The Big Ten is a very big conference nowadays with 18 teams and no divisions, following chaotic conference realignment nationwide with the additions of Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA.

The Hotline has spent hundreds of hours over the years discussing and assessing the intricacies of conference scheduling, mostly with Pac-12 officials and recently with Big Ten executives.

Since the Big Ten conference tournament event began in 1998, the Gophers have the fourth-worst winning percentage out of long ...