Last year was said to be a down year for the Big Ten — and to be fair, with the lofty, Big Ten standards every year, it probably was — yet come the end of the season the league had two teams playing in the Final Four.
Wisconsin was the league’s clear-cut No. 1 team all season and really the only one that had a legitimate chance to win the national title. The Badgers fell to Duke in the title game, 68-63. Michigan State was the league’s other Final Four team after a typical Tom Izzo-type run in the tournament.