Feb. 28, 2005

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Illinois Clinches Outright Big Ten Title: With Indiana posting a 78-74 overtime victory over Michigan State on Sunday, Illinois (14-0) won its second consecutive outright Big Ten crown for the first time since 1951-52 and its fourth title in five seasons. Illinois head coach Bruce Weber is also the first coach in Big Ten history to win back-to-back outright championships in his first two years.

The Battle for Byes: Illinois and Michigan State have both clinched a first-round bye in the 2005 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, while Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio State are vying for the final three spots. Five League teams will get the first day off at the United Center, as the top five seeds open play on Friday while the bottom six seeds start on Thursday. The Badgers and the Hoosiers, who are both tied for third place in the League standings with matching 9-5 records, will face each other on Tuesday.  Minnesota (9-6) follows in fifth place, while Ohio State (7-7) rounds out the top six contingent. While a first-round pass is important, teams have proven that it is not essential over the last four years as both Ohio State (2003) and Iowa (2001 and 2002) advanced to the finals despite beginning play on Thursday, with the Hawkeyes winning the tourney as a No. 6 seed in 2001.

Big Ten Hits Attendance Milestone: The Big Ten reached two attendance landmarks last weekend as the Conference broke the two-million mark in all games for the 13th straight season, while also reaching the one-million plateau for League games only for the 29th consecutive season. So far in 2005, 2,003,665 patrons have passed through the turnstiles for 164 games for an average attendance of 12,217. In League contests, 1,026,332 fans have flocked to Conference arenas for 78 games.  In 2003-04, the Conference led the nation in total attendance for the 28th-straight season with 2,122,586 total patrons (including the Big Ten Tournament).

Illinois' Best Start: With a 28-0 mark, Illinois is just four victories away from tying the best start in Big Ten history. The Fighting Illini currently have the third-best mark in Conference annuals as Indiana holds the record after posting a 32-0 mark during the 1975-76 season.  The Hoosiers are the last squad in the nation to go undefeated in a season.

More on Illinois' Record-Setting Season: With a 14-0 Conference mark, Illinois has now posted the most wins ever to start a Conference season in school history. It also marks the best start by a Big Ten squad in League play since Indiana finished the 1976 season with an 18-0 mark. The Illini have set a school record, posting 24 consecutive victories in Big Ten play, breaking the previous mark of 17 games set during the 1914-1915 season. It is the longest streak in Conference play since Indiana won 37 consecutive League games from December 27, 1975 to January 7, 1978 and is ranked as the third longest streak in Big Ten history. The Illini have also set the school record for consecutive victories in all games with 28 straight victories, breaking the previous mark of 25 set over parts of three seasons from 1914 through 1916.

Wright Takes Big Ten Scoring Lead: Indiana's Bracey Wright (19.2 ppg) became the Big Ten's leading scorer with just one week left in the regular season after tallying 32 points in a crucial overtime victory over Michigan State on Sunday. Purdue's Carl Landry, who had topped the Big Ten in point production for the last month, fell behind Wright in second place with an 18.1 scoring average. Landry played only seven minutes against Minnesota on Saturday after injuring his right knee early in the first half. Wright is aiming to become the first Hoosier to lead the Big Ten in scoring since A.J. Guyton, who finished with 19.7 points per game during the 2000 Conference slate.

Three in a Row: Illinois' Deron Williams is looking to become only the second player in League history to lead the Big Ten in assists for three consecutive seasons. He currently ranks first in Big Ten play with 7.0 assists per game. Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves was the first player in the Conference to rank first in assists for three straight seasons from 1998-2000. He finished his senior season as the Big Ten's all-time assists leader with 816 career dishes. Williams is only the third Illinois standout to lead the Conference in assists as Tony Wysinger ranked first in 1987 with 6.1 assists per game, while Bruce Douglas led the Big Ten during three different seasons (1983, 1984 and 1986).

Other Conference Leaders: In other Conference game only categories, Iowa's Greg Brunner is ranked first in rebounding, while Minnesota's Vincent Grier and Indiana's D.J. White look to lead the League in steals and blocked shots, respectively. Brunner is averaging 9.0 caroms per outing as he seeks to become the first Iowa player to top the Conference since former teammate Reggie Evans led the League in consecutive seasons (2001-02). Minnesota's Grier is leading the Big Ten with 2.07 steals per outing while White tops the Conference with 2.29 blocked shots per contest. The last Golden Gopher to finish first in picks was Travarus Bennett in 2002 while White would become the third Hoosier in the last four seasons to lead the pack in rejections, joining Jared Jeffries (2002) and George Leach (2003). He would also be the first freshman to finish at the top of the Conference in blocks since Penn State's Calvin Booth in 1996.

The 1,000 Point Milestone: Ohio State's Terence Dials became the latest Big Ten standout to reach 1,000 career points with a 20-point effort against Wisconsin on Sunday. Dials (1,010) is now the 13th active member of the 1,000 point club, joining Illinois' Luther Head (1,232), Dee Brown (1,210) and Roger Powell (1,058), Michigan's Daniel Horton (1,033), Michigan State's Alan Anderson (1,077) and Kelvin Torbert (1,059) and Wisconsin's Sharif Chambliss (1,052). Four Conference players entered the 2004-05 campaign with more than 1,000 career points in Indiana's Bracey Wright (1,440), Michigan State's Chris Hill (1,493), Ohio State's Tony Stockman (1,455) and Wisconsin's Mike Wilkinson (1,403). Just 13 points shy, Northwestern's Vedran Vukusic will be vying for his 1,000th career point when the Wildcats take on Michigan State on Wednesday.