It's been a rough winter for the Big Ten in terms of postseason success. After spending the season with as many as twelve teams being ranked in the top 25 and nine teams making the Big Dance, the conference finds itself with one lone survivor headed into the 2nd weekend. Not good. Three teams lost in OT while a one seed and a pair of two seeds suffered rather embarrassing losses to much lower seeds. After spending most of the season beating up on non-conference opponents and each other, it seems like the grind may have worn them down.
While most conferences have a definite tier of haves and havenots, the Big Ten was a grind from top to bottom. Consider that the 13th place finisher, Minnesota, beat four of the top five teams in the conference. Five of their six wins came against tournament teams: Michigan (1 seed), Iowa (2 seed), Ohio State (2 seed), Purdue (4 seed), and Michigan State (a play in game loser in OT to a UCLA team in the Sweet 16. And this wasn't an anomaly. There were no off nights in the Big Ten this year.
The other factor to consider is the fact that the conference is arguably the most physical in college hoops. Big men play a key role on almost every Big Ten team and the refs "let them play". This style does not tend to lend itself well to the NCAA tournament where reffing crews come from all different conferences. Foul trouble and defending the paint tend to catch up to Big Ten teams when the officiating style no longer lets them bang around under the basket.
That said, guard play tends to propel upsets and teams that make a run. With only five players on the court at once, if the guards "get hot", any team can beat any other team. As I said, the Big Ten is known for its physical style of play. Smaller, quicker, faster teams have a definite advantage against them in one game playoff systems. Regardless, it wasn't the showing they were expecting.
To make matters worse, the Big Ten advanced four teams to the NCAA tournament in hockey as well. Number four overall seed Wisconsin got bounced yesterday by Bemidji, while Notre Dame and Michigan both had to bow out with covid-related issues. That leaves only one Big Ten team left, Minnesota, and they haven't even played yet.
Like I said, it's been a rough winter for men's Big Ten sports.
