March Madness: As top seeds fall, the Big Ten is having a historically bad men's NCAA Tournament

Following yet another crushing defeat for a top seed Monday – No. 2 Iowa's 95-80 loss to No. 7 Oregon – the narrative of underachievement continues for the Big Ten Conference. 

The Big Ten finished the first weekend of March Madness 7-8 overall. Its 1-5 stance in the second round (0-3 Sunday and 1-2 Monday) could be considered one of the worst in history since the men's NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985. 

The Big Ten was considered by far to be the best league in the country this season, leading the NET conference rankings by a landslide over the SEC and Big 12. The conference sent an NCAA-best nine teams to the Big Dance, with two No. 1 seeds and two No. 2 seeds. But of those nine, only one of them – Michigan – is still dancing. The Wolverines rallied past LSU to reach the Sweet 16.

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On Sunday, No. 1 seed Illinois lost to No. 8 Loyola Chicago, No. 10 Rutgers blew a lead to fall vs. No. 2 Houston and No. 9 Wisconsin came up short against top-seeded Baylor. That's coming on the heels of the Big Ten being on the wrong side of the two biggest upsets of the first round (Oral Roberts over No. 2 Ohio State and North Texas over No. 4 Purdue). 

The fact that just one Big Ten team reached the second weekend is just a staggering notion considering the hype the league received on Selection Sunday. 

What happened? March Madness happened. How tough a league is all year matters little when the matchups are drawn out in a single-elimination tourney. The Pac-12 finished sixth in NET conference rankings and sent five teams dancing. The league is 10-1 this tournament with No. 12 seeded Oregon State in the Sweet 16, joining Oregon, Southern California and UCLA

Follow college basketball reporter Scott Gleeson on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.