Hoops season is upon us!
The men’s and women’s college basketball seasons open Monday, with 14 of the 18 Big Ten men’s teams in action — including Illinois and Northwestern — and 11 of the women’s teams, starting with a doubleheader in Paris featuring No. 3 USC and No. 5 UCLA.
Conference play begins Dec. 3 for the men and Dec. 7 for the women. Men’s teams will play a 20-game Big Ten schedule with three home-and-away opponents. The women will play an 18-game conference schedule with one preserved home-and-away rivalry.
Here’s what else you need to know about Big Ten basketball in 2024-25.
Who’s new
Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington are set to begin their inaugural Big Ten seasons, expanding the conference to 18 teams — tied with the ACC for the largest power conference in the nation.
To help mitigate travel concerns, the West Coast women’s teams will combine six games into three trips to the Eastern and Central time zones. Teams from those time zones will go west only once to play two games over four days.
On the men’s side, the former Pac-12 teams will make four trips each to the Eastern and Central time zones for a total of seven games. Like the women, the incumbent men’s teams will make one two-game western trip apiece.
With the four additions, the Big Ten Tournament also will expand — but the bottom three men’s and women’s teams in the regular-season standings will be left out of the 15-team brackets. The five-day tournaments will start with three first-round games instead of two, and the number of teams receiving byes into the second round drops from six to five (the Nos. 5-9 seeds). The top four will continue to get double byes into the quarterfinals.
Both of this season’s conference tournaments will be played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis: the women on March 5-9 and the men on March 12-16. The women’s tournament will return to Indianapolis next season, while the United Center will host the men in 2026.
Who’s ranked
The Big Ten hasn’t had a men’s national champion since Michigan State in 2000 or a women’s champ since Purdue in 1999. Only four men’s teams were ranked in The Associated Press preseason poll, while six teams are in the women’s Top 25.
Men
•No. 14 Purdue (678 points)
•No. 17 Indiana (492)
•No. 22 UCLA (210)
•No. 25 Rutgers (102)
•Others receiving votes: Illinois 92, Michigan State 29, Ohio State 29, Michigan 19, Oregon 12, Wisconsin 5, Maryland 1
Women
•No. 3 USC (697 points)
•No. 5 UCLA (628)
•No. 14 Ohio State (372)
•No. 18 Maryland (227)
•No. 23 Nebraska (106)
•No. 25 Indiana (46)
•Others receiving votes: Iowa 37, Illinois 23, Michigan State 16
Grand openings
The women’s season begins with a bang as three Big Ten teams are involved in Monday’s marquee matchups.
JuJu Watkins and USC face No. 20 Ole Miss in the opener of the Paris doubleheader (11 a.m., ESPN), followed by UCLA taking on No. 17 Louisville (1:30 p.m., ESPN2). And Michigan squares off with top-ranked and defending national champion South Carolina in Las Vegas (6:30 p.m., TNT).
The latter game is part of a women’s/men’s doubleheader at T-Mobile Arena, with the Ohio State men facing No. 19 Texas in the nightcap (9 p.m., TNT). The Buckeyes are the only Big Ten men’s team opening the season against another power-conference team.
Other big early events
As they do every year, the Michigan State men will join Duke, Kansas and Kentucky for the State Farm Champions Classic, with this year’s doubleheader taking place Nov. 12 in Atlanta. The Spartans will face the top-ranked Jayhawks in the opener (5:30 p.m., ESPN), followed by the No. 7 Blue Devils versus the No. 23 Wildcats.
Michigan State is also in the eight-team field for the Maui Invitational, which returns to Lahaina on Nov. 25-27 after last year’s event had to be relocated to Honolulu in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires. The Spartans open play against Colorado.
Indiana is one of eight teams playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 27-29 in the Bahamas. The Hoosiers open against Louisville.
Illinois has a Thanksgiving showcase game against coach John Calipari and Arkansas on Nov. 28 in Kansas City, Mo. (3 p.m., CBS-2).
There will be no Big Ten/ACC Challenge since ESPN no longer has the rights to air Big Ten home games.
On the women’s side, Los Angeles will be the site of a pair of marquee matchups in late November. USC plays host to No. 6 Notre Dame on Nov. 23, with South Carolina visiting Pauley Pavilion the next day to take on UCLA.
Important dates
Men
•March 12-16: Big Ten Tournament, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
•March 16: Selection Sunday
•March 18-19: NCAA Tournament First Four, Dayton, Ohio
•March 20-23: First and second rounds, Cleveland; Denver; Lexington, Ky.; Milwaukee; Providence, R.I.; Raleigh, N.C.; Seattle; and Wichita, Kan.
•March 27-30: Regional semifinals and finalsEast: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.South: State Farm Arena, AtlantaMidwest: Lucas Oil Stadium, IndianapolisWest: Chase Center, San Francisco
•April 5: Final Four, Alamodome, San Antonio
•April 7: NCAA championship game, Alamodome, San Antonio
Women
•March 5-9: Big Ten Tournament, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
•March 16: Selection Sunday
•March 19-20: NCAA Tournament First Four, top 16 seeds host
•March 21-24: First and second rounds, top 16 seeds host
•March 28-31: Regional semifinals and finals, Birmingham, Ala., and Spokane, Wash.
•April 4: Final Four, Amalie Arena, Tampa, Fla.
•April 6: NCAA championship game, Amalie Arena, Tampa, Fla.
5 men’s teams to watch
Purdue
The Boilermakers are coming off a 34-5 season that included their second straight outright Big Ten regular-season title and ended in the national championship game, which they lost 75-60 to UConn. With two-time consensus national player of the year Zach Edey gone to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, point guard Braden Smith becomes the leader of coach Matt Painter’s squad, which is expected to remain near the top of the conference.
Indiana
The Hoosiers finished sixth in the Big Ten last season, then lost to Nebraska in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in coach Mike Woodson’s three years in Bloomington. They’ll look to bounce back behind seven players Woodson brought in from the transfer portal, including 7-foot center Oumar Ballo, who averaged 12.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks at Arizona last season, and former Illinois forward Luke Goode (5.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg).
Rutgers
Looking to break a two-year NCAA Tournament drought, coach Steve Pikiell brought in the Nos. 2 and 3 high school recruits in the nation in forward Ace Bailey and guard Dylan Harper. The son of former Chicago Bulls guard Ron Harper was the most valuable player of the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Illinois
The Illini reached the Elite Eight last season for the first time since 2005 before falling to eventual national champion UConn. Ty Rodgers is the only major contributor who returns, but coach Brad Underwood reloaded with five freshmen and five transfers, including guards Kylan Boswell (Arizona) and Tre White (Louisville).
Northwestern
The Wildcats made the last two NCAA Tournaments, but coach Chris Collins will have to replace the leadership and scoring of all-conference guard Boo Buie. Brooks Barnhizer, Ty Berry, Matthew Nicholson and Nick Martinelli return, while guard Jalen Leach — who averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 rebounds last season at Fairfield — and 7-foot center Keenan Fitzmorris from Stony Brook are notable transfers.
5 women’s teams to watch
USC
The Trojans are coming off one of their best seasons in decades, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986 and reaching the Elite Eight for the first time since 1994. JuJu Watkins was a first-team All-American as a freshman, averaging 27.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen joined her on the preseason All-America team, and coach Lindsay Gottlieb also brought in guard Talia von Oelhoffen from Oregon State while bringing back center Rayah Marshall.
Ohio State
The Buckeyes won their second Big Ten regular-season title in three years but were upset by Maryland in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, then were upset as a No. 2 seed by Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State lost two core pieces from last season — leading scorer Jacy Sheldon and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor — but added transfers Chance Gray (Oregon) and Ajae Petty (Kentucky) as well as point guard Jaloni Cambridge, the No. 2 high school recruit in the country.
Indiana
The Hoosiers reached the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years before losing 79-75 to eventual national champion South Carolina. They finished 26-6 — coach Teri Moren’s ninth straight 20-win season in 10 years in Bloomington. Fifth-year guards Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish and junior guard Yarden Garzon are among the notable returning players.
Illinois
Kendall Bostic, Genesis Bryant and Makira Cook opted to return for their fifth season after helping the Illini win the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament — the program’s first postseason championship. Illinois is 41-25 in two seasons under coach Shauna Green, including a 19-17 Big Ten record.
Northwestern
The Wildcats are coming off back-to-back 9-21 seasons. Coach Joe McKeown added a pair of Chicago natives in freshman guard Xamiya Walton from Butler College Prep and Brown transfer Kyla Jones, who played in high school at Young.
