Big Ten Conference Preview

The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.   Blue Ribbon Forecast No. Team  '01-02 Conf. Rec. (Overall) 1. Michigan State  10-6 (19-11)  2. Indiana  11-5 (20-11)  3. Wisconsin  11-5 (18-12)   4. Minnesota  9-7 (17-12)   5. Ohio State  11-5 (23-7)   6. Illinois  11-5 (24-8)  7. Northwestern  7-9 (16-13)  8. Michigan  5-11 (11-18)  9. Iowa  5-11 (19-15)  10. Purdue  5-11 (13-18)  11. Penn State  3-13 (7-21)  Illinois PF Brian Cook Elsa/Getty Images

All-Conference Team Did You Know? G: Tom Coverdale SR, Indiana G: Kirk Penney SR, Wisconsin G: Chris Hill SO, Michigan State F: Brian Cook SR, Illinois F: Rick Rickert SO, Minnesota Player of the Year Brian Cook SR, Illinois Newcomer of the Year Daniel Horton FR, Michigan Top Backcourts 1. Wisconsin 2. Indiana 3. Michigan State Top Frontcourts 1. Minnesota 2. Michigan State 3. Illinois 2002-03 Conference Tournament March 13-16, United Center, Chicago, IL 2001-02 Champions Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Wisconsin (Tied for regular-season champion) Ohio State (Tournament champion) 2001-02 NCAA Tournament Postseason Record 10-7 (.588) NCAA Indiana (Runner up) Illinois (Sweet 16) Ohio State (Second rd.) Wisconsin (Second rd.) Michigan State NIT Minnesota (Second rd.) Iowa For the first time since 1926, four Big Ten teams enter the season with a chance to repeat as league champions. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State and Wisconsin all ended the 2001-02 season at 11-5 in League play to split the Big Ten title four ways   For the 11th time in the last 12 years, the conference put together 12 players for the Big Ten Men's Basketball Foreign Tour Team, as Illinois head coach Bill Self led the squad on a five-game trip through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands from August 8-18. The team posted a 4-1 mark in 2002 and has gone 10-1 (.909) over the last two years   For the first time in the last four seasons, all 11 Big Ten head coaches will return to their familiar sidelines for the 2002-03 campaign   History has shown that every team at the Big Ten Tournament will have a shot at leaving town with the title. Just last season, ninth-seeded Iowa advanced to the championship game before falling to Ohio State. In 2001, the Hawkeyes became the lowest-seeded team to win the Big Ten Tournament, as the No. 6-seeded team won four games in four days to earn the League's NCAA automatic berth. Their opponent was fourth-seeded Indiana, as the No. 4 seed has reached the Big Ten Tournament championship game in three of five years   Big Ten men's basketball led the nation in total attendance for the 26th straight season in 2001-02, as the conference welcomed 2,258,255 total fans through the turnstiles, just shy of the national record the league set a year ago (2,342,022)   Two long home-court win streaks come to an end last season. Michigan State established a new Big Ten record by winning 53 straight games at the Breslin Center, the longest streak in the nation at the time, before Wisconsin ended the successful run on January 12. For the Spartans, it was their first home defeat since 1998 and the first for any player on the roster. With MSU's loss, Illinois took over the homecourt dominance mantle and extended its victory streak at the Assembly Hall to 28 games before losing to the Spartans on Feb. 3.

 

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