Paul Sullivan: After Big Ten's big weekend, can the conference send multiple teams to the Final Four?

CHICAGO — The first weekend of March Madness had a little bit of everything, including a Big Ten rager for the ages. There were buzzer beaters, bracket busters and more annoying commercials than ever, most of which featured Charles Barkley. All in all, it was four days that lived up to the hype with made-for-March moments that transcend sports. "March is for the dreamers," Iowa's Alvaro Folgueiras said after his 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left toppled defending champion Florida. "And there are no better dreamers than us." The big news was six of the nine Big Ten teams made it to the Sweet 16, including the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes, who finished ninth in the conference at 10-10. The Big Ten walked the walk, which bodes well for the possibility of the conference's first men's basketball national championship since Michigan State in 2000. There's even an outside chance of having an all-Big Ten Final Four. At least one team remains in all four regions, including three in the South. Aside from Nebraska, the other five are all legacy programs from the days when the Big Ten actually consisted of 10 schools. Imagine that. "I think it speaks volumes about our conference when you look at it in general for the winter, for this whole year," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Monday, pointing to the Big Ten's success in men's and women's basketball as well as four conference schools among the 16 qualifiers for the NCAA men's hockey tournament. "I'd say the Big Ten is flexing its muscles in that respect, and I'm a Big Ten fan for all the teams that are playing right now." Big Ten basketball coaches traditionally have been the conference's biggest boosters, though it hasn't really meant much by the end of the NCAA Tournament. But the six remaining men's teams this year have shown resilience and confidence, with many having overcome a history of March Madness failures to get to this point. Top-seeded Michigan, which lost to Auburn in last year's Sweet 16, endured a rough Big Ten Tournament at the United Center, where the Wolverines barely made it to the title game before losing to Purdue. Now they're back at the UC for the Midwest regional, and with so many UM grads in the Chicago area plus the proximity to Ann Arbor, they figure to make themselves at home this weekend. "We've earned the right to go to Chicago and hopefully pack that thing with Michigan fans and see where it goes," coach Dusty May said after the Wolverines beat ninth-seeded Saint Louis. "We're just a better team (than last year). We're better coaches. We're better players. That's just part of the growth process." Michigan faces No. 4 seed Alabama, which also returns to the UC after beating Illinois there 90-86 back on Nov. 20. The Crimson Tide are without star guard Aden Holloway, who was suspended after an arrest last week on a felony marijuana possession charge, but still have one of the nation's top players in sophomore point guard Labaron Philon Jr., who scored nine straight points in a 98-second span to pull the Tide past the Illini. Alabama coach Nate Oats came away from that game impressed by the Illini's toughness. "They've gone to the Balkan region and gotten some pretty good, tough players," Oats said afterward. "They've kind of found a niche, bringing those Balkan players over, and it's worked for them. This could be one of the best teams in the country this year." Illinois blew a chance at a No. 2 seed with its loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament but rebounded with back-to-back impressive performances against 14th-seeded Penn and 11th-seeded VCU, getting "Illi-nasty" again. The Illini will be decided underdogs against second-seeded Houston, playing in its hometown. The Cougars lost to Florida in last year's title game, and four of their six losses this season were to Sweet 16 teams: Arizona (twice), Iowa State and Tennessee. The teams last met in the tournament in 2022, when Houston ended the Illini's season with a 68-53 second-round win in Pittsburgh. That game was close when freshman RJ Melendez sprinted downcourt for an uncontested slam to pull the Illini within four points with 8:40 remaining. But Melendez was called for a technical for briefly hanging on the rim, and the momentum quickly shifted. Coach Brad Underwood said afterward the official admitted it was a mistake, too late to matter. "But in the moment he calls it," Underwood said. "Maybe it's personal. I don't know. But for that play to be called like that when the kid has a full head of steam going 100 miles an hour, and we all talk about safety and well-being of student-athletes? C'mon. And to kill momentum like that? Horrible." Houston coach Kelvin Sampson was dismissive of the Illini afterward: "Illinois, what you see is what you get. There is really nothing tricky about them. They throw the ball to Kofi (Cockburn)." Those Illini players are all gone, but Underwood surely remembers the slight from a coach renowned for ignoring NCAA rules. Purdue has more big-game experience than the other Big Ten hopefuls, with guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer and forward Trey Kaufman-Renn all having started in the loss to UConn in the 2024 championship game in Glendale, Ariz. In this age of portal transfers and chasing NIL money, the Boilermakers trio could have its own "last dance" with a second Final Four appearance. But Purdue might have to get past top-seeded Arizona in the West, assuming it survives its Sweet 16 game against 11th-seeded Texas, a play-in team. And if you're a Purdue fan, you never assume anything come March, thanks to Fairleigh Dickinson. Michigan State probably has the toughest road of the six Big Ten teams, facing second-seeded UConn and star Alex Karaban in the East. If that works out, the Spartans get the winner of the Duke-St. John's game to get back to the Final Four. Is Izzo worried? Does the pope like Aurelio's? "Worrying keeps you on your toes," Izzo told Chicago Tribune reporter Andrew Bagnato during the Spartans' 2000 title run. "It keeps you from being complacent. It can make you work harder. If I go into practice worrying about things, that's going to rub off on the players, and that's not good. But if I worry about things before practice and can resolve some of those things in my mind, maybe that can be a positive for our team." The two Big Ten teams playing with house money are fourth-seeded Nebraska and Iowa, who meet in Houston to take on the Illinois-Houston winner. Coach Fred Hoiberg's Cornhuskers posted the first two NCAA Tournament victories in program history, including Saturday's win over Vanderbilt in perhaps the weekend's most epic game. The Hawkeyes lost six of their last eight regular-season games and fell to Ohio State in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament, then survived a poor 3-point shooting night (7 of 25) in their first-round win over Clemson. But the operative word is "survive." "That's kind of been us all year," guard Bennett Stirtz said. "We know we're not the most athletic team or talented team out there. But I think we're the most together team, so there's that. And, yeah, we love fighting together." No mid-majors made the Sweet 16, but Iowa is basically a mid-major team that moved 115 miles east from Des Moines to Iowa City when Drake coach Ben McCollum took over a year ago and brought six of his Bulldogs players with him, including stars Stirtz and Tavion Banks. McCollum spent 15 seasons at NCAA Division II power Northwest Missouri State, where he won four national championships, and then went 31-4 in his one season at Drake. After upsetting the defending champion Gators, McCollum was asked if the winning culture was in place when he brought his players to Iowa. "No, I don't really think about it like that because I don't know that winning necessarily dictates what kind of culture you have, per se," he replied. "I think over time you create a culture. Culture to me is just the people involved and it's unwritten rules that everybody follows. You don't just create it. You have to get the right people to be in the system." So the dreamers are all on board, and it figures to be another wild weekend for the Big Ten. They don't call it the "Super 16" because super doesn't fit. "The Sweet 16 is what it says — sweet," Izzo said Saturday after beating Louisville. "It's really sweet." ____ ©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. 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