The one thing that is great in the Big Ten is that the nicknames are pretty unique and associated nationally, only, with that Big Ten school.. If you are a Gopher, you are from Minnesota.. A Hoosier is only from Indiana.. A Buckeye is only from Ohio State.. Etc, etc.
The only generic nickname in the conference is WILDCATS for Northwestern... But what a special nickname that is nationally for basketball. From 1985 to 1997, 3 teams with nicknames of WILDCATS won the national championship in basketball(Villanova, Kentucky, and Arizona)... There is one team in almost all top conferences that has the nickname of WILDCATS.
Big East - Villanova, Big Ten - Northwestern, Big 12- Kansas State, PAC 12 - Arizona, SEC - Kentucky..
IN NCAA FOOTBALL, the teams in the South love the nickname, TIGERS... The SEC has 3 teams with the nickname, TIGERS and all have different school colors(Missouri, Auburn, and LSU).. 3 Southern schools with nickname of Tigers have won national championships in football in my lifetime, (Auburn, LSU, and Clemson).
Maybe the key for Minnesota is to change the name of their basketball team to the WILDCATS and football to the TIGERS so national championships will be on the way in no time...Just kidding.