The Unpredictable Path of Big Ten Hoops: A Five-Year Retrospective

Diving Into the Data To Illustrate Seasonal Shifts & Insights Gained

Big Ten Basketball Season-By-Season Winning %

*Big Ten Conference Games Only*

Insights:

• Most improved team

  • Nebraska

• Most declined team

  • Michigan

• Consistently on top

  • Illinois (highest average winning percentage over the 5 years, at 69%)

• Consistently worst performance

  • Nebraska (lowest average winning percentage over the 5 years, at 29.06%)

• Consistently top performing

  • Illinois (never dipped below a 55% winning percentage)

• Consistently low performing

  • Minnesota (never exceeded a 50% winning percentage)

• Most volatile team

  • Michigan

• Most steady team:

  • Indiana

• Biggest single season improvement

  • Minnesota showed the most significant improvement in a single season, with a 39.5 percentage point increase from 2023 to 2024.

• Biggest single season decline

  • Michigan experienced the most substantial decline in a single season, with a 36.8 percentage point decrease from 2023 to 2024.

• Most similar teams

  • The teams whose performance most closely mirrors each other over the observed period are Maryland and Penn State. The sum of their absolute differences in winning percentages across the five years is only 0.282, which is the smallest among all team pairs.