Big Ten Weekly Men's Basketball Central - Nov. 14-20

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BIG TEN SCHEDULE & RESULTS  |  BIG TEN STANDINGS

NCAA AP TOP 25 POLL  |  NCAA USA TODAY TOP 25 POLL  |  NCAA NET RANKINGS

WEEKLY RELEASE - NOVEMBER 14

• The 2023 Gavitt Tipoff Games opened on Monday night with a pair of Big Ten victories, as Michigan topped St. John’s, while Purdue downed Xavier. Named after BIG EAST founder and 2006 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Dave Gavitt, the early season series pits Big Ten Conference against the BIG EAST Conference in eight contests. See below for the 2023 Gavitt Tipoff Games schedule. All games will be televised on FS1.

•  Three teams were included in this week’s AP and USA Today/Coaches Polls, released on Monday. The AP listed Purdue at No. 2, while Michigan State and Illinois checked in at Nos. 18 and 23, respectively. The Coaches Poll also included Purdue at No. 2 and Illinois at No. 23, with Michigan State ranked 19th. Michigan and Wisconsin also received votes in both polls.

• The Big Ten Conference opened the season with a 27-6 mark through Monday night’s contests, with nine teams yet to suffer a loss. The league’s 27 victories are tied for third in the country, behind only the Big 12 (29-4) and the ACC (28-5).

• Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia was named the first Big Ten Player of the Week for the 2023-24 campaign. The junior forward averaged 22.5 points, 10 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 blocked shots, as the Gophers opened the season with a pair of wins. Dawson paired 23 points, including 14-16 from the free throw line, with 14 rebounds and six dimes in a win over Bethune-Cookman, before netting 22 points with six boards against UTSA.

• Iowa’s Owen Freeman became the Hawkeyes’ first player named Big Ten Freshman of the Week since CJ Fredrick on Jan. 20, 2020. The forward averaged 11.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in just 13 minutes per game in Iowa’s two season-opening wins. In his collegiate debut, Freeman shot 7-8 from the field for 14 points in a win over North Dakota.

• On Tuesday, five Big Ten players were named to the Wooden award Preseason Top 50 list, Northwestern’s Boo Buie, Purdue’s Zach Edey, Illinois’ Terrence Shannon, Jr., Michigan State’s Tyson Walker, and Maryland’s Jahmir Young. Edey, who won the award last season, is aiming to be the first repeat Wooden Award winner since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1982 and 1983. 

• Through the first week of the season, seven Big Ten teams rank in the top-20 in average attendance. Indiana leads the league with 17,222 fans per game, fifth in the country. Wisconsin and Illinois rank ninth and 10th, respectively, with 15,660 and 15,279 fans, followed by Purdue in 12th (14,876), Michigan State in 13th (14,797), Maryland in 16th (14,044), and Nebraska in 17th (13,574).

• For the sixth consecutive year, each Big Ten Conference member institution will compete in a 20-game conference schedule. The Big Ten Conference season begins Friday, Dec. 1, when Maryland visits Indiana and Northwestern hosts Purdue, the first of 12 conference games played between Dec. 1-10. Following a break in conference play, Big Ten action will resume on Jan. 2. During the conference season, schools will play seven teams twice -- once at home and once on the road -- and six teams once, with three of those games being at home and the other three away.

• The 27th annual Big Ten Tournament will be played at Target Center in Minneapolis between March 13-17, 2024, marking the first time the tournament has been played in Minneapolis. All 14 teams will advance to the tournament, with two 1st round games slated for Wednesday, March 13th. The top four teams will receive 1st and 2nd round byes and advance to the quarterfinals on Friday, March 15th.

• A Big Ten media panel has chosen 2023 Consensus National Player of the Year Zach Edey as 2023-24 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. The league’s reigning Player of the Year, Edey became the first Boilermaker since Glenn Robinson in 1994 to win National Player of the Year accolades and the fifth Big Ten Player in the last 14 years to be named National Player of the Year joining Evan Turner (2010), Trey Burke (2013), Frank Kaminsky (2015) and Luka Garza (2021) as National Players of the Year.

• The media panel also selected the 2023-24 Preseason All-Big Ten Team. Edey joined Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr., Maryland’s Jahmir Young, and Northwestern’s Boo Buie as unanimous selections. Also named to the team were Maryland’s Julian Reese, Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia, Michigan State’s A.J. Hoggard and Tyson Walker, Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga, and Rutgers’ Clifford Omoruyi. All ten members of the 2023-24 Preseason All-Big Ten Team received All-Big Ten honors following the 2022-23 campaign. Buie and Shannon joined Edey with First Team accolades, while Omoruyi, Walker, and Young were named to the Second Team. Hoggard earned a spot on the Third Team, with Garcia, Reese, and Tominaga receiving Honorable Mention.

• Zach Edey was also the lone unanimous selection on the AP Preseason All-America Team. The five-player team also included Marquette guard Tyler Kolek, Kansas center Hunter Dickinson, Duke forward Kyle Filipowski, and North Carolina forward Armando Bacot.

• The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) included four Big Ten student-athletes in its Preseason Player of the Year Watch List. Buie, Edey, Shannon, and Walker were among the 20 players included on the list. 

• Seven Big Ten players were recognized by the Atlantic Tipoff Club, as the group announced its Jersey mike’s Naismith Trophy Men’s Watch List. Buie, Edey, Hoggard, Omoruyi, Shannon, Walker, and Young were listed among the 50 players named to the watch list. The preseason list will be whittled to 30 in January, with 10 national semifinalists announced in early March. Four finalists will be announced in late March, with the winner announced during Final Four weekend in April.

• The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame recently announced the preseason watch lists for its national player of the year awards at the five traditional court positions. Sixteen student-athletes from 12 different Big Ten schools were named to the preseason watch lists at all five positions.