Sports
Is This Finally the Year the Big Ten Ends Its College Basketball Title Drought?
It’s been more than a quarter-century since it happened. President George W. Bush was not yet in office the last time a Big Ten Conference team won the men’s basketball national title.
So is it actually a fool’s errand to bet on the conference to quash that drought this spring? Or maybe… they’re just due?
Famously, the Big Ten’s last champion in men’s hoops was the 1999–2000 Michigan State Spartans, with Mateen Cleaves at the controls and Tom Izzo the ripe old age of 45. The Big Ten has had moments since then where it’s looked like the best league in the sport, but it’s failed to deliver another champ partly due to the unpredictability of the NCAA Tournament.
If there were ever a year to bet on that drought going by the wayside, it’s this one.
The Big Ten has five legitimate national title contenders in Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Illinois and Purdue. It may not be the best conference altogether — Penn State, Northwestern, Maryland and Oregon really drag down the bottom — but there’s no debating which league is strongest at the top.
To wit: The quintet mentioned above are ranked Nos. 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12 in this week’s AP poll. The highest-ranked SEC team, Arkansas, is No. 15. In KenPom’s net efficiency ratings, Big Ten teams check in at Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 before you hit your first SEC team.
Other than Purdue, which has stumbled into a three-game losing streak, the other four Big Ten teams we’re discussing have a 9–1 or 8–1 league record — a true tussle at the top. The SEC contenders, none of whom besides Vanderbilt (!) looked especially great during nonconference play, have taken one another down a peg lately. At 6–1 in the league, the SEC leader — any guesses? — is Texas A&M, NET ranking 40.
It’s a refreshing change of pace after the SEC put 14 of its 16 teams in the 2025 tournament field. I remember writing last year that the SEC warranted at least 12, controversial at the time if you don’t live in the South (and I don’t — for example, I know how to handle a snowstorm). But four of their schools made the Elite Eight and Florida won the title, so the SEC hype was partially warranted.
No longer. When Texas A&M and Vandy and John Calipari’s Razorbacks are your best hopes, you’ve lost your throne. I’d listen to arguments that the Big 12 is up there with the Big Ten, with its crew of Arizona, Houston, Iowa State and Texas Tech, and I’d rather bet on the ACC to produce the national champ than the SEC just for Duke alone.
But my mind returns to the Big Ten.
We got to see one of the best games of the year Tuesday when Michigan trailed most of the way before pulling out the last six points to finish a 75–72 comeback and hand a short-handed Nebraska its first loss. Both teams deserved to win that game; they both shot a touch lower than 50% and each excelled in their own areas of strength. To overuse a cliché, it was a heavyweight fight.
Guess what? It’s a full card of heavyweight fights in the next week and a half.
- Friday: No. 3 Michigan at No. 7 Michigan State
- Sunday: No. 9 Illinois at No. 5 Nebraska
- Saturday, Feb. 7: No. 9 Illinois at No. 7 Michigan State
Each team has its own identity, from the Cornhuskers’ collection of underrecruited, less athletic dudes — six of whom are from Nebraska, as well as guys from the Netherlands and Turkey — to Michigan’s high-powered machine led by a coach who took FAU to a Final Four, to Illinois’ merry band of Balkan brothers.
If you’re into this stuff, it’s a thrill to watch. And I’m confident that one of them will be cutting down the nets in April.
Sports
No. 23 Miami (Ohio) puts unblemished streak on line against UMass
Feb 13, 2026; Miami, Ohio, USA; Miami (OH) RedHawks forward Eian Elmer (0) drives to the basket against the Ohio Bobcats in the first half at Millett Hall. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images No. 23 Miami (Ohio) will try to move a step closer to an unbeaten regular season when it faces Massachusetts in a Mid-American Conference matchup Tuesday night in Amherst, Mass.
The RedHawks (25-0, 12-0 MAC) are the only undefeated team in Division I, and their 25-game winning streak is the longest to start a season since Gonzaga went 31-0 in 2020-21 before losing in the national championship game.
“I knew this could be done,” Miami coach Travis Steele said. “When you get like-minded people (in the school administration) pulling in the same direction, these types of things can happen.
“We got a great group and they’re doing extraordinary things. We want to have fun. When you have fun and you do it for others, you don’t feel pressure.”
UMass (15-11, 6-7) is coming off a 99-92 road setback to Akron on Saturday, and enters Tuesday’s contest on a two-game losing streak.
The Minutemen rank fifth among MAC teams in both scoring (81.0) and 3-point shooting percentage (35.5%), but they haven’t been as good at the other end of the court. UMass is allowing 76.7 points per game, which is eighth in the conference. Akron went to the free-throw line 43 times on Saturday, and the Zips made 38 of those attempts.
“We can’t guard,” UMass coach Frank Martin said following the game. “It’s not like (the Zips) ran some complicated offense. They ball-screen their point guard, our point guard gets sideways, gets behind the ball … we (have) no rim coverage. (Guys) get out of the way and reach. It’s unfortunate.”
UMass has two of the MAC’s top eight scorers in Leonardo Bettiol (sixth, 17.6 points per game) and Marcus Banks (eighth, 16.9).
Miami leads the MAC in scoring (92.6), field-goal percentage (53.6%) and 3-point field-goal percentage (40.1%). Brant Byers (15.0) and Peter Suder (14.5) are the team’s leading scorers.
The RedHawks have shot 50.0% or better from the field in 19 of their 25 games.
“We’ve just been trying to focus on winning each day, and with that comes winning each game,” Byers said.
Tuesday’s game will be the second time the RedHawks and Minutemen have met this season. Junior guard Eian Elmer tossed in a career-high 30 points to help Miami pull out an 86-84 home victory on Jan. 27. Elmer was 9 of 14 from the field, including 6-for-11 on 3-point attempts.
Bettiol had 22 points and 16 rebounds in the loss. Banks finished with 18. The Minutemen had a 65-60 lead midway through the second half.
“We’ve won a lot of different ways,” Steele said. “I do think that will serve us well in March because we’ve been in every situation. We have a very mature group that stays focused and emphasizes the process.
“There’s still room for improvement, but I think our defense is trending in the right direction, which I’ve been really, really focused on. Gotta continue to take care of the ball at the offensive end.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 24 Louisville, high-scoring Mikel Brown Jr. visit SMU
Louisville Cardinals guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) scored 45 points with 10-for-16 3-point shooting as the Cards roll past NC State 118-77 at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville February 9, 2026. Brown Jr. tied Louisville legend Wes Unseld’s game record. No. 24 Louisville will stay in the Lone Star State as the Cardinals return to Atlantic Coast Conference action Tuesday to face SMU in Dallas.
As the team looks to extend its winning streak to six games, attention will be on Mikel Brown Jr. to see if the freshman can continue his hot streak for the Cardinals (19-6, 8-4 ACC).
The 6-foot-5 point guard scored 29 points in Louisville’s 82-71 victory over Baylor on Saturday in Fort Worth. That was after he tied Wes Unseld’s school record and broke the ACC freshman mark with 45 points in a 118-77 whipping of visiting North Carolina State on Feb. 9.
Before his historic performance against over the Wolfpack, Brown averaged 15.4 points per game and had missed eight games with a lower back injury. After the past week, he’s now averaging 17.9 per game, good for eighth overall in the ACC.
Brown also had nine rebounds against NC State and five steals against Baylor, both season highs.
“He’s been affecting the game in so many ways outside of scoring,” Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said. “We all know in our program, from head to toe … he’s been the quarterback on the floor.”
The Mustangs (17-8, 6-6) are coming off a tough 79-78 loss at Syracuse on Saturday. SMU led for most of the contest and held a 12-point advantage with 12 minutes remaining, only to see the Orange win it on a Nate Kingz layup with 2 seconds.
“It’s a hard loss for us because we did a lot of things well,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said. “A lot of second-chance points and more transition points.”
Freshman Jaden Toombs led SMU with 19 points off the bench. The 6-foot-10 center had his second-best scoring game of the season, making 7 of 11 from the floor.
Boopie Miller, the ACC’s sixth-best scorer at 18.9 ppg, tied a season low with 11 points in the loss Saturday, but he added seven assists to just one turnover and grabbed six rebounds.
Tuesday’s game will feature the conference’s top two offenses. The Cardinals lead the ACC, averaging 86.9 per game, with SMU at 86.2. The two schools also feature multiple prolific scorers, with four among the conference’s top 10.
Louisville’s Ryan Conwell falls between Miller and Brown in seventh with an 18.7 average. However, aside from the 31 points that the senior guard put up against NC State, Conwell has struggled of late, especially from beyond the 3-point arc. In his last five games, Conwell has hit just 10 of 35 (28.6%) on 3-point attempts. Even with that slump, he still leads the conference, averaging 3.4 treys per game, and his 36% shooting clip from deep is seventh best in the ACC.
The Mustangs’ Jaron Pierre Jr. ranks ninth in the ACC with a 17.4 scoring average. Before being limited to 12 against Syracuse, the senior guard had three consecutive 20-point games. He also made 44% of his 3-pointers (11 for 25) over his last four games.
Tuesday’s game may have an impact on seeding in next month’s ACC tournament.
Louisville, which beat SMU at home 88-74 on Jan. 31, is one of three teams with four conference losses, and the Cardinals are one game back of fourth-place Miami for the last double bye.
SMU sits eighth, but the Mustangs have three 6-7 teams right behind them. The eighth- and ninth-place teams earn the final two single byes in the tournament, scheduled to start March 10.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ilia Malinin: Olympic pressure led to 'inevitable crash'
Feb 13, 2026; Milan, Italy; Ilia Malinin of the United States of America reacts after competing in the men’s singles free program during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images MILAN — Ilia Malinin on Monday said his pressure-packed Olympic debut resulted in an “inevitable crash” and suggested he would release more details about his experience on Saturday, when he will reportedly participate in a skating exhibition in Milan.
The 21-year-old American figure skater came into the Milano Cortina Games surrounded by huge hype as the heavy favorite to win gold in the men’s event.
That dream unraveled in spectacular fashion when he fell twice and struggled with his other jumps to finish a shocking eighth in one of the greatest upsets in Olympic figure skating history.
The two-time world champion posted a video on social media on Monday showing his happiest moments in competition set to gentle piano music interspersed with jarring cuts to a black-and-white shot of him with his head in his hands.
Malinin revealed he had been subjected to abuse online, writing: “On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside.
“Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise. Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure,” he wrote.
“It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash. This is that version of the story.
“Coming February 21, 2026.”
USA Today on Monday reported that Malinin would take part in Saturday’s gala.
For two years, the American “Quad God” had seemed unstoppable, owning a two-plus-year unbeaten streak and seemingly stepping on to the ice as one of the biggest certainties for Olympic gold the sport had seen in decades, but it was not to be.
Despite his disastrous performance in Friday’s free skate, he played a key role in the U.S. winning team gold earlier in the Milano Cortina Games, and his dominance has drawn new fans to the sport.
Malinin was in the stands of the Milano Ice Skating Arena on Sunday for the first day of the Olympic figure skating pairs competition, taking in the action alongside Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo and Canadian ice dancer Piper Gilles.
He will defend his title at next month’s world championships in Prague, according to the NBC broadcast.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
No. 23 Miami (Ohio) puts unblemished streak on line against UMass
No. 24 Louisville, high-scoring Mikel Brown Jr. visit SMU
