A quarter-century of lacking excellence: What will it take for the Big Ten to get over the hump?

It's not just that the Big Ten will go title-less again this season. It's that the league has rarely been a national threat across the past 25 years.

Auburn beat Michigan State on Sunday to lock up the last Final Four berth. This was no upset. The Tigers were the No. 1 overall seed, and the Spartans were trying to become the only No. 2 seed to crash San Antonio next weekend.

MSU’s run was admirable, yes, winning the Big Ten regular-season title in a year that began with the program picked to finish fifth in the conference’s unofficial preseason media poll. This group fell seven points shy of giving Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo his ninth Final Four appearance.

Alas, the 70-year-old Izzo will have to wait one more year for a shot at another national title, as will his conference.

It’s now been 25 years since the Big Ten won a national title in men’s basketball, when Izzo’s squad topped Florida in 2000.

Yet even if his Spartans pulled off the upset this past weekend against Auburn, was anyone going to view them as a serious championship threat in the Lone Star State, especially with Duke, Houston and Florida awaiting? Heck, at tipoff of Sparty’s Elite Eight game, they were listed at +2700 on FanDuel to win it all.

And that was with only four other options to choose from.

That this was as good as it got for the Big Ten this season is more troubling than the league’s quarter-century drought of no national titles.

Look back across these 25 years. Be honest with yourself. How many teams can you say with a straight face were good enough and had a realistic chance to win it all in a given season?