Nov. 21, 2005

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Tournament Bound: Big Ten squads will be competing in several tournaments this week, as Michigan State heads to Maui, Hawaii for the EA Sports Maui Invitational on Monday and Illinois travels to South Padre, Texas for the South Padre Island Invitational on Friday. The Spartans will open play against host-school Chaminade on ESPN2 and will face either Maryland or Gonzaga the following day. The Fighting Illini will play Texas Southern at home on  Tuesday before heading south to battle Wichita State on Friday. Over the weekend, Iowa and Wisconsin advanced in their respective tournaments. The Hawkeyes take on No. 8/10 Kentucky in the semifinals of the Guardian Classic on Monday in Kansas City, Mo., while the Badgers will face Old Dominion in the championship game of the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas.

Big Ten Tournament Tickets on Sale: The Big Ten announced that all-session tickets for the 2006 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, along with single-session tickets, will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 10 a.m. EST. All-session and single-session tickets for the men's tournament, which includes 10 games over four days, will be available at the Conseco Fieldhouse box office, Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (317) 239-5151 (in central Indiana). The cost for men's tournament all-session tickets will be either $125 or $225 depending on seat location, while the single-session tickets range from $25 to $75 based on seat location and session. Orders will be limited to 12 all-session tickets or 12 single-session tickets for each session.

Big Ten Tourney in Indy: After a one-year hiatus, the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament returns to Indianapolis to crown the 2006 tournament champion at Conseco Fieldhouse from March 9-12. The 2005 tournament was played at the United Center in Chicago and will return to the Windy City in 2007. In its first eight years of existence, the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament has welcomed more than 779,000 fans and issued over 4,800 media credentials. Six different league representatives have become Big Ten Tournament champions, with Michigan State (1999, 2000) and Illinois (2003, 2005) claiming the honor twice along with triumphs by Michigan (1998), Iowa (2001), Ohio State (2002) and Wisconsin (2004). In addition, every tournament game in the past eight years has been televised live on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Plus.

Big Ten Tournament Preview: Purdue will get an early look at the site of the 2006 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament this weekend, as the Boilermakers will compete in the Wooden Tradition at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. Purdue will take on Xavier on Saturday.

Big Ten Coaching Milestones: With a 99-65 victory over Nicholls State on Friday, head coach Mike Davis is just three victories away from becoming the second-fastest coach in school annals to compile 100 wins at Indiana. In his sixth season in Bloomington, Davis has tallied a career record of 97-67 and would join former head coach Bob Knight, who won his 100th game during his fifth season as a head coach(1975-76).

Playing the Best: Big Ten teams have once again scheduled some of the nation's toughest teams for non-conference play, including nine teams listed in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls. This week, Iowa will face No. 8/10 Kentucky on Monday in the semifinals of the Guardian Classic. Other Big Ten programs will face No. 11/11 Boston College (Michigan State), No. 12/12 Memphis (Purdue), No. 19/T18 Wake Forest (Wisconsin), No. 18/T18 UCLA (Michigan), No. 24/21 Maryland (Minnesota) and No. 25/23 Iowa State (Iowa). For the second consecutive year, Indiana is challenged early in the non-conference season, facing No. 1/1 Duke, No. 3/2 Connecticut and No. 8/10 Kentucky. 

The 2006-07 Signees: Big Ten schools will welcome at least 30 new men's basketball players next season as each program announced its additions from the early signing period, which ran from Nov. 9-16. The incoming student-athletes hail from 15 different states, including Illinois (4), Indiana (4), Ohio (4), Michigan (3), Minnesota (3) and Pennsylvania (2). The league will also welcome one international recruit from Canada. The class includes 26 current high school students and four junior college transfers. A list of each school's signees is listed on page five of the release and the Big Ten website at www.bigten.org.

Protecting Your Home:With Illinois defeating Texas-Pan American, 71-59, on Sunday, the Fighting Illini extended their home winning streak to 23 games,  the fourth-longest streak in the nation (Gonzaga-26; Southern Illinois-26, Washington-24). Illinois was the only league team to go undefeated at home last season and the Illini's last defeat occurred on Jan. 10, 2004 against Purdue. Illinois' 23-game streak still trails the Big Ten record of 53 straight home triumphs set by Michigan State from 1998 to 2002.

Double-Double Perfomances: Five Big Ten players dominated in the first week of action, tallying double-doubles last weekend. Wisconsin's Alando Tucker claimed his fifth career double-double with a 38-point and 10-rebound performance, while Indiana's Marco Killingsworth tallied his first double-double as a Hoosier with 28 points and 13 rebounds. In his first game of the 2005-06 season, Illinois' James Augustine notched 18 points and 14 rebounds against South Dakota State for his 17th career double-double, while Penn State's Geary Claxton (13 points; 13 rebounds) and Michigan State's Paul Davis (12 points; 11 rebounds) also reached double-figures in points and rebounds.

Preseason Wooden Award Watch: Six Big Ten men's basketball student-athletes were listed among the top 50 preseason candidates for the 2005-06 Wooden Award All-America Team. The Big Ten's group of honorees includes two players from Michigan State in seniors Maurice Ager and Paul Davis as the Spartans were one of only seven teams in the country to boast a pair of Wooden Award nominees. Also earning preseason recognition was Illinois' Dee Brown, Iowa's Jeff Horner, Minnesota's Vincent Grier and Wisconsin's Alando Tucker. Brown joins Duke's J.J. Redick as the only preseason candidates who were honored last year as members of the 2005 Wooden Award All-America Team. The 50-player preseason list will be narrowed to a midseason top 30 in January. The 10-player Wooden Award All-America Team will be announced on Tuesday, March 28, 2006, while the recipient of the Wooden Award Trophy as the nation's top collegiate men's basketball player will be named on Saturday, April 8, 2006.