The 2021–22 Big Ten men's basketball season was the season for

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

basketball teams that began with practices in October 2021, followed by the start of the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November 2021. The regular season ended in March 2022. With a win over

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

on March 1, 2022,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship.

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

clinched a share of the regular season titled on March 6 when Wisconsin lost its final game to

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

and the Illini held on to beat

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. It marked the first conference championship for Illinois since

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. The Big Ten tournament was held March 9 through March 13, 2022 at

Gainbridge Fieldhouse Gainbridge Fieldhouse is an indoor arena located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It opened in November 1999 to replace Market Square Arena. The arena is the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and ...

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. Iowa won the tournament, defeating Purdue in the championship game. Wisconsin forward Johnny Davis was named Big Ten Player of the Year. Wisconsin coach

Greg Gard Gregory Glen Gard (born December 3, 1970) is an American college basketball coach for the Wisconsin Badgers . Gard took over on December 15, 2015, after Bo Ryan announced his retirement as head coach of the Badgers. Gard is a native of Cobb Wisco ...

was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. In addition to Iowa, who received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the conference's tied the previous year's record with nine teams receiving bids to the tournament: Illinois,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, Purdue,

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

, and Wisconsin.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Indiana

On March 15, 2021,

fired Archie Miller after four years as head basketball coach. Two weeks later, the school named former Indiana player and

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

assistant

Mike Woodson Michael Dean Woodson (born March 24, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team. With coach Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers, Woodson played collegiate ...

as the new head coach.

Minnesota

Following the season,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

fired head coach

Richard Pitino Richard William Pitino (born September 16, 1982) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team. From 2013 to 2021, he was head coach of the University of Minnesota Golden Gop ...

after eight years at the school. On March 23, the school named Minnesota alum and former Minnesota assistant coach

Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to: In sports Association football * Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer * Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player Other codes of football *Ben Johnson (Australian foot ...

the new head coach.

Penn State

Shortly before the start of the 2020–21 season,

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

head coach

Pat Chambers Patrick Brian Chambers (born December 13, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and is the current head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. He is formerly the head men's basketball coach at Penn State and Boston University. Biograph ...

resigned due to allegations of inappropriate conduct. The school named assistant coach

Jim Ferry James A. Ferry Jr. (born July 9, 1967) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team. He formerly served as interim head coach for the 2020–2021 season at Penn State and the ...

interim coach. Following the season, the school hired

assistant coach

Micah Shrewsberry Micah Shrewsberry (born July 31, 1976) is an American basketball coach and former college basketball player who is the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Playing career Shrewsberry attended Cat ...

as the new head coach.

Maryland

On December 3, 2021,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Mark Turgeon Mark Leo Turgeon (born February 5, 1965) is an American college basketball coach. Turgeon served as the head men's basketball coach at Jacksonville State University from 1998 to 2000, Wichita State University from 2000 to 2007, Texas A&M Univers ...

agreed to part ways effective immediately. Assistant coach

Danny Manning Daniel Ricardo Manning (born May 17, 1966) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the Associate Head Mens Basketball Coach at the University of Louisville. Manning played high school basketball at Walter Hin ...

was named interim coach.

Coaches

''Notes:'' * All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only. * Year at school includes 2021–22 season. * Overall and Big Ten records are from time at current school only and are through the beginning of the season. * Turgeon's ACC conference record excluded since Maryland began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15. Turgeon left Maryland on December 3, 2021.

Preseason

Preseason Big Ten poll

Prior to the conference's annual media day, unofficial awards and a poll were chosen by a panel of writers.

Preseason All-Big Ten

Prior to the conference's annual media day, unofficial awards and a poll were chosen by a panel of writers.

Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.

Preseason national polls

Regular season

Rankings

* AP does not release a post-tournament poll.

Early season tournaments

Of the 14 Big Ten teams, 10 participated in early season tournaments. All Big Ten teams participated in the

ACC–Big Ten Challenge The ACC–Big Ten Challenge (or Big Ten–ACC Challenge as it was called in alternating years) was an in-season NCAA Division I men's college basketball series that matched up teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Big Ten Confer ...

against

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

teams, the 21st year for the event. Eight teams participated in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.

Players 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.

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 20 conference games, and at least one game against each opponent.

Honors and awards

All-Big Ten awards and teams

On March 8, 2022, the Big Ten announced most of its conference awards.

Postseason

Big Ten tournament

NCAA Tournament

The winner of the Big Ten Tournament, Iowa, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Nine Big Ten teams received bids to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year, the most of any conference in the tournament.

References

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