Jan. 2, 2007

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Big Ten Title Chase Begins: The 102nd year of conference play is set to begin with Ohio State defending its Big Ten title on Tuesday with a home matchup against Indiana. Six more teams will begin the race for the conference crown on Wednesday with Michigan hosting Illinois, Purdue traveling to Minnesota and Penn State welcoming Northwestern. Defending Big Ten Tournament Champion Iowa opens Big Ten play on Thursday with a home test against Michigan State, while Wisconsin begins conference action this Saturday when the Badgers host Minnesota.
 
Heading Into Conference Play: With the majority of non-conference play now complete, eight conference squads have suffered three or fewer defeats. Wisconsin leads the Big Ten contingent with a 14-1 mark. The Badgers are off to their best start under head coach Bo Ryan and are 14-1 for the first time since 1928-29. Only five other UW squads in school history have won 14 of their first 15 games. Wisconsin has also won 10 games in a row, which is the Badgers' longest winning streak since the 2000-01 season.

Penn State in the Record Book: On Dec. 30, Penn State set a Big Ten and school record for points in a game tallying 129 points in a 129-111 victory over VMI. The Nittany Lions eclipsed the conference record of 128 points set by Michigan against Purdue on Feb. 19, 1966. In addition, the Nittany Lions established single-game school records in combined team points (240) and assists (36), while also posting new Bryce Jordan Center marks for points scored, points in a half (67), field goals (45) and rebounds (53).

More on Hitting the Century Mark: With its record-breaking 129 point-performance against VMI on Dec. 30, Penn State became the fourth Big Ten squad to score 100 or more points in a game this season. Purdue also reached the century mark on Saturday, notching a 102-65 victory over Southeast Missouri State. Earlier in the season, Ohio State defeated VMI, 107-69, on Nov. 10, while Iowa registered a 101-59 win over Georgia State on Dec. 20.

Offensively Speaking: Three Big Ten squads are averaging over 75 points per game this season. Currently, Ohio State leads the Big Ten with 81.9 points per game, followed by Wisconsin (77.5 ppg) and Purdue (77.1 ppg). 

Non-Conference Success: With 115 wins this season, the Big Ten has posted 100 or more non-conference victories prior to postseason play for the second consecutive year. Last season, the conference tallied a 112-28 mark before heading into NCAA Tournament action. The Big Ten then closed out the season with the best out-of-conference winning percentage in over six years at .767 (115-35).

First-Year Success: The Big Ten freshmen class heads into its first conference season already making an impact this year. Currently, five freshmen are averaging over 10 points or more per game. Ohio State freshman Daequan Cook currently leads the class while also ranking fifth in the conference with 15.9 points per game. He is closely followed by Iowa's Tyler Smith, who has tallied 15.6 points per game, while Ohio State's Greg Oden (14.5 ppg), Northwestern's Kevin Coble (13.5 ppg) and Michigan State's Raymar Morgan (11.7 ppg) round out the freshmen top-five scorers. On the boards, Ohio State's Oden ranks first among all freshmen after nearly averaging a double-double with 9.3 rebounds per game.

Big Ten Coaching Milestones: Several Big Ten coaches are closing in on career milestones this season. With a 99-73 mark in Ann Arbor, Michigan's Tommy Amaker needs just one win to reach the 100 victory plateau and become the sixth head coach to reach that mark with the Wolverines. In his 16th year of coaching, Iowa head coach Steve Alford stands one triumph away from claiming his 300th career victory with a 299-175 record.

Big Ten's Grand Company: After tallying a career-high 31 points against VMI on Dec. 30, Penn State's Geary Claxton (1,001) became the latest member of the conference's 1,000 career point club. The junior forward joins Michigan's Lester Abram (1,079), Dion Harris (1,315) and Courtney Sims (1,134), Wisconsin's Alando Tucker (1,810), Iowa's Adam Haluska (1,507), Ohio State's Ron Lewis (1,413) and Purdue's David Teague (1,049). After scoring 588 points during the 2005-06 season, Tucker is now aiming to become the first 2,000-point producer for the Big Ten since Indiana's A.J. Guyton tallied 2,100 points from 1997-00. With 933 career points, Wisconsin senior Kammron Taylor is vying to become the next Big Ten 1,000 point scorer.

Buckeyes Aim For Second-Straight Title: After claiming his first Big Ten Championship in just his second year in Columbus last season, Ohio State's Thad Matta is aiming to lead the Ohio State Buckeyes to back-to-back conference crowns for the first time since the 1991 and 1992 campaigns. With a 12-4 record in Big Ten play last year, OSU earned its first outright championship since 1992. The Buckeyes concluded the 2006 Big Ten season one game ahead of Illinois and Iowa, ending the Illini's hopes of winning a share of a third straight conference title.

Tucker Vying For Consecutive Scoring Titles: Currently leading the Big Ten in scoring with 20.6 points per game, Wisconsin senior Alando Tucker is looking to capture his second straight scoring title. Last season, he closed out the conference season averaging 20.0 points per contest to lead the Big Ten. Tucker would be the first conference standout to lead the Big Ten in consecutive seasons since Purdue's Glenn Robinson won back-to-back scoring crowns in 1993 (25.5 ppg) and 1994 (31.1 ppg).

Big Ten Win Streaks: Two Big Ten teams enter the regular season with winning streaks of four or more games in conference play. Ohio State suffered a 78-73 loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 15, 2006, but bounced back to win five straight games at the end of last year to win the Big Ten regular season title. Indiana ended the 2006 conference regular season on a roll with four consecutive wins to close out the season with a 9-7 Big Ten mark.

Big Ten Television Schedule: All 88 Big Ten games are scheduled to be televised in 2007 with contests appearing on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Plus. The conference season will conclude with the 10th annual Big Ten Tournament, which is scheduled to take place Thursday  through Sunday, March 8-11, at the United Center in Chicago. ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Plus will broadcast the first round and quarterfinal games while CBS will televise the semifinals and championship contests.