2017–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season


The 2017–18 Big Ten men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. The 2018 Big Ten Tournament was held at Madison Square Garden in New York. Due to the Big East's use of that venue for the 2018 Big East Tournament, the Big Ten Tournament took place one week earlier than usual, ending the week before Selection Sunday. As a result, the conference season began on December 1, 2017 and concluded on February 25, 2018. Each team played one road game and one home conference game in the first week of December. With a win over Wisconsin on February 25, 2018, Michigan State clinched the outright Big Ten championship, their eighth under Tom Izzo.
The Big Ten Tournament was held from February 28 through March 4, 2018 at Madison Square Garden. Michigan defeated Purdue to win its second consecutive tournament. As a result, the Wolverines received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Four Big Ten schools were invited to the NCAA Tournament, the fewest Big Ten teams selected for the Tournament since 2008. Michigan was the National Runner-up, losing to Villanova in the NCAA championship game. Nebraska and Penn State received invitations to the National Invitation Tournament. Penn State won the NIT championship.
Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop was named Big Ten Player of the Year. Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. Bates-Diop and Michigan State forward Miles Bridges were consensus All-Americans, while Purdue guard Carsen Edwards earned second and third team All-American recognition. Edwards won the Jerry West Award.
The season also marked the last time the conference played an 18-game conference schedule. The 2018–19 season marked the first time in Big Ten history that the teams will play a 20-game conference schedule.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On March 11, 2017, Illinois fired head coach John Groce. On March 18, the school hired Brad Underwood as the new head coach.
On March 16, 2017, Indiana fired Tom Crean after nine years as head coach. On March 25, 2017, the school hired Archie Miller as head coach.
On June 5, 2017, Ohio State announced that head coach Thad Matta would not return as head coach after 13 years in Columbus. On June 9, the school hired Chris Holtmann as head coach.

Coaches

Notes:

Preseason All-Big Ten

Prior to the conference's annual media day, unofficial awards and a poll were chosen by a panel of 28 writers, two for each team in the conference. Michigan State was a unanimous selection to win the conference, receiving all 28 votes. The Spartans' Miles Bridges was also a unanimous selection for Preseason Player of the Year.

Preseason conference poll

Preseason All-Big Ten

On October 19, 2017, a panel of conference media selected a 10-member preseason All-Big Ten Team and Player of the Year.

Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.
WoodenNaismithRobertsonCousyWestErvingMaloneAbdul-JabbarOlsonTisdaleNotes
Jordan Bohannon, Iowa
Miles Bridges, Michigan State
Vincent Edwards, Purdue
Isaac Haas, Purdue
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin
Jaren Jackson Jr., Michigan State
Justin Jackson, Maryland
Nate Mason, Minnesota
Bryant McIntosh, Northwestern
Jordan Murphy, Minnesota
Moritz Wagner, Michigan
Nick Ward, Michigan State

Preseason national polls

APAthlon
Sports		Bleacher
Report		Blue Ribbon
Yearbook		CBS SportsCoachesESPNLindy's
Sports		NBC SportsSBNationSports
Illustrated		USBWA
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State222242311321
Minnesota1516201813151022201817
Nebraska
Northwestern192425231420181521222220
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue201814242125211718
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Regular season

Rankings

Player of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the Big Ten offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.
WeekPlayer of the weekFreshman of the week
November 13, 2017Jordan Murphy, MINNLuka Garza, IOWA
November 20, 2017Jordan Murphy, MINNDarryl Morsell, MD
November 27, 2017Jordan Murphy, MINNJaren Jackson Jr., MSU
November 27, 2017Jordan Murphy, MINNBrad Davison, WISC
December 4, 2017Isaac Haas, PURKaleb Wesson, OSU
December 11, 2017Keita Bates-Diop, OSUJaren Jackson Jr., MSU
December 18, 2017Juwan Morgan, INDGeo Baker, RUT
December 26, 2017Miles Bridges, MSUTrent Frazier, ILL
January 2, 2018Nick Ward, MSULuka Garza, IOWA
January 8, 2018Keita Bates-Diop, OSUBruno Fernando, MD
January 15, 2018Keita Bates-Diop, OSUJaren Jackson Jr., MSU
January 22, 2018James Palmer Jr., NEBKaleb Wessen, OSU
January 22, 2018Carsen Edwards, PURKaleb Wessen, OSU
January 29, 2018Vincent Edwards, PURJaren Jackson Jr., MSU
February 5, 2018Keita Bates-Diop, OSUIsaiah Washington, MINN
February 12, 2018Miles Bridges, MSUTrent Frazier, ILL
February 19, 2018Tony Carr, PSUBruno Fernando, MD
February 26, 2018Carsen Edwards, PURBrad Davison, WISC

Early season tournaments

Eleven of the 14 Big Ten teams participated in early season tournaments. Each team's finish is noted below. Illinois, Indiana, and Rutgers did not participate in a tournament. Eight Big Ten teams participated in the Gavitt Tip-Off Games against Big East Conference teams for the third consecutive year. All Big Ten teams participated in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge against Atlantic Coast Conference teams, the 19th year for the event.
TeamTournamentFinish
IowaCayman Islands Classic7th
MarylandEmerald Coast Classic3rd
MichiganMaui Invitational5th
Michigan StatePhil Knight Invitational Victory Bracket1st
MinnesotaBarclays Center Classic2–0
NebraskaAdvoCare Invitational5th
NorthwesternHall of Fame Tip Off Naismith Bracket2nd
Ohio StatePhil Knight Invitational Motion Bracket6th
Penn StateLegends Classic2nd
PurdueBattle 4 Atlantis7th
WisconsinCBE Hall of Fame Classic4th

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team played 18 conference games, and at least one game against each opponent.
IllinoisIndianaIowaMarylandMichiganMichigan StMinnesotaNebraskaNorthwesternOhio StPenn StPurdueRutgersWisconsin
vs. Illinois–1–11–01–01–02–01–01–11–01–01–00–00–22–0
vs. Indiana1–1–0–20–11–02–00–21–00–12–00–11–00–11–0
vs. Iowa0–12–0–1–02–01–01–11–00–12–02–01–01–00–1
vs. Maryland0–11–00–1–2–02–00–11–00–21–01–12–00–10–1
vs. Michigan0–10–10–20–2–0–10–11–01–11–10–12–00–10–1
vs. Michigan St0–20–20–10–21–0–0–10–10–11–00–10–10–20–2
vs. Minnesota0–12–01–11–01–01–0–2–02–01–00–12–00–11–0
vs. Nebraska1–10–10–10–10–11–00–2–0–11–01–11–00–20–2
vs. Northwestern0–11–01–12–01–11–00–21–0–1–01–11–01–01–1
vs. Ohio State0–10–20–20–11–10–10–10–10–1–2–00–10–20–1
vs. Penn State0–11–00–21–11–01–01–01–11–10–2–1–00–11–0
vs. Purdue0–10–10–10–20–21–00–20–10–11–00–1–0–21–1
vs. Rutgers2–01–00–11–01–02–01–02–00–12–01–02–0–0–1
vs. Wisconsin0–20–11–01–01–02–00–12–01–11–00–11–11–0–
Total4–149–94–148–1013–516–24–1413–56–1215–39–914–33–157–11

Honors and awards

On January 9, 2018, Keita Bates-Diop was recognized as the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the United States Basketball Writers Association. On January 15, Purdue was named NCAA.com team of the Week. On February 26, Carsen Edwards was named NCAA.com National Player of the Week.

All-Big Ten awards and teams

On February 26, 2018, the Big Ten announced most of its conference awards.

USBWA

On March 6, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2017–18 Men's All-District Teams, based upon voting from its national membership. There were nine regions from coast to coast, and a player and coach of the year were selected in each. The following lists all the Big Ten representatives selected within their respective regions.
District II
District III
District V

Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
All-District Team
District VI
The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All‐District teams on March 13, recognizing the nation’s best men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, the selections on this list were then eligible for NABC Coaches' All-America Honors. The following list represented the District 7 players chosen to the list.
;First Team
;Second Team
, Miles Bridges were selected as consensus 2018 All-American and Carsen Edwards earned several All- American recognitions. Edwards won the Jerry West Award.

Postseason

Big Ten Tournament

* denotes overtime period

NCAA Tournament

The winner of the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.
SeedRegionSchoolFirst FourFirst RoundSecond RoundSweet SixteenElite EightFinal FourChampionship
3WestMichiganN/Adefeated Montana 61–47defeated Houston 64–63defeated Texas A&M 99–72defeated Florida State 58–54defeated Loyola–Chicago 69–57eliminated by Villanova 62–79
3MidwestMichigan StateN/Adefeated Bucknell 82–78eliminated by Syracuse 53–55
5WestOhio StateN/Adefeated South Dakota State 81–73eliminated by Gonzaga 84–90
2EastPurdueN/Adefeated Cal State Fullerton 74–58defeated Butler 76–73eliminated by Texas Tech 65–78
W–L : Total:

National Invitation Tournament

Two Big Ten teams received invitations to the National Invitation Tournament: Nebraska and Penn State. Penn State won the championship.
SeedBracketSchoolFirst roundSecond roundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinals
5BaylorNebraskaeliminated by Mississippi State 59–66
4Notre DamePenn Statedefeated Temple 63–57defeated Notre Dame 73–63defeated Marquette 85–80defeated Mississippi State 75–60defeated Utah 82–66
W–L : Total:

2018 NBA draft

The following All-Big Ten selections were listed as seniors: Ohio State's Jae'Sean Tate, Purdue's Vincent Edwards and Isaac Haas. Additionally, Michigan State's Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson Jr. announced that they would enter the draft and sign with an agent. Penn State's Tony Carr also announced he would enter the draft and sign with and agent. Moritz Wagner hired an agent. Several other players announced that they would test the draft process, but did not hire an agent, including Wisconsin's Ethan Happ, Purdue's Carsen Edwards, Nebraska's James Palmer Jr., Michigan State's Nick Ward, Michigan's Charles Matthews, and Indiana's Juwan Morgan. These players all withdrew from the draft and returned to school.
Four 2017–18 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season players were drafted in the first round of the 2018 draft and eight were drafted overall in the draft.
PlayerTeamSchool
14PFMemphis GrizzliesMichigan State
112SFLos Angeles Clippers Michigan State
119SGAtlanta Hawks Maryland
125PFLos Angeles Lakers Michigan
243SFDenver Nuggets Maryland
248SFMinnesota TimberwolvesOhio State
251PGNew Orleans Pelicans Penn State
252SFUtah JazzPurdue