End of Big Ten men's title drought could augur new basketball era amid league's financial advantage

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Michigan coach Dusty May joined several of his players moving on to the NBA not long after Michigan beat Connecticut in the NCAA Finals, ending one of the strangest streaks in college sports.

The good vibes have carried over after the Wolverines' long-awaited national title in men's basketball, and not just in Ann Arbor.

It had been 26 years since a Big Ten men's basketball team won the title, the first since Michigan State won in 2000. That's despite the conference sending 14 teams to the Final Four and seven to the national title game in that span.

“I know what it takes to win a national championship,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Thursday at the league's media day. “I know how good you have to be. I know how lucky you have to be. I’ve been in a couple Final Fours where there were two Big Ten teams in it. It’s not like we haven’t knocked on the door.”

Michigan's title capped off an NCAA Tournament that saw the Big Ten account for half of the Elite Eight before both Illinois and Michigan advanced to the Final Four, and it came only a day after recent Big 10 addition UCLA won the women's basketball championship.

Throw in a third straight CFP championship — Indiana following Michigan and Ohio State — and the Big Ten became the first conference to hold all three titles at once. Now, with six teams in the current football Top 25 and high expectations again in both men's and women's basketball, the Big Ten is enjoying a moment.

“I got the job (in 2023) and realized, it had been a long time since we won,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said. “Not because we didn’t have great basketball teams, but how difficult it is actually to win. So we had that three or four days that we had last year with back-to-back wins on the men’s side and the women’s side and it was really remarkable.”

Michigan's title may have been an outlier — like the more than two-decade drought that preceded it — or it may have been another sign of the Big Ten’s growing dominance over college sports. As the industry becomes increasingly stratified financially, the Big Ten’s new collection of trophies may not be a coincidence.

In the most recent tax forms filed with the IRS, the Big Ten reported $1.47 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2025, ahead of the SEC at $1.11 billion, the ACC at $876 million and Big 12 at $610 million. In an era where funds can be funneled directly to athletes, those resources may be giving the Big Ten a tangible competitive advantage.

“It showed that the Big Ten was the best basketball conference in the country a year ago,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “And I think it’s better from top to bottom this year. I think we’re all worried about our own programs but there were a lot of really good things that happened in the conference last season capped off by Michigan cutting down the nets. When you look overall, what the league did as a whole, it was pretty impressive.”

For the moment, in men's basketball, the Big Ten could have as many as eight teams in the preseason Top 25 poll after sending nine teams to the NCAA Tournament a year ago, with Illinois and Michigan State both considered legitimate national-title contenders. Across the league, Michigan's breakthrough raised a bar that was already set high last March.

“I don’t think that creates pressure,” Minnesota coach Niko Medved said. “I think it’s great for the league. There’s always pressure at these jobs.”

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