The Big Ten is one of two conferences with at least four teams ranked in both the Associated Press’ and USA Today Coaches’ poll Top 25 rankings. The conference is also tied for the lead with four teams ranked inside the Top 20 of the latest KenPom rankings (Purdue – 2, Michigan State – 6, Ohio State – 16, Michigan – 17).
The Big Ten Conference is one of three that features all of its teams inside the Top 125 of the Massey College Basketball Composite rankings. It also is one of four with one or less of its teams outside of the Top 100 of the latest KenPom rankings.
The third annual “Super Saturday – College Hoops & Hockey” at Madison Square Garden begins with a men’s basketball game between No. 22/22 Ohio State and Minnesota on Saturday, Jan. 20. The game will tip off at 12 p.m. ET on BTN with a men’s ice hockey game between Minnesota and Michigan State to follow at 8 p.m. ET
Big Ten Conference men’s basketball programs played the most non-conference games against teams in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Top 25 polls in the country. Big Ten teams played, collectively, 22 games against non-conference opposition ranked in the polls this season.
The 2018 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament will be held from Feb. 28-March 4 at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the first time in history. All 14 teams will advance to the tournament, with two first-round games slated for Wednesday, Feb. 28. The top four teams will receive first and second round byes and advance to the quarterfinals on Friday, March 2. The Big Ten Tournament will return to Chicago in 2019 and 2021 and Indianapolis in 2020 and 2022.
The 2017-18 Big Ten Men’s Basketball schedule is unlike any other in conference history. Moving the 2018 Tournament up one week, meant 18 conference games would be scheduled in a nine-week window. Historically, the Big Ten has been able to deliver the fewest one-day preps of any other conference. The 2017-18 conference schedule has 34 instances of one-day prep, with 20 occurring after the early-December games. That represents about 8 percent of the schedule in January and February, but the Big Ten had only one instance of single-day prep over the past two conference seasons.
Four Big Ten teams are in the latest Associated Press (AP) and USA Today Coaches' Top 25 polls for the first time since the second week of the season. Purdue tops all teams at No. 3/3 (AP/USA Today), its highest rankings since earning the No. 2 spot in the 1987-88 season. No. 9/9 Michigan State remained in the Top 10 this week while No. 22/22 Ohio State and No. 23/24 Michigan leapt into the Top 25 this week.
Eight Big Ten teams rank in the Top 30 in total blocks this season, including the top two teams in the country. Michigan State leads the nation with 152 blocks this season while Minnesota is second with 133 blocks. Penn State is tied forth fifth at 114 blocks while Nebraska (t-7th, 113), Purdue (t-7th, 113), Rutgers (t-19th, 99), Iowa (t-26th, 93) and Northwestern (t-30th, 92) round out the rankings (through games of Jan. 14).