Purdue lost to UW in the NCAA Championship Game on Monday. That meant the Big Ten lost as well, and it kind of became a trend.
Monday's game marks the Big Ten's eighth straight loss in the men's national championship game, with the conference's last title being won by Michigan State in 2000. The Big Ten has also lost the women's championship game four times during that span, most recently to Iowa State on Sunday. To South Carolina.
This marks an 0-12 record since Tom Izzo's group scored, with eight different schools earning the L, but current member Maryland is in the Atlantic Coast Conference. At least I can brag about winning in 2002 when I was part of the. Complete list (women's matches in italics):
2001: Purdue loses to Notre Dame 68-66.
2002: Indiana loses to Maryland 64-52.
2005: Illinois loses to North Carolina 75-70.
2005: Michigan State loses to Baylor 84-62.
2007: Ohio State loses to Florida State 84-75.
2009: Michigan State loses to North Carolina 89-72.
2013: Michigan State lost to Louisville 82-76 (win later vacated)
2015: Wisconsin loses to Duke (68-63)
2018: Michigan State loses to Villanova (79-62)
2023: Iowa State loses to LSU 102-85.
2024: Purdue loses to Connecticut 75-60.
2024: Iowa State loses to South Carolina 87-75.
around OptaStatsThat's three times longer than the next longest four-game losing streak (Big Ten 1961-1969, SEC 2000-2004, Pac-12 2001-2010). Since the 1999-2000 season, only UW has won 13 championships for the men's and women's teams during that span and lost in the championship game only once.
For the men, UNC, Kansas, Duke, Florida and Villanova have won multiple championships, while for the women, South Carolina, Tennessee, Baylor and Notre Dame have done the same.
It is a continuum that ignores fundamental variance. Obviously, the most natural way for a conference to win a championship is for it to all come together with a power program, but traditional powers in the Big Ten such as Indiana and Michigan State have waned in recent decades. It's hard to deny that.
It's also worth noting that all of the men's losses were against No. 1 seeds, which is itself a series of bad luck. The Big Ten is the richest conference in the United States, and while they've obviously had success in other sports, success in basketball has proven to be a different challenge.
