I was looking back at when the Big Ten had good years in the NCAA Tournament vs. disappointing years, and I thought I would share here. It's kind of interesting that in a lot of years when we were supposedly "down," we actually did pretty well - like 2005 when we had one team in the NC Game, two teams in the Final Four and three teams in the Elite Eight. I decided to start the year after Sparty was last able to cut down the nets (sorry
@bMORE607, we wish you had been part of the crew in '02) and look at Sweet Sixteen and better:
2001: (1) Michigan State in the Final Four; (1) Illinois in the Elite Eight; (7) Penn State in the Sweet Sixteen
2002: (5) Indiana in the NC Game; (4) Illinois in the Sweet Sixteen
2003: (7) Michigan State in the Elite Eight; (5) Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen
2004: (5) Illinois in the Sweet Sixteen
2005: (1) Illinois in the NC Game; (5) Michigan State in the Final Four; (6) Wisconsin in the Elite Eight
2006: None
2007: (1) Ohio State in the NC Game
2008: (3) Wisconsin and (5) Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen
2009: (2) Michigan State in the NC Game; (5) Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen
2010: (5) Michigan State in the Final Four; (2) Ohio State and (4) Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen
2011: (1) Ohio State and (4) Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen
2012: (2) Ohio State in the Final Four; (1) Michigan State, (4) Indiana and (4) Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen
2013: (4) Michigan in the NC Game; (2) Ohio State in the Elite Eight; (1) Indiana and (3) Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen
2014: (2) Wisconsin in the Final Four; (2) Michigan and (4) Michigan State in the Elite Eight
2015: (1) Wisconsin in the NC Game; (7) Michigan State in the Final Four
2016: (5) Maryland, (5) Indiana and (7) Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen
2017: (4) Purdue, (7) Michigan and (8) Wisconsin in the Sweet Sixteen
2018: (3) Michigan in the NC Game; (2) Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen
2019: (2) Michigan State in the Final Four; (3) Purdue in the Elite Eight; (2) Michigan in the Sweet Sixteen
2020: N/A due to COVID-19
2021: (1) Michigan in the Elite Eight
2022: (3) Purdue and (11) Michigan in the Sweet Sixteen
Just for fun, but it kind of jives with my belief that the cancelled Tournament in the COVID year
really messed with people's perception of time ... the Big Ten has gone TWO Tournaments since it had a team in the Final Four, two in the Elite Eight and three in the Sweet Sixteen. Not saying we don't need to show up better in March this year, but that narrative of the Big Ten "always choking" seems to have more to do with 2019 seeming like an eternity ago rather than a giant pile of evidence.