If the debates were still happening, they should stop. The Big Ten is the most dominant athletic conference in the country.
The debate between the Big Ten and the rest of the world of college athletics continues to rage forward, even though the conversation should be done.
After this past weekend, the Big Ten conference became the first conference to have a football, men's basketball, and women's basketball champion in the same calendar year.
Now, the women's champion was the UCLA Bruins, which still doesn't feel like they are a member of the Big Ten. They most certainly are, and they put a beating on the South Carolina Gamecocks last weekend.
On the men's side, Ohio State's arch nemesis, the Michigan Wolverines, ended the Big Ten drought on the men's side. It had been since 2000 since a Big Ten team hoisted the trophy until Monday night.
The Wolverines were the capper on what has been an amazing stretch of results for the conference, dating all the way back to January of 2025, when the Ohio State Buckeyes won the National Championship in football.
It has been so lopsided over the course of the past year and a half. Ohio State's title over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish was the second in what ended up being three consecutive football titles for the conference.
Michigan's win over UConn was equal parts impressive as it was expected. Michigan was the best roster in college basketball, and they proved it completely throughout the year and into the postseason.
Now, going forward, the conference will only keep its foot on the gas pedal. The expectation on the gridiron is to add another trophy to that case over the next year. The teams that believe that they could get it down are probably just the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan.
No one else is going to be threatening for the National Championship unless we see a surprise darkhorse, the likes of which we saw in Indiana over the past two seasons.
On the hardwood, it is hard to tell. The new era in college sports and college basketball specifically, is that the systems are completely and totally broken. In just about 24 hours, over 50 percent of all of the players in Division 1 Basketball are in the transfer portal.
It is impossible to predict who will be the next Big Ten team to win the conference and make a tournament run, but there is no reason to believe that they can't.
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