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Nov. 10, 2004

Big Ten Opens 2004-05 Season: Penn State will tip off the 2004-05 campaign for the Big Ten on Sunday, as the Nittany Lions will face Illinois State in the opening round of the BCA Classic in Milwaukee, Wis. Defending NIT champion Michigan will look for another trip to Madison Square Garden when the Wolverines begin Preseason NIT action against Binghamton on Monday. Michigan won the 2004 NIT crown with a 62-55 victory over Rutgers in the championship final at Madison Square Garden last April. The Wolverines must win against Binghamton and a second-round matchup versus either Colorado or College of Charleston on November 17 at Crisler Arena to advance to the NIT semifinals in New York City on November 24. Only one Big Ten program has claimed the Preseason NIT crown, as Indiana collected the title in 1992 and 1996. Ohio State will enter a new era on Monday when first-year head coach Thad Matta officially begins his tenure at OSU against Towson in the Guardian Classic. Other Conference schools beginning their 2004-05 non-conference state this weekend will be Illinois, Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin.

Stat Leaders Return: Seven of the top 10 scorers return for the 2004-05 season with Indiana's Bracey Wright leading the pack after ranking third last year with 18.5 points per game. Iowa's Pierre Pierce follows with a 16.1 average, while Michigan State's Paul Davis (15.8), Northwestern's Vedran Vukusic (14.3), Illinois' Deron Williams (14.0), Michigan State's Chris Hill (13.8) and Ohio State's Tony Stockman (13.6) round out the top 10. In the last 12 years, only two other times has the Conference had seven of the top 10 point producers return. The last time was in 1996-97 when the Conference welcomed seven back, and the highest amount of top 10 scorers returning over that time frame was eight in 1992-93.

Good And Plenty: A majority of the Big Ten schools will not have to worry about rebuilding their roster for 2004-05. Defending Big Ten Champion Illinois and Michigan State will return all five of their starters from last year's squads, while Michigan, Northwestern and Ohio State will rely heavily on their four returning starters. Indiana, Penn State and Purdue also return three from last year's starting squad. Nationally, only five other schools who are ranked in both the ESPN/USA Today and Associated Press preseason polls welcome back all five starters from their 2003-04 squads - Florida, North Carolina, Syracuse, Wake Forest and Washington.

From the Sidelines: The Big Ten welcomes new head coach Thad Matta, who takes over the Ohio State program after coaching at Xavier the last three seasons. Matta, a finalist for the 2002-03 Naismith National Coach of the Year Award, was 78-23 (.772) in three years as Xavier's head coach and is 102-31 (.767) in four years as a collegiate head coach. He coached one season at his alma mater, Butler, before taking the Xavier post, where he led the Musketeers to their best NCAA Tournament run in program history - the 2004 NCAA Elite Eight.

Fresh Leadership: With Ohio State's Thad Matta joining the Big Ten coaching ranks, seven of the 11 Conference coaches have been in the Big Ten fewer than five seasons: Matta, Illinois' Bruce Weber (1), Penn State's Ed DeChellis (1), Michigan's Tommy Amaker (3), Wisconsin's Bo Ryan (3), Indiana's Mike Davis (4) and Northwestern's Bill Carmody (4). However, the short tenures have led to much success, as these coaches have guided Conference teams to one Final Four, one NIT title, seven NCAA Tournament berths, four Big Ten Championships and one Conference Tournament title.

Keady's Retirement Party: One of the nation's most respected coaches, Gene Keady, will begin his 25th and final season at the helm of the Purdue basketball program. At the end of the 2004-05 season, Keady will turn the reins over to new associate head coach Matt Painter, who comes to Purdue after spending the 2003-04 season as the head coach of Southern Illinois. Keady has compiled an impressive coaching record, boasting a League-record seven Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, while also earning six national coach of the Year accolades. He has led the Boilermakers to six Big Ten Championships (1984, 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995 and 1996) in 24 years, including three straight outright titles from 1994 to 1996. Keady is also the Big Ten's third-winningest coach all-time by percentage (.661) and is second in victories (262). Last year, he became only the second Big Ten coach to reach 500 victories at one school, compiling an overall record of 505-249 at Purdue.

The Three Veterans: Three other coaches have spent five or more years at a Big Ten school, led by Michigan State's Tom Izzo. In nine years in East Lansing, Izzo produced the 2000 National Championship, three Final Four appearances, eight postseason appearances, four regular-season Conference crowns and two Big Ten Tournament titles. Minnesota's Dan Monson and Iowa's Steve Alford will both begin their sixth season in the Big Ten. Between the two, they have accumulated one Big Ten Tournament crown, one NCAA berth and four NIT appearances.

Naismith and Wooden Award Nominees: Five Big Ten men's basketball players were listed among the top players in the nation when the Naismith and Wooden Award preseason candidates were announced. Four Conference standouts appeared on both lists in Illinois' Dee Brown and Deron Williams, Indiana's Bracey Wright and Michigan State's Paul Davis while Michigan's Daniel Horton joined that foursome as nominees for the Wooden Award. Illinois was one of only 11 teams in the country to boast multiple players on both the 50-man Wooden Award and Naismith lists, joining Arizona, Duke, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kansas, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Syracuse and Wake Forest. Last season, Wright and Wisconsin's Devin Harris were named finalists for the 2004 Naismith Award.

Illinois Aims for Second Straight Title: After claiming its first outright Big Ten Championship since 1952 last season, Illinois enters the 2005 campaign aiming to produce back-to-back League crowns for the second time over a five-year period. The Illini also have a chance to become the first school to win outright titles in back-to-back seasons since Purdue claimed three consecutive outright crowns from 1994-1996. Illinois earned at least a share of three titles in the last four years, falling just one game shy of first place in 2002-03. The only other time the Orange and Blue finished in the top spot in the League standings in three of four seasons was during the 1949, 1951 and 1952 campaigns.

Badgers Streaking at Home: Wisconsin will be vying to extend its 28-game home winning streak that currently ranks third in the nation. Last season, the Badgers were the only League school to produce a perfect record at home as Wisconsin built a 15-0 mark at the Kohl Center. That streak ranks third in the country entering the 2004-05 campaign (Stephen F. Austin - 30, Austin Peay - 29) and is the second-longest string of success in school history, as UW was victorious in 33 straight contests from March 8, 1911 to January 23, 1918. Wisconsin's last defeat at the Kohl Center occurred on December 4, 2002, against Wake Forest. UW's 28-game streak still trails the Big Ten record of 53 straight home triumphs set by Michigan State from 1998 to 2002 -- a winning streak that was ended by the Badgers.

Playing the Best: Big Ten teams have once again scheduled some of the nation's toughest teams for non-conference play, including 13 teams listed in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today preseason polls. The toughest competition includes seven of the country's top 15 teams in No. 2/2 Wake Forest (vs. Illinois), No. 3/4 Georgia Tech (vs. Michigan), No. 4/3 North Carolina (vs. Illinois), No. 8/7 Connecticut (vs. Indiana), No. 11/12 Duke (vs. Michigan State), No. 14/13 Louisville (vs. Iowa) and No. 15/16 Maryland (vs. Wisconsin). Indiana faces the most daunting schedule with three straight games against ranked opponents in the month of December - No 4/3 North Carolina on Dec. 1, No. 8/7 Connecticut on Dec. 4 and No. 20/21 Notre Dame on Dec. 8.

Big Ten Coaching Milestones: Two Big Ten mentors are in reach of claiming several coaching milestones as the 2004-05 season opens. Iowa head coach Steve Alford will look to become the fifth coach in school history to earn 100 victories after compiling an 89-71 record in his first five seasons at Iowa. Alford is also only five wins away from cracking the 250-victory barrier with a 245-148 all-time record in 13 years of coaching. Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody stands only five wins away from claiming his 150th career victory with a 145-89 all-time record that includes a four-year stint at Princeton before joining the Wildcat staff in 2000.

Big Ten/ACC Challenge -- Year Six: Now in its sixth year, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge pairs off 18 teams from two of the nation's best conferences for nine games over three nights. The 2004 event will take place on Monday through Wednesday, November 29 - December 1, as all nine games will be televised nationally for the third straight year. Nine of the top 25 teams ranked in the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll will compete in the 2004 Challenge, including five ranked in the top 10 (No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 5 Illinois and No. 10 Michigan State). Both leagues have produced a long history of NCAA Tournament success. In fact, the two conferences rank first or second in NCAA Tournament appearances (Big Ten -169, ACC - 151), victories (ACC - 297, Big Ten - 273) and Final Fours (Big Ten - 37, ACC - 37) since the event's inception in 1939. The two leagues have advanced 13 teams to the national semifinals over the past six seasons, including 2004 Challenge participants Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland and North Carolina. The ACC holds a 27-17 advantage in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, claiming the Commissioner's Cup all five years.

Celebrating 100 Years of Big Ten play: The Big Ten will celebrate its 100th season of men's basketball when Conference action begins on January 5, 2005. The first round of League play was held during the 1905-06 academic year, with Minnesota (6-1) edging Wisconsin (6-2) for the title.

Big Ten Tourney Returns to Chicago: After a one-year hiatus, the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament returns to Chicago to crown the 2005 Tournament Champion at the United Center from March 10-13. The 2002 and 2004 Tournaments were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, which will also be the site of the 2006 tourney. In its first six years of existence, the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament has welcomed more than 670,000 fans and issued over 4,200 media credentials. Six different League representatives have become Big Ten Tournament champions, with Michigan State claiming the honor twice (1999, 2000) along with triumphs by Michigan (1998), Iowa (2001), Ohio State (2002), Illinois (2003) and Wisconsin (2004). In addition, every Tournament game in the past six years has been televised live on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Plus.