Dec. 26, 2006

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Wisconsin Takes Big Ten Lead: Heading into the final week of non-conference action, Wisconsin leads the Big Ten with a 12-1 record. The Badgers are off to their best start under head coach Bo Ryan and 12-1 for the seventh time in school history. UW has won eight games in a row, including five consecutive victories against 2006 NCAA Tournament participants.

Some Scoring Trends..: Currently, two Big Ten standouts have reached double-figures in scoring in all games they have played in this season. Wisconsin's Alando Tucker leads the Big Ten with 13 straight games, while Purdue's Carl Landry has put up 12 consecutive double-figure scoring contests ... Ohio State is the only Big Ten team with five players averaging 10 points or more per game this season in Daequan Cook (15.3 ppg), Ron Lewis (14.8 ppg), Greg Oden (13.8 ppg), Ivan Harris (11.2 ppg) and Mike Conley Jr. (10.0 ppg) ... Three Big Ten teams have two players ranked among the conference's top 10 statistical leaders this season. In scoring,
Iowa's Adam Haluska ranks third in the conference with 19.5 points per game, while teammate Tyler Smith is tied for seventh (15.4 ppg). Minnesota's Lawrence McKenzie is rated fifth in the conference (15.8 ppg) and is followed by teammate Dan Coleman in sixth place (15.5 ppg). The Ohio State duo of Cook (15.3 ppg) and Lewis (14.8 ppg) close out the top 10 in ninth and tenth place, respectively.

The Million Fan March: The Big Ten has surpassed the one million mark in attendance for the 36th consecutive season this week, as 1,107,900 fans have passed through the turnstiles in 93 home contests. Last year, the conference led the nation in attendance for the 30th-straight season with an average of 12,581 per game/session (2,186,322 total attendance). Overall, the conference has broken the two million mark in total attendance in each of the last 14 seasons.

Non-Conference Success: With 103 wins this season, the Big Ten has posted 100 or more non-conference victories prior to NCAA play for the second consecutive year. Last season, the conference tallied a 112-28 mark before heading into NCAA 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).

30-Plus Point Performances: Iowa's Adam Haluska captured a career-high 36 points in a 101-59 victory over Georgia State on Dec. 20, marking his second 30-plus point performance this season. (Haluska also tallied 31 against Coppin State on Dec. 2). Michigan State's Drew Neitzel and Wisconsin's Alando Tucker both registered conference season-bests of 32 points in their respective games on Dec. 16. Haluska, Neitzel and Tucker join two other Big Ten standouts who have scored 30 or more points this season - Ohio State's Ron Lewis (30 vs. North Carolina, Nov. 29) and Purdue's Carl Landry (30 vs. Oklahoma, Nov. 21).

Fastest to 100 Victories: Illinois' Bruce Weber won his 100th game at Illinois with a victory over Missouri on Dec. 19. It took him just 118 games to record his 100th victory, making him the fastest coach in Big Ten history to win 100 games at a conference school. The previous fastest was 120 games by Ohio State's Fred Taylor and Bobby Knight of Indiana.

Big Ten Coaching Milestones: Several Big Ten coaches are nearing career milestones this season. With a 98-72 mark in Ann Arbor, Michigan's Tommy Amaker needs just two wins 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 two wins away from claiming his 300th career victory with a 298-175 record.

Big Ten's Grand Company: Penn State's Geary Claxton (970) is vying to become the next member of the conference's 1,000 career point club. The junior forward is just 30 points from joining Michigan's Lester Abram (1,067), Dion Harris (1,296) and Courtney Sims (1,128), Wisconsin's Alando Tucker (1,770), Iowa's Adam Haluska (1,478), Ohio State's Ron Lewis (1,413) and Purdue's David Teague. 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.

A Hoosier Milestone: Indiana is just three victories away from reaching the 1,600-career win benchmark. Only eight programs can boast that accomplishment, including Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, Syracuse, Temple, St. John's and Penn. The Hoosiers own a 1,597-868 (.648) all-time record in their 107th season of basketball. Among the Big Ten contingent, Indiana ranks first in all-time victories and is followed by Illinois (1,558-814; .657) and Purdue (1,519-888; .631).

Big Ten Action Begins Next Week: The 102nd year of conference play is set to begin with Ohio State defending its Big Ten title on Tuesday, Jan. 2, with a home matchup against Indiana. Six more teams will begin the race for the conference crown on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 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, Jan. 4, with a home test against Michigan State. Wisconsin will be the final team to begin conference play, as the Badgers host the Golden Gophers on Saturday, Jan. 6. After claiming his first Big Ten Championship in just his second year in Columbus, 2006 Big Ten Coach of the Year Thad Matta will aim 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 season, OSU earned its first outright championship since 1992.

Big Ten Television Schedule: All 88 Big Ten Conference 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.

Big Ten Hosts 2007 NCAA First/Second Round: In 2007, the Big Ten will host the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds on Friday and Sunday, March 16 and 18, at the United Center in Chicago. It marks the third time in league history that the conference has played host to the NCAA Tournament as the Big Ten welcomed eight teams to the United Center in both 1998 and 2002. Ohio State will also host first and second rounds (March 16 and 18) next year at the Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus.