ROSEMONT, Illinois — Nearly 25 years ago, Tom Izzo led the Michigan State Spartans to the 2000 national championship. But that was the last time the Big Ten enjoyed a run to the top of the sport.
That national title drought has dogged the league for nearly a quarter-century, as the Big East, ACC, Big 12 and SEC have won multiple men's basketball national championships in that span.
Thirteen Big Ten schools have reached the Final Four since Michigan State's run in 2000, but all fell short, including Purdue in last season's national championship loss to UConn.
As a result, the criticism the Big Ten has received is valid, according to Izzo.
“It's only fair because it's been 25 years,” he said during Big Ten men's basketball media day on Thursday. “I used to think, 'Oh man, I'm the last guy in the Big Ten [with a national title] standing.' Last year. I'm calling [Purdue head coach Matt Painter] and I say: 'Matt, Matt, you have to win this [national title] game.' I don't want to be the last Big Ten standing, you know? But I think it's a reality.”
In recent years, the league has come close to ending the drought on multiple occasions. Last year, Purdue lost to a UConn team that won its second straight national title. In 2015, Wisconsin led in the second half before Duke rallied to win Mike Krzyzewski's final national championship. And Michigan State lost to the 2008-09 North Carolina team, which had seven future NBA draft picks, in that year's national championship game.
Izzo said the opposing talent the league has faced when it had opportunities to win another national championship has been the biggest factor in its drought, the longest among the major conferences, not the conference's style of play.
Izzo said perceptions of the league's gritty, physical basketball are outdated and no longer the reality for the conference, which has produced at least three first-round picks in the last three NBA drafts.
“We used to go up [to Minnesota in the 1990s] And everyone laughed when I once put on some soccer pants and a soccer helmet. [in practice]”Izzo said. “I needed a complete blitz when I went up there and I loved it. But that's not the case anymore.”
He added: “I just don't want it to be painted as if the Big Ten [national championship drought] It's because of the style of play,” he said.
The path to the national title could also be a challenge for the league in 2024-25. The Big Ten may not have a team in the top 10 of the Associated Press preseason poll. But UCLA, Indiana and Purdue are teams with playoff potential. And Rutgers star Ace Bailey is expected to compete with Duke's Cooper Flagg for the No. 1 spot in next summer's NBA draft.
Still, Izzo knows anything can happen, even to a great team that appears to have the tools to win a national title, an accomplishment that has eluded this conference for nearly 25 years.
“Sometimes,” Izzo said, “it's bad luck.”
