2005 Illinois tops all Big Ten men's basketball teams since Michigan State won it all in 2000
Illinois’ Dee Brown celebrates late in the second half of the Illini’s 77-63 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Sweet 16 of the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
Brian Kersey/AP
The better team didn’t just win Monday night in the final game of the college basketball season. The better team sought and destroyed. The better team — UConn — balled up the Boilermakers from Purdue and punted them from the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals all the way back to West Lafayette, Indiana.
The score was 75-60. Purdue’s Zach Edey scored 37 points. It’s not like it was a blowout for the ages. But if the teams played a best-of-seven series, maybe the Boilermakers would get one game. That’s how big the gap between the best two teams in the country was.
“We just came up a little bit short to a great team,” coach Matt Painter said.
For the Big Ten, it means at least one more year hearing about the drought — no national titles since Michigan State’s in 2000. A conference that likes to call itself the best in the land really can’t, at least not with a straight face. But there have been many elite Big Ten teams since 45-year-old Tom Izzo led the Spartans to the mountaintop in Indianapolis. Here, presented just for you, are the top 10.
1. 2004-05 Illinois
Record: 37-2; 15-1 (first place) in the Big Ten regular season.
KenPom rankings: No. 2 overall; 3rd in offensive efficiency and 4th in defensive efficiency.
How it ended: Lost to North Carolina 75-70 in the NCAA final.
Run it back: Led by Dee Brown, Deron Williams and Luther Head, one of the greatest small-ball teams ever started 29-0, topped the nation in assists, was second in three-pointers made, won the conference tournament and pulled off an Elite Eight comeback against Arizona no fan will ever forget. The fun never stopped … until, sadly, it did.
2. 2006-07 Ohio State
Record: 35-4; 15-1 (first).
KenPom rankings: No. 3 overall; 4th offense, 11th defense.
How it ended: Lost to Florida 84-75 in the NCAA final.
Run it back: Rarely has a pair of freshmen touched what Mike Conley and Greg Oden did. Conley’s playmaking was sublime, while Oden threw down lobs and swatted everything that wasn’t nailed down. The Buckeyes blew through the league tournament, entered the Big Dance ranked No. 1 in the land and kept going until Florida’s repeat squad — even better than UConn’s — dropped the hammer.
3. 2023-24 Purdue
Record: 34-5; 17-3 (first).
KenPom rankings: No. 3 overall; 4th offense, 12th defense.
How it ended: Lost to UConn 75-60 in the NCAA final.
Run it back: As we saw on Edey’s 37-point night against UConn, this was a bit too close to being a one-man show for the Boilermakers to be higher on this list. But they faced a monster of a nonconference schedule and handled it exquisitely, and they ended on a magnificent run of 37 straight top-five rankings in the AP Top 25 and with Edey as two-time national player of the year. That’s (black and) gold.
4. 2014-15 Wisconsin
Record: 36-4; 16-2 (first).
KenPom rankings: No. 2 overall; 1st offense, 35th defense.
How it ended: Lost to Duke 68-63 in the NCAA final.
Run it back: This Badgers group, which reached the Final Four the year before, has a case to be higher. Frank Kaminsky was the most effective player in the country, with terrific pieces around him in Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig. They won the league tournament and upset unbeaten Kentucky in the national semis. Fourth? At absolute worst.
5. 2010-11 Ohio State
Record: 34-3; 16-2 (first).
KenPom rankings: No. 1 overall; 1st offense, 12th defense.
How it ended: Lost to Kentucky 62-60 in the Sweet 16.
Run it back: This team had buckets everywhere — Jared Sullinger, William Buford, David Lighty, Jon Diebler — and won the league regular-season and tournament titles. Losing by a basket to Final Four-bound Kentucky, with Buford going 2-for-16, was simply one of those brutal things that happens in March.
6. 2000-01 Michigan State
Record: 28-5; 13-3 (tied with Illinois for first).
KenPom rankings: Not available; archive begins the following season.
How it ended: Lost to Arizona 80-61 in the national semis.
Run it back: Mateen Cleaves was gone from the title squad, but freshman Zach Randolph was in and sophomore Jason Richardson took a giant step forward around Charlie Bell and Andre Hutson. Sparty was ranked in the top five from coast to coast, and the talent was electric.
7. 2011-12 Ohio State
Record: 31-8; 13-5 (tied with Michigan State and Michigan for first).
KenPom rankings: No. 2 overall; 6th offense, 4th defense.
How it ended: Lost to Kansas 64-62 in the national semis.
Run it back: Sullinger, Buford and Deshaun Thomas played hungry at both ends, and the jolt from sophomore Aaron Craft was, though opposing fans hated to admit it, undeniable. To fall to Kansas — after not trailing for over 35 consecutive minutes — was a total crusher.
8. 2012-13 Michigan
Record: 31-8; 13-5 (tied for second with Michigan State, a game behind Indiana).
KenPom rankings: No. 4 overall; 1st offense, 37th defense.
How it ended: Lost to Louisville 82-76 in the national final.
Run it back: Trey Burke dropping buckets and dimes, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Nick Stauskas swishing long balls — it was some kind of beautiful offense. This team could play gorgeous basketball and usually did, right down to the bitter end.
9. 2008-09 Michigan State
Record: 31-7; 15-3 (first).
KenPom rankings: No. 9 overall; 26th offense, 6th defense.
How it ended: Lost to North Carolina 89-72 in the national final.
Run it back: It was far from the most talented Spartans team, but this one won the Big Ten by an utterly dominant margin of four games. Star Kalin Lucas infused the team with toughness. Raymar Morgan and Travis Walton played defense for days. Non-NBA players rarely have done it better.
10. 2012-13 Indiana
Record: 29-7; 14-4 (first).
KenPom rankings: No. 3 overall; 2nd offense, 29th defense.
How it ended: Lost to Syracuse 61-50 in the Sweet 16.
Run it back: With Cody Zeller inside, Victor OIidipo doing gymnastic things and young Yogi Ferrell directing it all, this was the champ of one of the best Big Ten regular seasons ever — four teams ended up ranked in the top 10. It just didn’t end well, but that’s kind of a theme here in Big Ten country, isn’t it?