Big Ten predictions: Can Michigan, Purdue or anyone end B1G's national title drought?
As the countdown to the 2021-22 college basketball season continues, ESPN's conference predictions series continues with the Big Ten.
As the countdown continues to the start of the 2021-22 college basketball season on Tuesday, an ESPN panel of experts has made predictions for all of the nation's top leagues. So far we've taken a look at Gonzaga and the best teams from the mid-major conferences (Atlantic 10, C-USA, Ivy, MAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, SoCon, Sun Belt and WCC), followed by Memphis, Houston and the AAC, the Villanova-dominated Big East, UCLA and the resurgent Pac-12 Conference, a Big 12 with a second straight national title in its sights, an SEC led by intriguing Kentucky and Duke and the always fascinating ACC. Our conference series concludes with the Big Ten.
The Big Ten demonstrated its top-to-bottom strength in a major was in 2020-21, sending nine teams to the NCAA tournament, including a pair of No. 1-seeds in the Michigan Wolverines and Illinois Fighting Illini, and the second-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes and eventual Wooden Award winner Luka Garza. None would reach the Final Four, with Michigan falling to No. 11-seed UCLA in the Elite Eight and Illinois and Iowa both getting bounced before the second weekend. Those setbacks helped prevent the Big Ten from being represented on the Final Four stage, and extended a drought of national championships for the conference that extends back to the Michigan State Spartans' win in 2000. The conference -- led again by another talented team at Michigan -- will have another golden opportunity to quiet its national critics this season.
ESPN's writing team of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Joe Lunardi sized up all the top teams and storylines in the league and made their predictions for the 15-team conference.
