Will Big Ten men's basketball follow football's lead and end its way-too-long national title drought?

College football season has faded away, but the sweet stench of Big Ten superiority lingers.

Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana have made it three national championships in a row, leaving so little room for denying the Big Ten rules the football roost that even ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, the most googly-eyed SEC cheerleader on the planet, had to admit it’s true.

Keep your chests puffed out, Big Ten fans. Go on, take another minute and enjoy it.

But then ask yourselves: What the heck about men’s basketball?

A Big Ten team still hasn’t cut down the nets at a Final Four since Michigan State in 2000, which, if our math checks out, was more than a quarter-century ago.

There have been some title-caliber Big Ten hoops squads in the intervening years — Illinois in 2005, Ohio State in 2007, Wisconsin in 2015 and Purdue in 2024 come to mind — but they all fell short. After a while — say, a quarter-century — one begins to suspect a league whose coaches, athletic directors and commissioners are constantly crowing about “best in in the country” has been shamelessly overrating itself.

Bruce Weber, who coached Illinois in 2005 and until 2012 before being fired and taking over at Kansas State, recalls being wowed by life in the Big 12.

“I’ll be honest, it was an eye-opener,” he said. “The difference in athletes was obvious.”

But Weber, now a Big Ten Network analyst, has perceived a shift that could lead to a breakthrough.

“I think this is the year the Big Ten has maybe its best chance,” he said.

Is it? Unbeaten Arizona is sitting strong at No. 1, cleaning up all 60 first-place votes in the latest AP Top 25. One-loss UConn, Duke and Gonzaga look as good as usual or even better. The Big 12 — with Arizona, Iowa State, Houston, Texas Tech, BYU — is loaded with Final Four potential. The competition to get to Indianapolis and cut down the nets will be fierce.

But college basketball is buzzing about the Big Ten, where things just look different this season. As in better. As in: Can March hurry up and get here already?

Five Big Ten teams — No. 3 Michigan, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 9 Illinois and No. 12 Purdue — are tantalizing the imagination these days, each in its own way.

The Wolverines have been overwhelming opponents like it’s the Fab Five days. The upstart Cornhuskers — who do they think they are, Indiana football? — were 20-0 entering Tuesday night’s game at Michigan. The Spartans are electric at guard. The Boilermakers have the most efficient offense in the country.

And the Illini? Not only are they the tallest team in the country — look it up, way up — but they’re led in scoring by a freshman guard, Keaton Wagler, who just erupted for 46 points in an extremely impressive win at Purdue.

Yes, this could be the league’s magic March. This could be when the title drought ends.

“We’re going to win one, whether it’s this year or next year,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “It gives people something to talk about because we haven’t, but this is like no other league I’ve ever been in. It’s incredibly tough.”

No Big Ten team would seem to have a better shot at it than Michigan, which had a gangbusters offseason in the transfer portal, bringing in a likely NBA lottery pick in forward Yaxel Lendeborg, a 100-miles-an-hour point guard in Elliott Cadeau and a bruising big man in Illinois transfer Morez Johnson Jr.

But Nebraska is wonderfully coached — yes, by Fred Hoiberg — endlessly getting great three-point looks and rarely turning the ball over. Ask Illinois, which lost at home to the Huskers, how confounding this opponent can be.

And Purdue and Michigan State have point guards Braden Smith and Jeremy Fears Jr., respectively, the top two in the land — by a wide margin — in assists.

And did we mention the Illini were tall? Guards Wagler and Andrej Stojakovic go 6-6 and 6-7. Croatian twins Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic go 7-1 and 7-2. Montenegrin freshman David Mirkovic looks like a 6-9 pro wrestler but plays with hard-to-believe skill. If nothing else, this team might be able to offensive rebound its way to Indy.

“Illinois is just so doggone big,” said Big Ten Network analyst Shon Morris, who manned the post at Northwestern many moons ago.

If Morris had to bet on a Big Ten horse right now, it would be Michigan by a nose over Purdue and Illinois. But the conference has moved up in the world, he said, and for a clear reason.

“It’s crass,” Morris said, “but how much money do you have to spend on a roster?”

The Big Ten has the sweet media-rights deals and the gigantic alumni bases to stockpile NIL coffers. It has all the power and influence any conference could want in this chaotic time in college sports.

“The definition of ‘blue blood’ has changed dramatically because of NIL,” Underwood said.

Football is rolling. Basketball has awakened. Is it March yet?