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47 Days to B1G Basketball: NCAA Tournament History

Today we continue our daily countdown towards the tipoff of the Big Ten basketball season.

Jeff Gross

We took a look earlier in the countdown at some conference numbers so I figured we'd now take a look at some NCAA Tournament stats. It should be noted, though, that the changes of the Tournament format means the round names have changed over the years but everything should still fit in the table.

School NCAA Bids Last NCAA Bid Last Round of 32 Last Sweet 16 Last Elite 8 (Quarter) Last Final Four (Semi) Last Title Game Last NCAA Title
Illinois 30 2013 2013 2005 2005 2005 2005 n/a
Indiana 37 2013 2013 2013 2002 2002 2002 1987
Iowa 23 2014 2001 1999 1987 1980 1956 n/a
Maryland 24 2010 2010 2003 2002 2002 2002 2002
Michigan 25 2014 2014 2014 2014 2013 2013 1989
Michigan State 28 2014 2014 2014 2014 2010 2009 2000
Minnesota 12 2013 2013 1997 1997 1997 n/a n/a
Nebraska 7 2014 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Northwestern None n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Ohio State 30 2014 2013 2013 2013 2012 2007 1960
Penn State 9 2011 2001 2001 1954 1954 n/a n/a
Purdue 26 2012 2012 2010 2000 1980 1969 n/a
Rutgers 6 1991 1983 1979 1976 1976 n/a n/a
Wisconsin 20 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 1941 1941

If you glance over the numbers you can see that the Big Ten has produced quite a bit of teams that routinely make the NCAA Tournament. The conference also features six different teams that have won the NCAA Tournament (plus a few more titles that occured prior to the NCAA Tournament format that aren't included here).

Of course there some relatively vanilla teams still in the league, like a tournament-less Northwestern squad or a Nebraska team that has never won a game in the tournament. Schools like Penn State and Rutgers have also struggled to make into the field but both have at least made it to the Final Four. Minnesota isn't too far away from Penn State but their recent success has helped them start to pull away from the Nittany Lions.

Also, the addition of Maryland to the conference means the Big Ten has another former national champion as the Terps dismantled Indiana in the title game back in 2002, which also happens to be the last time the Hoosiers have made it past the Sweet 16.