Big Ten has 4 teams in the NCAA regional finals, seizing the March Madness spotlight from the SEC
Michigan had just dispatched Alabama to advance in the NCAA Tournament when coach Dusty May was asked about his top-seeded Wolverines becoming the latest Big Ten team to eliminate a Southeastern Conference opponent. “You know, college basketball has been cyclical forever,” May said after Michigan's 90-77 win in the Midwest Region semifinals. “Hopefully this is a long cycle for us in the conference.
” For this year, at least, the Big Ten has snatched the March Madness spotlight that was locked on the SEC last year. The Big Ten had a league-record six teams reach the Sweet 16 and now has tied the tournament record with four teams in the Elite Eight, increasing its chances of breaking through for the league's first title in more than a quarter-century. That includes an all-Big Ten matchup in Saturday's South Region title game that will send either No.
3 seed Illinois or No. 9 seed Iowa — which upset reigning national champion Florida in the second round — out of Houston and on to Indianapolis for the Final Four. No other league has more than one team in this weekend's regional finals.
“The talent in our league is very good,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said Friday, ahead of his team's West Region final against top-seeded Arizona. “I think you’re seeing that here in the tournament. Like very good.
I think it’s been about as good as it’s been for a long, long time. ” The results are backing that up. Big Ten schools were highly ranked entering March Madness Only three leagues had put four teams in the regional finals since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985: the Big East in 2009, the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2016 and the SEC last year.
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