Last year was a down year for the Big Ten. Only two teams were ranked by the end of the year and only one team made it out of the first weekend (Michigan State, lost in the Sweet 16).
At this time last year, the Big Ten was at its peak with 6 teams ranked in the AP poll. Right now, there are just two teams ranked (Illinois & Purdue).
I know there’s the fact that everybody likes to bring up that a Big Ten team hasn’t won a championship since 2000, but it really does seem like the conference is hitting a rut in the last two years.