In the 2025 college football season, the Big Ten had three teams represent the conference in the College Football Playoff. The Indiana Hoosiers won the whole thing in an amazing victoy over the super-talented Miami Hurricanes football team. That marked three consecutive national titles for the Big Ten in football. Now in college basketball, the Big Ten had six teams in the Sweet 16, four in the Elite Eight, and now two teams in the Final Four, Michigan and Illinois.
The dominance the Big Ten has shown in college football and college basketball recently has not been seen by any other conference. Not many conferences can say that they run two sports. Both the Michigan Wolverines and the Illinois Fighting Illini enter the last two stages of March Madness looking like two teams that can walk away with a title.
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Michigan just won by the highest margin in an Elite Eight match since 1989 with a victory by 33 points. Vs an SEC team too, which drives my previous notion home further. Illinois has an experienced basketball team full of professionals, and they have a young rising star in Keaton Wagler, who will be drafted very early in the upcoming NBA draft.
Michigan has to meet up with Arizona on Saturday, the other team that has looked like the best team in the tournament, but Arizona should be fearful as they head into this match. Illinois will take on the UConn Huskies, who have already taken down two Big Ten teams on their way to this match, yet they should also be wary of facing off against a team of Illinois’ caliber. Just like in college football, I think a Big Ten team will take home the NCAA tournament title next Monday night.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: The Big Ten has two teams left standing in 2026 NCAA Final Four
