3 Big Ten teams made the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16

For a conference in a down year, the Big Ten is having a pretty good NCAA Tournament.

Purdue, Michigan and Wisconsin are all among the 16 teams still alive. The No. 8 seed Badgers knocked out defending champion and top overall seed Villanova on Saturday afternoon. No. 4 seed Purdue held off Iowa State later that night, while No. 7 seed Michigan upset Louisville on Sunday.

The three teams left are tied for the most of any conference. The Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC all have three teams remaining, as well. The Big East has two squads left, and the ACC and WCC are represented by No. 1 seeds UNC and Gonzaga, respectively (the ACC had nine teams in the tournament, but eight are already gone).

Neither this fact nor Xavier’s waxing of Florida State makes Maryland’s first-round exit any less disheartening, but some of the Terps’ accomplishments this season are looking a little better in retrospect.

In other news

Maryland women’s basketball throttled West Virginia on Sunday. The No. 3 seed Terps are back in the Sweet 16 after failing to make it out of College Park last season.

Destiny Slocum hit a completely absurd shot to end the first half and her teammates were amazed.

Here’s Dan Steinberg on why you should be paying attention to all of this.

Maryland men’s lacrosse suffered a stunning upset Saturday against Villanova, but the women’s team dusted Johns Hopkins one day later.

Terps baseball swept Princeton thanks to shutouts on Friday and Sunday and a six-run offensive outing Saturday.

Illinois hired Oklahoma State’s Brad Underwood as its new head coach.

And of course, Duke lost.