Still the Last Two B1G Teams to Win the NCAA Title: Michigan and MSU

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on March 26th, 2016 at 10:15 AM

With the Big Ten crapping the Sweet Sixteen bed, and Maryland, Wiscy and Indiana all losing, history remains unchanged: The last two Big Ten teams to win the NCAA title are still Michigan (1989) and MSU (2000). Maryland in 2002 does not count.

It truly is amazing how inept the B1G has become in the NCAAs. Since MSU's title in 2000, B1G teams have made the Final Four 12 times (MSU 5, OSU 2, Wisconsin 2, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana 1), with nothing to show for it.

If coffee is for closers, then the Big Ten will have to drink tea for another year.

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Basketball

bronxblue

March 26th, 2016 at 10:21 AM ^

There have only been 8 different teams to win the title since 2000, and only 12 since UM did. It's more that a couple of programs have dominated the sport now for years. I mean, the Big 12 had one title to show over that span, and that was that one KU team. It's basically been Uconn, UK, Duke, and UNC for almost two decades, with your random Florida or Louisville thrown in.

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jeffios

March 26th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^

When it comes down to winning the whole thing, it's basically like the FIFA World Cup. It's always the same top teams coming out on top. The last surprise team was Arkansas in 1994 and even they were a one seed.

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snarling wolverine

March 26th, 2016 at 10:55 AM ^

Arkansas was the overall #1 seed that year. Not even remotely a surprise. It only seems that way in retrospect because their program hasn't done much since then.

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M-Dog

March 26th, 2016 at 12:08 PM ^

The last true surprise team to win it was Villinova all the way back in 1985.

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snarling wolverine

March 26th, 2016 at 12:36 PM ^

'88 Kansas was pretty surprising - they were only a #6 seed IIRC. Everyone knew Danny Manning was awesome, but he didn't seem to have the supporting cast, until they all stepped up at the right time.

'89 Michigan was surprising given the circumstances (interim coach taking over right beforehand), although that roster was loaded.

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JHendo

March 26th, 2016 at 12:49 PM ^

I'd consider UConn in 2014 to quite an epic surprise as they were a 7 seed one year removed from postseason ban.

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gwkrlghl

March 26th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^

Seems like the midwest keeps getting bit in the Finals in both Big Ten basketball and the old CCHA

Basketball title appearances (since MSU in '00)
2002 IU L
2005 Illinois L
2007 OSU L
2009 MSU L
2013 Michigan L :(
2015 Wisconsin L

CCHA/Big Ten title appearances (since MSU in '07)
2008 ND L
2009 Miami L
2010 WIsconsin L (still WCHA at the time)
2011 Michigan L
2014 Minnesota L

I've seen a lot of midwestern teams lose in the finals lately. Seems like it defies the odds

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Blue Durham

March 26th, 2016 at 10:56 AM ^

and I can't help but think that a Big Ten team should have been in the finals in 2011. Well, at least I am now pretty certain a Big Ten team will be in the finals next year.

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I WAS THERE

March 26th, 2016 at 10:34 AM ^

Thanks for the update.

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Hotel Putingrad

March 26th, 2016 at 10:36 AM ^

I thought UNC might win it all before the field was announced but then got too cute with my bracket.

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DowntownLJB

March 26th, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^

you've forgotten Wisconsin there OP re: final fours

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BursleyHall82

March 26th, 2016 at 11:43 AM ^

Made the edit.

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Qmatic

March 26th, 2016 at 11:01 AM ^

Maryland won in 2002. BTN wi try and fool you and say they were in the B1G at that point.

It's like when BTN did their "greatest players of the decade" and #1 was Eric Crouch.

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snarling wolverine

March 26th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^

Eric Crouch was always a B1G player. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

And we have always been at war with East Asia.

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Muttley

March 26th, 2016 at 3:08 PM ^

C'Mon, do we really care about the official Big Ten record? To me, the Big Ten is a collection of 14 teams with the emphasis on the 14 individual teams. Let the SEC obsess over league identity.

While "past performance does not guarantee future returns", there is some obvious correlation in college sports. With that framing, it doesn't matter (to me) that Maryland was in the ACC when they won it in 2002. The individual teams in current composition of the B1G can point to national championships in 2002 (Maryland), 2000 (Michigan State), 1989 (Michigan), and 1987 (Indiana). (The cherry-picked 27-year-but-not-29-year cutoff bugs me.)

I would note that I've seen the ACC count it both ways, including both the 2002 Maryland ACC NC and the 2003 Syracuse Big East National Championship. Now that's disingenous.

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JayMo4

March 26th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^

Wisconsin probably breaks into the conversation last year if they hadn't had to overcome both Duke and the officials.

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BuckNekked

March 26th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^

And Michigan got screwed over by the refs and hookers.

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buddhafrog

March 26th, 2016 at 2:00 PM ^

getting screwed by hookers can be morally ambiguous. Getting screwed by officials almost never is a good thing.

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Mojave Gold

March 26th, 2016 at 12:11 PM ^

Big 10 gets screwed by the refs in the final. See last 5 occurrences. Was there a time a Big 10 team got more foul shots than its opponent in the title game?

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doggdetroit

March 26th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^

How do you feel about the Pac 12? No titles since Arizona in 1996.

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Blue Noise

March 26th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^

Arizona was 1997

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Roland Deschain

March 26th, 2016 at 2:25 PM ^

The U of A / KU game that year took me about a month to recover from. I never thought I would hear the end of really bad "Simon says" jokes.

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Michology 101

March 26th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^

The top kids are now uniting to form a juggernaut team at a Blue Blood school on a regular basis and more so than ever. It's not really a Big 10 issue. It's just tougher to win the NCAA tournament now, over one of those All Star teams. The Big 10 just doesn't have any true Blood Blue schools since Indiana fell off. Though IU may reach that status again. Michigan State is real close and they may have their great team coming in next year. There were no doubt All Star teams back in the day, but the kids are creating more of them now, instead of spreading their talents to various schools. We'll just have to hope it doesn't work out for MSU.

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ThadMattasagoblin

March 26th, 2016 at 2:42 PM ^

Don't care unless Michigan wins it.

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doggdetroit

March 26th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^

One factor behind the B1G's current drought is that most B1G teams that have gone on to play for the title have been underdogs:

2002: #5 Indiana vs. #1 Maryland
2005: #1 Illinois vs. #1 UNC
2007: #1 OSU vs. #1 Florida
2009: #2 MSU vs. #1 UNC
2013: #4 Michigan (#13 overall) vs. #1 Louisville (#1 overall)
2015: #1 Wisconsin (#4 overall) vs. #1 Duke (#3 overall)

All six matchups in the title game came against #1 seeds and only three B1G teams were #1 seeds. I couldn't find overall seeds earlier than 2012 but I'm pretty confident UNC and Florida were #1 overall seeds in 2009 and 2007 and I think Illinois was the #1 overall seed in 2005. If some of these B1G teams instead faced a #3 or #4 seed in the ultimate game, the B1G probably wins at least 1 or 2 titles in this span.

Here are the matchups that didn't involve a B1G team:

2001: #1 Duke vs. #2 Arizona
2003: #3 Syracuse vs. #2 Kansas
2004: #2 UConn vs. #3 Georgia Tech
2006: #3 Florida vs. #2 UCLA
2008: #1 Kansas vs. #1 Memphis
2010: #1 Duke vs. #5 Butler
2011: #3 UConn vs. #8 Butler
2012: #1 Kentucky (#1 overall) vs. #2 Kansas (#5 overall)
2014: #7 UConn (#26 overall) vs. #8 Kentucky (#29 overall)

Syracuse and Florida were the only teams to beat a higher ranked seed in the final. Kansas was the only team that played and beat a #1 seed in the final.

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crg

March 26th, 2016 at 3:21 PM ^

Since developing a BB team requires much less resources and talent (number of talented people, not less quality) than for FB, it's surprising that a handful of schools still dominate NCAA BB as has been the case.

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noahtahl

March 26th, 2016 at 4:30 PM ^

Thx to the "midget" and the "vampire" the shove, pull, hold style popularized by these marquee coaches has kept the BIG from titles.

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Megatron

March 27th, 2016 at 12:24 AM ^

Watched Michigan VS Ills and then watched the national title game VS Seaton Hall I watched the whole game even know I had to go to school the next day. It was worth it I wasn't all that tried the next day truth be told I was in second grade I know no one cares LOL.

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