Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: 5 questions facing the conference for 2018-19

By Lukas Harkins

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 04: The Michigan Wolverines celebrate after defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 75-66 during the championship game of the Big 10 Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 04: The Michigan Wolverines celebrate after defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 75-66 during the championship game of the Big 10 Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, IN – DECEMBER 28: The Indiana Hoosiers huddle. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN – DECEMBER 28: The Indiana Hoosiers huddle. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

How many teams compete for Big Dance bids?

Unlike this past season, the Big Ten projects to be one of the strongest conferences in the nation from top to bottom. As already mentioned, the league might not have a title contender but multiple teams should be able to compete for NCAA Tournament bids. For reference, the Big Ten sent four teams to the Big Dance a year ago, which was the lowest amount since then 2007-08 season when the league only had 11 programs.

With this being said, it seems very possible that the conference could double that number during this upcoming campaign. In my preseason Bracketology from a few months back, eight Big Ten teams received hypothetical bids: Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska, Maryland, Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. This was the second-highest in the nation behind the ACC, which is admittedly a bigger league as well by one team.

In my opinion, the difference between last season and this one for the Big Ten is the overall perception of the conference. The idea that very few teams were worthy of NCAAT consideration was determined fairly early on in the year last season. Because of this, it was difficult for bubble teams to snag quality wins in conference play because almost every loss was disastrous and opportunities for resume-builders were few and far between. Just ask Nebraska.

The perception of the league should be much better this year and the selection committee will take notice of more teams. On the whole, this projects as a strong year for the Big Ten and will be interesting to see just how dominant the league is.

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