The Big Ten is a football conference, no doubt, thanks to basketball’s failings: Doug Lesmerises
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Through the close calls and championship chances over two decades, the Big Ten felt like a conference with multiple possibilities for a national title in men’s basketball, and with one football team that could compete at the national level.
That made the Big Ten seem, at times, like a basketball conference.
Football was Ohio State and, too often, not much else. Basketball saw six different programs over a 14-year stretch lose in the national title game between 2002 and 2015. That’s a whole lot of almost.
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In the last 34 years, the Big Ten has won only four national titles in football and men’s basketball: Michigan football in 1997, Michigan State basketball in 2000, and Ohio State football in 2002 and 2014. Along the way, the mission for more trophies seemed like it would be accomplished by basketball.
One hoops title? How could that be? Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State (again) were all one win away from cutting down the nets in the NCAA Tournament.
Neither Big Ten basketball nor football won titles very often, but basketball gave you more reason to believe.
No longer. As this season showed us, as the Big Ten landed two teams in the four-team College Football Playoff and just one team in basketball’s Sweet 16, it’s time to give up on basketball and believe in football.
The Big Ten is a football conference again.
Honestly, the Big Ten right now may be best described as a women’s basketball conference. The league is sending three teams to the Sweet 16, after sending four the previous two seasons. That’s 11 Sweet 16 teams for the Big Ten women over the last three seasons, and just four Sweet 16 teams for the Big Ten men.
Men’s basketball is mired in mediocrity, while football, like women’s basketball, is on the rise.
For men’s basketball, it’s both a coaching and talent problem.
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo has operated in almost a separate conference for the last two decades, as has Ohio State football. Since 2000, the Big Ten has 15 Final Four appearances -- Izzo and the Spartans have six of them (40%), and as a No. 7 seed they are the only team left this season. Going by BCS and playoff rankings at the end of the regular season, before bowl season, football has 16 top-four teams in the same period -- Ohio State accounts for nine (56%).
So when considering the strengths and weaknesses of the sports, the question really is -- Who do you believe in beyond Izzo and the football Buckeyes?
Right now, next up on that list would be Michigan football, after two straight playoff appearances. Penn State football would be a regular Sweet 16 team if football did it that way, with four top-10 finishes in the final AP poll in the last seven years. Wisconsin football didn’t settle for mediocrity for long before making a big move to hire Luke Fickell this offseason after firing Paul Chryst.
Big Ten basketball, meanwhile, is all about settling.
When I thought of the Big Ten as a basketball conference, the league between 2010 and 2016 had basketball teams that either bested or tied the football teams for most top-25 finishes at the end of the season. In those seasons, 29 basketball teams finished in the top 25, compared to 25 football teams. The strength was equal, but the basketball strength was more dispersed.
Now look at the basketball coaching downgrades across the league since then.
Wisconsin went from Bo Ryan to Greg Gard. Ohio State went from Thad Matta to Chris Holtmann. Minnesota went from Tubby Smith to Richard Pitino. Purdue went from young Matt Painter with upside to older Matt Painter who falls to every NCAA underdog. Archie Miller failed at Indiana and John Groce failed at Illinois. Juwan Howard kept Michigan rolling to the Sweet 16 in his first two opportunities at Michigan before the Wolverines missed the tournament this season. But don’t forget the run John Beilein put up at Michigan over 12 seasons.
After Michigan hadn’t made the tournament in a decade, Beilein’s teams went to the NCAAs nine of 12 years, made five Sweet 16s and reached two title games.
Michigan and Howard should bounce back, but there’s a lot of average in the rest of the conference. And the most dynamic new coach, Penn State’s Micah Shrewsberry, might leave for the Notre Dame job after a strong finish to this season in Year 2 with the Nittany Lions.
Meanwhile, in football, Ryan Day has made three of four playoffs at Ohio State, Jim Harbaugh turned around Michigan, Fickell brought a playoff resume to Wisconsin, Mel Tucker dropped a top-10 finish in his second year at Michigan State, P.J. Fleck proved legit at Minnesota, Mike Locksley revitalized Maryland football, James Franklin keeps winning at Penn State, and Matt Rhule at Nebraska and Bret Bielema at Illinois carried long winning resumes to their fresh Big Ten jobs.
Edge to the football coaches, no doubt.
As for players, Big Ten basketball has never been an assembly line of NBA talent. But in the three drafts from 2013 to 2015, there were 12 first-round Big Ten basketball picks and just eight first-round Big Ten football picks. That led up to Ohio State dominating the 2016 NFL Draft.
Now? In the last five drafts, 30 Big Ten football players have gone in the first round compared to just 12 Big Ten basketball players.
Even the basketball talent doesn’t win. Four Big Ten basketball players were drafted in the first round in 2022 -- Iowa’s Keegan Murray, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey, Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis and Ohio State’s Malaki Branham. They won a combined four games in the NCAA Tournament last year.
This year, five Big Ten players could go in the first round -- Jalen Hood-Schifino and Trayce Jackson-Davis from Indiana, Kris Murray of Iowa, Jett Howard from Michigan and Brice Sensabaugh from Ohio State. Indiana won a single tournament game, Iowa lost in the first round and Michigan and Ohio State didn’t even make it.
For a long time, I was in the chorus asking why the Big Ten hadn’t won a basketball title since 2000 and when would it happen again? I’m done. The answer used to involve matchups and some bad luck. Now, Big Ten men’s basketball clearly isn’t good enough.
Meanwhile, Big Ten football is good enough. With the expansion of the league in 2024, UCLA (currently in its third straight Sweet 16) should immediately become the best basketball program in the Big Ten and try to save the league. USC football will jump in and add to the Big Ten’s strength.
Because right here in 2023, the Big Ten is a football league. It is a women’s basketball league. It is not a men’s basketball league. There’s no doubt about that.
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