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On Sunday, a Big Ten team won the NCAA women's basketball tournament championship for the first time since all the way back in 1999, with conference newcomer UCLA thumping South Carolina 79-51.
Tonight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the league will hope a similarly long drought will come to a merciful end.
Michigan men's basketball's matchup against UConn in the championship game of the 2026 NCAA Tournament is more than just an opportunity for the Wolverines to earn their second championship (and first since 1989) and for coach Dusty May to complete one of the more remarkable turnarounds in the history of the sport.
For all the Big Ten's money, influence and power in the broader world of college athletics, the conference hasn't seen one of its men's basketball programs win an NCAA championship since all the way back in 2000. Since then, UConn, Michigan's opponent on Monday night, has won five national championships by itself.
What’s made the drought so confounding is Big Ten teams haven gotten close to winning a championship. It’s not as if this is the Patriot League or the WAC, where it has a single representative in the tournament that’s fortunate to win a game. Big Ten teams regularly reach the biggest and brightest stages in college basketball; they just haven’t been able to close the deal.
Since Michigan State’s title in 2000, and not including Michigan this year, 15 teams from the conference have made it to the Final Four. Eight of those squads advanced to the national championship game, but in each instance, they lost. A couple of them came agonizingly close, with Illinois losing to North Carolina, 75-70, in 2005 and Wisconsin coming up short against Duke, 68-63, in 2015.
It’s not like its teams haven’t been in advantageous spots entering the tournament in recent years, either. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, 35 of the 40 national champions (87.5%) have been a No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed. Since 2018, Big Ten teams have accounted for 17 of those 84 spots on the bracket (20.2%).
Even if current Big Ten compatriot Maryland, which won the national championship in 2002 while a member of the ACC, was included as one of the Big Ten’s championships, the conference has still gone nearly a quarter-century without a title.
During that same stretch, other power conferences have repeatedly had its teams hoist a trophy at the end of the Final Four.
Since 2000, the Big East and ACC have each had eight teams win championships. During that same stretch, the SEC has had four champions and the Big 12 three. Even the American, which has disintegrated in recent years into a one- or two-bid league, had a title-winner on its resume, thanks to UConn in 2014.
When did Big 10 last win men's basketball national championship?
A team representing the Big Ten hasn't won an NCAA men's basketball national championship since Michigan State all the way back in 2000.
The Spartans' 89-76 victory against Florida in the NCAA tournament title game capped off a 32-7 season under Tom Izzo, who was then just in his fifth season leading the program.
That year's Michigan State team was built around three players — Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell and Final Four most outstanding player Mateen Cleaves — nicknamed "The Flintstones," as all three members of the trio were from Flint, Michigan, about 50 miles northeast of Michigan State's East Lansing campus.
Interestingly, the Spartans' triumph took place in Indianapolis, where this year's Final Four is being held.
Why has Big Ten basketball gone so long without winning a national championship?
There are a number of factors that have contributed to the Big Ten’s tournament woes.
For one, it’s a single-elimination format that can create unexpected results and doesn't necessarily always reward the best teams. For years, the league's physical style of play was cited as a possible cause for the drought, with referees who don't consistently work Big Ten games getting assigned to the tournament and calling those teams' games with a tighter whistle.
Beyond that, many of the Big Ten teams that lost the national championship game had the misfortune of running up against some of the best teams in modern college basketball history. The North Carolina team Illinois lost to in 2005 was 33-4 and had four of the top 14 picks in that year’s NBA draft. Two years later, a Greg Oden and Mike Conley-led Ohio State team lost to a Florida team that brought back the entire starting five from its national championship team the year before. In 2009, Michigan State was blown out by a North Carolina team that was 34-4. Wisconsin came up short against a 2015 Duke team that won 35 games and had two top-10 NBA draft picks. Michigan was handled by a 2018 Villanova squad that won 36 games and had Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo on its roster. Two years ago, Zach Edey and Purdue weren’t able to hang with a buzzsaw of a UConn team that had won 27 of its previous 28 games, including five NCAA Tournament games that were decided by an average of 25 points.
Big Ten basketball national championship losses
Here’s a look at Big Ten teams that have lost in the national championship game in the years since Michigan State’s NCAA title in 2000:
- 2002: Maryland 64, Indiana 52
- 2005: North Carolina 75, Illinois 70
- 2007: Florida 84, Ohio State 75
- 2009: North Carolina 89, Michigan State 72
- 2013: Louisville 82, Michigan 76
- 2015: Duke 68, Wisconsin 63
- 2018: Villanova 79, Michigan 62
- 2024: Connecticut 75, Purdue 60
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When did Big Ten last win men's basketball national championship?
