The Big Ten has 3 Elite 8 teams. A look at conference's March Madness dominance
The Big Ten has 3 Elite 8 teams. A look at conference's March Madness dominance
Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKFri, March 27, 2026 at 10:06 AM UTC
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The Big Ten entered the 2026 Men's NCAA Tournament riding a 26-year drought since the conference last produced a national champion.
Nearly halfway through the event, the league is doing just about everything it can to make sure that skid comes to a long-awaited end.
What was arguably the best conference in the sport during the regular season has continued to show its strength during March Madness. Many of the conference’s best teams, like Michigan, have looked dominant thus far during the Big Dance, while others, like Iowa, have pulled off a handful of upsets to advance deeper than many predicted they would.
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On Thursday night, on the first day of the Sweet 16, that dominance was on display. Illinois stymied Houston 65-55 to earn its second Elite Eight appearance in the past three years under coach Brad Underwood. Purdue got a buzzer-beating tip-in from Trey Kaufman-Renn to edge Texas 79-77. And in an intra-conference matchup, Iowa continued its unexpectedly lengthy run in the tournament with a 77-71 victory over fellow corn enthusiast Nebraska.
Four tickets have been punched to the Elite Eight, with three of those belonging to a single league — and with two of its best teams, Michigan and Michigan State, trying to join them there tomorrow.
Just how good has the Big Ten been in the 2026 NCAA Tournament? Here’s a look:
How many Big Ten teams are in Elite 8?
After the first night of Sweet 16 games on Thursday, March 26, the Big Ten has three teams in the Elite Eight: Purdue, Iowa and Illinois.
The conference could add two more on Friday with No. 1 seed Michigan taking on No. 4 seed Alabama and No. 3 seed Michigan State squaring off against No. 2 seed UConn. The Wolverines, the Big Ten regular-season champions, are a 9.5-point favorite while the Spartans are a 1.5-point underdog.
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What’s the record for most Big Ten teams in Elite 8?
Even if Michigan and Michigan State both lose, the Big Ten’s performance on Thursday already made a bit of history.
Halfway through the Sweet 16, the Big Ten has already tied its record of three teams in the Elite Eight, a mark it had previously reached in 2000, 2005 and 2019.
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Record for most Elite 8 teams from one conference
The record for most Elite Eight teams from one conference is four, a mark that has been reached three times since the NCAA tournament field expanded to 64 in 1985.
That figure was achieved by the Big East in 2009 (UConn, Pitt, Louisville and Villanova), the ACC in 2016 (North Carolina, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Virginia) and the SEC in 2025 (Florida, Auburn, Tennessee and Alabama).
When’s the last time a Big Ten team won March Madness?
Despite the success of its teams this season, the Big Ten hasn’t had a member win the national championship in men’s basketball since Michigan State all the way back in 2000. Maryland, a current Big Ten member, won it all in 2002, but the Terrapins were in the ACC at that time.
Big Ten NCAA tournament record
The nine Big Ten teams that made it into the field for the 2026 NCAA Tournament have combined to go 16-4.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Big Ten has 3 Elite 8 teams in a record-setting 2026 NCAA Tournament
Source: “AOL Sports”
