Big Ten basketball: 2018 Conference Tournament preview

Teams who struggled

Minnesota is next when it comes to a team having a disappointing season. The issue that gets brought up the most about the Golden Gophers is that two of their starting five haven’t played since January. That’s a great place to start. When Reggie Lynch got suspended, Minnesota only had three losses. They lost the next two games and then Amir Coffey went down and hasn’t returned. Minnesota has gone 2-10 since.

Illinois, Iowa and Rutgers join Minnesota in the bottom four. Those four teams will be playing in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. No surprise to see the Scarlett Knights near the bottom. Iowa hasn’t done this bad in league play since Fran McCaffery’s first season in 2010-11. Illinois knew they were going to have a tough season with a young team, but finishing with no more than five wins wasn’t in the plan.

A big surprise comes from Madison. Wisconsin will finish with an under .500 record in the Big Ten for the first time since 1998. That also happens to be the last time the Badgers didn’t make the Tournament.

Maryland certainly disappointed. They’re not going to be talked about as much as Minnesota and Northwestern because they weren’t ranked. After  not finishing over .500 in league play though isn’t a good look for the Terps. Their star player Justin Jackson only played 11 games and the struggle to replace him was their biggest issue all season.

Indiana has been very average this season. That’s exactly how Archie Miller is ending his first season in Bloomington. They showed signs of how good they really can be. A lot of it has to do with the great coaching by Miller, but they were never able to win an important Big Ten game.