Big Ten Weekly Men's Basketball Central - March 20-23

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

WEEKLY RELEASE - MARCH 20

2025 BIG TEN MEN'S BASKETBALL POSTSEASON CENTRAL

Big Ten. Big News.

• Eight Big Ten schools have been selected to compete in the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, it was announced Sunday on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Show on CBS. Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Purdue, UCLA, and Wisconsin will be taking part in this year’s tournament. All games will be televised on CBS Sports, TBS, TNT or truTV beginning on Tuesday night.
• Two Big Ten teams, Nebraska and USC, have been selected to play in the inaugural College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. Nebraska and USC will compete in the single-elimination 16-team contest, which takes place Monday, March 31 to Sunday, April 6.
• The Michigan Wolverines claimed the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament title with a 59-53 win over Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The win marked the third tournament championship for the Wolverines, joining crowns in 2017 and 2018. Tre Donaldson and Vladislav Goldin led Michigan with 11 points each, while a trio of Wolverines added eight points, including Danny Wolf, who grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Goldin was named the Jim and Kitty Delaney Most Outstanding Player and was joined by Wolf, Wisconsin’s John Blackwell and John Tonje, and Maryland’s Derik Queen on the All-Tournament Team.

• The Michigan-Wisconsin championship game delivered CBS Sports its largest audience for the Big Ten championship since 2014, averaging 4.53 million viewers, with a peak audience of 5.82 million viewers. The Big Ten was incorporated in CBS Sports’ two most-watched regular season games this season on any network, Illinois-Arkansas drew 5.174 million viewers on Thanksgiving and the Big Ten Championship.

• Michigan State claimed the 2024-25 Big Ten Men’s Basketball championship, closing the regular season with a 17-3 record in Big Ten play. This marks Michigan State’s 17th Big Ten championship and its first since claiming a share of the 2020 title. This is also the 11th Big Ten crown for Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, tied for the most in conference history.
• Purdue’s Braden Smith and Wisconsin’s John Tonje have collected a trio of All-America honors, Smith, who ranks second on the Boilermakers with 16.1 points, while his 8.7 assists per game are good for second in the country, was named to the First Team by the Associated Press (AP), Sporting News, and US Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), while Tonje collected Second Team honors from the AP and Sporting News and Third Team accolades from the USBWA, after leading the Badgers with 19.2 points per contest. Maryland’s Derik Queen, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Rutgers’ Dylan Harper also received Honorable Mention from the AP.
• Last week, the Big Ten announced its 2025 All-Big Ten Teams and Awards. Purdue’s Braden Smith was named Big Ten Player of the Year by both the coaches and media panel, marking the third consecutive year a Boiler maker has been named Player of the Year. Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr. claimed his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year honor, while Maryland’s Derik Queen was named Freshman of the Year. Illinois’ Will Riley claimed Sixth Man of the Year accolades. Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo and associate head coach Doug Wojcik collected the league’s coaching awards, as Izzo was named Coach of the Year for the fourth time, with Wojcik earning the Howard Moore Assistant Coach of the Year honor.
• Milestone Watch... Congratulations to Michigan’s Rubin Jones, who recorded his 1,000th career point in Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament championship game... Congratulations to USC’s Rashaun Agee who reached the 1,000 career point plateau in the Trojan’s second round Big Ten tournament match-up against Purdue.
• Eight B1G teams were ranked or received votes in the Associated Press and/or USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls released on March 17. Michigan State leads the way at No. 8 in the AP poll, followed by No. 11 Maryland, No. 13 Wisconsin, No. 14 Michigan, No. 22 Purdue, and No. 25 Oregon. The coaches listed Michigan State at No. 7, followed by the Badgers at No. 10, the Terps at No. 12, the Wolverines at 15, and the Boilermakers at 22. Illinois, Oregon, and UCLA also received votes in one or both polls.
• The Big Ten has collected 112 wins against Quad 1 opponents, second most of any conference, and 204 victories against Quad 1 and 2 teams combined. Michigan State leads the league with 13 Quad 1 wins, tied for second most in the country, one more than Michigan and three more UCLA. The Spartans’ and Wisconsin have combined 18 Quad 1 and 2 wins, good for fifth in the nation. Michigan, Oregon, and Purdue own 16 such victories, one more than Illinois.
• Nine Big Ten teams were ranked in the top 45 and 15 in the top 70 in the NET Rankings through games on March 10. Maryland leads the way at No. 10, followed by No. 11 Michigan State, No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 17 Illinois, No. 19 Purdue, No. 23 Michigan, No. 27 UCLA, No. 29 Oregon, and No. 41 Ohio State. Northwestern, Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, Penn State, and USC also hold spots in the top 70. Only the SEC has more teams in the top 40, with 12.
• The Big Ten finished its nonconference schedule with a 159-38 record, besting last season’ 144 nonconference victories. Among those wins, the Big Ten was 122-7 (.946) at home. The Big Ten’s 160 wins and .812 nonconference win percentage sit behind only the SEC’s 185 wins and .889 (185-23) win percentage.
• More than 6.2 million fans have watched Big Ten basketball games during the 2024-25 season, including 3.3 million in our 18 home venues. Seven teams rank among the top-20 programs in total attendance. Indiana leads the league with 296,046 fans, sixth nationally. Illinois (256,543 fans), Wisconsin (255,109), and Maryland (253,972) list 11th, 12th, and 13th in the country. Nebraska (239,426), Purdue (238,016), and Michigan State (236,752) also earned spots in the top 20.
• The Big Ten boasts some of the nation’s highest octane offenses. The conference leads the nation with 45,179 points scored this season, as its 77.10 points per game rank fourth. The Big Ten’s 18 teams shoot 46.24 percent from the field, second nationally, and 73.84 percent from the free throw line, fourth among all conferences. The league also gets significant contributions from its reserves, as the 18 bench units have combined for 12,104 points, second in the country. The Big Ten also ranks second nationally in total rebounds (20,595) and blocked shots (2,103), while its 3,803 steals are good for third.