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Nov. 22, 2004

Tournament Bound: Big Ten squads will be competing in several tournaments this week, as Iowa travels to Maui, Hawaii for the EA Sports Maui Invitational and Minnesota heads north for the Great Alaska Shootout. The Hawkeyes open against No. 14/13 Louisville in the first round on Monday, while the Gophers face Furman on Wednesday in Alaska. Michigan and Ohio State have also advanced to their respective tournament's semifinal rounds. The Wolverines earned a returned trip to the Big Apple after posting wins over Binghamton, 59-46, and Colorado, 69-60, in the Preseason NIT last week. Michigan will now face No. 10/11 Arizona on Wednesday at the Madison Square Garden in New York City. If they win the event, the Wolverines would become the first squad to claim both the postseason and preseason championships of the NIT in one year. One Big Ten program has won the Preseason NIT crown, as Indiana collected the title in 1992 and 1996. The Buckeyes, with wins over Towson, 74-53, and Robert Morris, 82-50, will play Houston in the semifinal rounds of the Guardian Classic on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.

Then There Was One: All 11 Big Ten teams will be action this week, as Indiana will host Indiana State on Tuesday to open its 2004-05 non-conference slate. The Hoosiers have been out of action since their final exhibition game on November 12 against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Playing the Best: Big Ten teams have once again scheduled some of the nation's toughest teams for non-conference play, including 14 teams listed in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls. This week, Iowa will face No. 14/13 Louisville on Monday in the first round of the EA Maui Invitational, while Michigan takes on No. 10/11 Arizona in the Preseason NIT semifinals on Wednesday. Looking ahead, Big Ten squads will battle six of the country's top 15 teams in the next two weeks - No. 2/2 Wake Forest (vs. Illinois), No. 3/4 Georgia Tech (vs. Michigan), No. 4/3 North Carolina (vs. Indiana), No. 8/7 Connecticut (vs. Indiana), No. 11/12 Duke (vs. Michigan State) 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.

Badgers Streaking at Home: With Wisconsin defeating Penn, 77-44, on Saturday, the Badgers extended their home winning streak to 29 games, tying them for the second-longest streak in the nation. Last season, Wisconsin was the only League school to produce a perfect record at home as the Badgers built a 15-0 mark at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin currently ties with Austin Peay, which has also racked up 29 consecutive victories at home, while Stephen F. Austin leads the nation with 30. Wisconsin's 29 straight victories is the second-longest string of success in school history, as UW was victorious in 33 consecutive 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 29-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.

Big Ten By the Numbers: The Big Ten opened the non-conference season notching a 15-5 record (.750) last week ... The League went 8-0 in home openers last week ... For the second consecutive year, Michigan began the season with a 3-0 start ... Illinois won its 33rd straight non-conference game at the Assembly Hall, while Michigan State captured its 28th straight season opener last Friday.

Big Ten Coaching Milestones: Two Big Ten mentors are in reach of claiming several coaching milestones during the 2004-05 season. Iowa head coach Steve Alford will look to become the fifth coach in school history to earn 100 victories after compiling an 90-71 record in his first six seasons at Iowa. Alford is also only four wins away from cracking the 250-victory barrier with a 246-148 all-time record in 13 years of coaching. Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody stands only four wins away from claiming his 150th career victory with a 146-91 all-time record that includes a four-year stint at Princeton before joining the Wildcat staff in 2000.

The 2005-06 Signees: Big Ten schools will welcome at least 27 new men's basketball players next season as each program announced its additions from the early signing period, which ran from November 10-17. The incoming student-athletes hail from 16 different states, including Illinois (5), Ohio (3) and Minnesota (2). The League will also welcome four international recruits from Canada (2), Antigua (1) and Australia (1). The class includes 25 current high school students and two 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.

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 followed 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) rounded 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.

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, began his 25th and final season at the helm of the Purdue basketball program when the Boilermakers faced Miami (Ohio) last Saturday. 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 505-250 at Purdue.

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.

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.