Sweet 16 winners and losers start with the Big Ten, which dominated, and the Big 12, which didn't (with one exception)

Battered, beaten and hobbled, the Big 12 was unable to walk the walk in the NCAA Tournament.

After commissioner Brett Yormark stated boldly and repeatedly that the Big 12 was the second-best league in the country -- behind only the NBA -- the performance has not matched the hype during March Madness.

Eight teams were invited.

Just three reached the Sweet 16.

Only one remains alive in the Elite Eight.

That team would be Arizona, a tournament favorite and one of the few Big 12 teams with its key pieces intact.

Injuries have played a major role in the conference's shortcomings in the NCAAs:

— BYU wasn't the same without wing Richie Saunders, who was hurt (knee) in February. The Cougars lost in the first round to a lower seed, Texas.

— Texas Tech was a shell of itself without All-American JT Toppin, who was also injured in the regular season (knee). The Red Raiders were run out of the arena in the second round by Alabama.

— And Iowa State desperately missed star Joshua Jefferson, who was injured in the first round (ankle) and unavailable for the Sweet 16 loss to Tennessee.

Add Houston's disappointing exit in the Sweet 16 (to Illinois), and the Big 12 has mustered barely a whimper.

A national championship for Arizona would restore some luster. But the conference has been outplayed decisively in the NCAAs by the Big Ten.

We'll never know how the Big 12 would have fared this month with Saunders, Toppin and Jefferson healthy. But there's no denying that on the sport's biggest stage, it did not perform like a league that took a backseat to only the NBA.

Our look at winners and losers from the Sweet 16 ...

Winner: Big Ten. The conference placed four teams in the Elite Eight, matching the SEC's total from last season, the ACC's contingent in 2016 and the Big East's total in 2009. No conference has ever put five teams in the regional final round. But none of it matters if the Big Ten doesn't secure its first NCAA title since 2000.

Loser: SEC. No conference received more bids to the NCAA Tournament than the SEC (10), but Florida flamed out in the second round and only one team, Tennessee, a No. 6 seed, reaching the Elite Eight. It's the third consecutive regional final for the Vols and coach Rick Barnes.

Winner: Midwest schools that start with 'I': Either Iowa will make its first appearance in the Final Four since 1980, or Illinois will set foot on the big stage for the first time since 2005. The Big Ten rivals collide Saturday in Houston with everything at stake.

Loser: parity. There have been 20 games decided by 20 points or more, a tournament record (previous mark: 19). It's yet another piece of evidence indicating the gap between the power conference teams and everyone else is expanding.

Winner: Ben McCollum. Iowa's first-year coach has the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes on a scintillating run just one year after he led Drake into the second round. Prior to that, he spent 15 years dominating Division II at Northwest Missouri State. Yep, McCollum has some serious Curt Cignetti vibes.

Loser: Houston. There was a problem Thursday evening, a big problem. Despite playing a few miles from campus, the Cougars were abysmal from the field (34%) and suffered a ghastly loss to Illinois. Coach Kelvin Sampson must wait another year for that elusive national title.

Winner: older coaches. The times have changed with NIL and the transfer portal, but several gray hairs have mastered the era. The Sweet 16 included St. John's Rick Pitino, 73, Michigan State's Tom Izzo, 71, Tennessee's Barnes, 71, and Houston's Sampson, 70, plus Arkansas' John Calipari, who's 67.

Loser: Sean Miller. Texas' first-year coach did well to lead the Longhorns from the First Four to the Sweet 16 — and within a basket of the Elite Eight. But Miller now has nine appearances in the regional semifinals, more than any coach in history who has never reached the Final Four, according to the Associated Press.

Winner: Pitino. Despite the five-point loss to Duke in the regional semifinals, Pitino's work with St. John's this season supports the notion that he's the greatest coach in the sport's history. He has taken four schools to the Sweet 16 (Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and the Red Storm).

Loser: Dan Hurley haters. There are many, and they have little to celebrate after the Huskies beat back Michigan State to advance to the Elite Eight. Hurley is 16-1 in the NCAAs over the past four seasons, with two national titles. The only loss came in the second round of the 2025 tournament, by two points to eventual national champion Florida.

Winner: Arizona. The Wildcats looked like the tournament favorite in dismantling Arkansas 109-88 and shooting 63.8% from the field, the highest percentage in the Sweet 16 since 2005, when Arizona shot 66% against Oklahoma State. Only Purdue stands in the way of the program's first trip to the Final Four since 2001.

Loser: John Calipari. Arkansas' 21-point loss to Arizona marked the worst NCAA Tournament defeat of Calipari's sterling career. The performance was even worse than it looked, considering Calipari's technical foul and the Razorbacks' no-show defense.

Winner: TV ratings. Yes, the numbers have been up for the entire tournament, but they could be misleading. Nielsen changed the process used to measure audiences with a greater focus on the out-of-home component (e.g., sports bars). We won't know if viewership has increased until the 2027 ratings are available, and there's an apples-to-apples comparison available.

Loser: my bracket. It's not a complete embarrassment, but I had Houston in the Final Four and both Florida and Iowa State in the Elite Eight. Five correct picks for the regional final round doesn't feel particularly successful when they are all No. 1 and 2 seeds.