2022 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament Tips Off Wednesday

• The 2022 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament presented by TIAA marks the 25th in conference history. This will be the 13th time the tournament will be played in Indianapolis, and it will be contested at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, home of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever and the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. Tickets for this week’s tournament remain on sale through Ticketmaster.com and the Gainbridge Fieldhouse box office, with further details on the tournament available online at the official Tournament Central web site (https://bigten.org/mbbt).

• The 2021-22 all-conference teams and individual awards were announced Tuesday on the Big Ten Network’s “B1G Today” show. Wisconsin sophomore Johnny Davis was named Big Ten Player of the Year by the conference coaches and a select panel of Big Ten media members. Ohio State's Malaki Branham was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year by the conference coaches and media, while Purdue's Trevion Williams took Sixth Player of the Year accolades. Wisconsin's Greg Gard was named Coach of the Year honor by his colleagues as well as the media. In addition, the Big Ten coaches selected the Rutgers' Caleb McConnell as Defensive Player of the Year. The all-conference teams and awards can be found here.

• Illinois and Wisconsin split the 2021-22 Big Ten regular season title with 15-5 records. Illinois secured the top seed in the 2022 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

• The Big Ten has a nation-leading five teams ranked in the top 25 polls this week. Purdue leads the league at No. 9 in both the AP poll and the USA Today poll, followed by No. 12/12 Wisconsin, No. 16/15 Illinois, and No. 24/23 Iowa. Ohio State is also ranked No. 25 in the USA Today poll and is among the teams receiving votes in the AP poll, while Michigan State and Rutgers are among the teams receiving votes in the USA Today poll.

• As of March 7, the Big Ten has eight teams in the top 44 of the NCAA NET Rankings, the most of any league. Purdue leads the conference at No. 13, followed by No. 14 Illinois, No. 15 Iowa, No. 21 Wisconsin, No. 22 Ohio State, No. 31 Michigan, No. 40 Michigan State, and No. 44 Indiana.

• A nation-leading 12 Big Ten squads rank among the top 40 in the NET strength of schedule. Michigan leads the league with the No. 5-ranked schedule, followed by No. 13 Michigan State, No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 19 Illinois, No. 22 Penn State, No. 23 Ohio State, No. 26 Minnesota, No. 27 Maryland, No. 28 Nebraska, No. 30 Northwestern, No. 33 Purdue, and No. 37 Rutgers.

• The Big Ten owns 111 wins against Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 opponents, tied for the most among all conferences, and has played a national-best 259 games against Q1 and Q2 opponents.

• Seven Big Ten teams rank among the top 40 of ESPN’s Strength of Record metric, the most among all conferences.

• In Joe Lunardi’s March 8 Bracketology, the Big Ten has a nation-leading eight teams projected in the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin leads the league as a No. 2 seed in the projections, followed by Purdue (No. 3 seed), Illinois (No. 4 seed), Iowa (No. 6 seed), Ohio State (No. 6 seed), Michigan State (No. 8 seed), Michigan (No. 11 seed), and Rutgers (No. 12 seed).