As part of its 2023–24 men’s basketball preseason coverage, Sports Illustrated is rolling out previews for each of the six high-major conferences. Next up is the Big Ten.
The Big Ten’s miserable March track record continued in 2022–23. The headliner was Purdue’s stunning loss to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson, but just one of the league’s eight teams that went dancing reached the second weekend, and the Big Ten’s championship drought added another year to its tally. The March skepticism is understandable, but the league won’t stop earning bids to the Big Dance unless its strong nonconference work stops. Is this the year a Big Ten squad finally breaks through?