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NCAA Basketball: Every conference’s biggest surprise and disappointment for 2018-19

By Joey Loose

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrates the play against the Virginia Cavaliers in the second half during the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrates the play against the Virginia Cavaliers in the second half during the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – MARCH 30: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers celebrates against the Virginia Cavaliers during the second half of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at KFC YUM! Center on March 30, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – MARCH 30: Carsen Edwards #3 of the Purdue Boilermakers celebrates against the Virginia Cavaliers during the second half of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at KFC YUM! Center on March 30, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Big Ten

Biggest Surprise (Purdue)

The Boilermakers were picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten, but Carsen Edwards wasn’t going to let that happen. Purdue shook off a slow start to non-conference play, winning 16 Big Ten games and grabbing a share of the regular season title. Earning a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Matt Painter earned his first trip to the Elite Eight as Carsen Edwards put together an otherworldly pair of weekends, scoring 139 points in the Boilermakers’ four Tourney games.

Not only did they knock out the defending champions in Villanova, but they came extremely close to a Final Four trip, losing as the result of a miraculous last-second play by Virginia to force overtime in the Elite Eight. Time will tell if the Boilermakers can build on this sustained success, but they were absolutely the team that emerged from a cluster of decent Big Ten programs this season. Edwards may be leaving for the Draft, but Matt Haarms and the rest of this team will live on to surprise people again.

Biggest Disappointment (Indiana)

This was just the second year for Archie Miller in Bloomington, but there were much bigger things expected for his Hoosiers this season. They brought in elite prospect Romeo Langford and the team was picked to finish third in the Big Ten. What ended up happening was a long series of poor efforts as losses piled up for the Hoosiers.

A 12-2 start in Indiana turned sour quickly as Big Ten play got underway, with the Hoosiers soon facing a 13-14 record. They did win their last four regular season game (including a sweep of Michigan State), but this was clearly a very underwhelming season in Bloomington. Langford is gone and fans expected much more than an NIT quarterfinals run for this program. There was patience when Tom Crean inherited Kelvin Sampson’s mess, but Miller needs to actually win games when he lands these recruits.

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