2011–12_Big_Ten_Conference_men's_basketball_season

2011–12 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season

2011–12 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season

Sports season


The 2011–12 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2015, followed by the start of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. The season marked the first season of participation of the Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball team in Big Ten competition. With the addition of Nebraska, all teams will play seven other teams twice and four teams once during the conference schedule, which continues to be 18 games.[1] The season commenced on October 14 when Michigan State and Minnesota celebrated Midnight Madness and three more conference schools hosted events on the 15th.[2] For the fifth consecutive season, all conference games were broadcast nationally with eight aired by CBS Sports, 36 carried by the ESPN Inc. family of networks including ESPN and ESPN2, while 64 games were carried by the Big Ten Network.[3][4] The conference led the nation in attendance for the 36th consecutive season.[5]

Quick Facts League, Sport ...
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The regular season ended with Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State tied for the league championship. Wisconsin finished in second place.

Michigan State's Draymond Green was named the Conference Player of the Year. Michigan State's Tom Izzo was named conference Coach of the Year.

Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana hosted the Big Ten tournament from March 8March 11.[6] Michigan State defeated Ohio State in the championship game to win the tournament championship. Draymond Green was also named tournament MVP. As a result, the Spartans received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Six teams (Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, and Wisconsin) received invitations to the NCAA tournament. The conference had an 116 record in the Tournament, with Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin reaching the Sweet Sixteen. Ohio State advanced to the Final Four. Three teams (Iowa, Minnesota, and Northwestern) received bids to the National Invitation Tournament. The conference had a 63 record with Minnesota losing in the championship game.

Preseason

Three teams were ranked in the preseason USA Today/ESPN poll: Ohio State (No. 3), Wisconsin (No. 14) and Michigan (No. 18), while Michigan State and Purdue were also receiving votes.[7] The Big Ten Basketball Media Day for men's and women's basketball was October 27 in Chicago.[8] The men's basketball media day was covered by ESPNU.[9]

Jared Sullinger was named preseason conference player of the year at the conference media day. Other preseason All-Big Ten first team selections were Draymond Green, Trevor Mbakwe, Robbie Hummel, and Jordan Taylor. Ohio State was chosen as the top team, followed by Wisconsin and Michigan State.[10] Sullinger and Taylor were also both preseason Associated Press All-Americans.[1] 5 of the 30 nominees for the men's basketball Lowe's Senior CLASS Award were from the Big Ten: Michigan's Zack Novak, Michigan State's Green, Ohio State's William Buford, Purdue's Hummel and Wisconsin's Taylor.[1]

Preseason watchlists

More information Tim Hardaway Jr. UM, Draymond Green MSU ...

Midseason award lists

Trey Burke, Aaron Craft, Tim Frazier, Lewis Jackson and Jordan Taylor are five of the nearly 60 Bob Cousy Award candidates named in December.[11] On January 4, Burke, Craft, and Taylor were included on the list of 20 finalists.[12] On February 2, the finalist list was shortened to 11, including Taylor and Craft.[13] William Buford, Draymond Green, Jared Sullinger, and Cody Zeller were included on the 25-man Wooden Midseason list on January 17.[14] Novak, Green, Buford and Hummel were among the 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award on January 25.[15] On February 6, Green, Sullinger and Zeller were included on the 20-player Oscar Robertson Trophy midseason watch list.[16] On February 15, Zeller was named one of five finalists for the USBWA National Freshman of the Year won the previous year by Sullinger.[17] On March 1, Zeller, Green, Sullinger and Taylor were named to the 30-player midseason Naismith Award watchlist.[18] On March 6, Green and Sullinger were named to the 15-man Wooden Award finalist list.[19] On March 19, Green became one of four finalists for the Naismith Award.[20] Sullinger and Green were among the 10 finalists for the Wooden Award, a designation termed as Wooden All-American.[21]

Regular season

For the full season, the Big Ten led the nation in attendance for the 36th consecutive season and posted its 20th consecutive year with two million attendanees. Average attendence of 12,868 was well ahead of other high major conferences: SEC (11,513), Big 12 (11,057), Big East (10,881) and ACC (9,876). The conference has six of the top 25 schools in terms of average attendance: Wisconsin (5th, 17,181), Ohio State (8th, 16,511), Indiana (9th, 16,462), Illinois (14th, 14,986), Michigan State (15th, 14,797) and Purdue (21st, 13,324). No other conference had more than 4 of the top 25.[22][23][24] Conference play officially began on Tuesday, December 27 when Illinois hosted Minnesota and Nebraska hosted its first conference game against 11th-ranked Wisconsin.[11]

During the season Big Ten Conference led the nation in Rating percentage index among all conferences. The conference boased 5 of the top 16 teams: Michigan State (number 3), Ohio State (number 6), Indiana (number 11), Michigan (number 15) and Wisconsin (number 16). All conference members were among the top 160 and the Big Ten was the only conference with exclusively top-180 members. The conference led the nation in both major elements of the index: combined winning percentage and strength of schedule index.[25]

Rankings

Legend
    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
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Early-season tournaments

Big Ten teams emerged victorious in the following tournaments: [26][27]

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*Although these tournaments include more teams, only the number listed play for the championship.

ACC–Big Ten Challenge

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Composite matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season.

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Players of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the Big Ten offices named a player of the week each Monday.

On January 17, Brandon Paul was named national player of the week by the United States Basketball Writers Association.[45][46]

On February 21 Draymond Green was named national player of the week by the USBWA.[47][48]

Honors and awards

Four players (Novak, Craft, Drew Crawford and Jared Berggren) were named Academic All-District, meaning that they were among the 40 finalists to be named to the 15-man Academic All-America Team.[49] Craft was named to the first team, Crawford to the second team and Novak to the third team, giving the Big Ten three Academic All-Americans, which was more than any other conference.[50][51]

Conference honors

Two sets of conference award winners were recognized by the Big Ten - one selected by league coaches and one selected by the media.[52][53]

More information Honor, Coaches ...

The leading scorer for the year was John Shurna with an average of 20.0 and the leading rebounder was Draymond Green with an average of 10.6.[25]

NABC

The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All‐District teams on March 14, recognizing the nation’s best men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, 240 student-athletes, from 24 districts were chosen. The selection on this list were then eligible for the State Farm Coaches’ Division I All-America teams. The following list represented the Big Ten players chosen to the list.[54] Since the Big Ten Conference was its own district, this is equivalent to being named All-Big Ten by the NABC.[55]

USBWA

On March 6, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2011–12 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.[56]

National postseason honors

Sullinger and Green were first team 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans by The Sporting News, while Zeller was a member of their All-Freshman team.[57] Green and Sullinger were also first team All-American selections by the United States Basketball Writers Association.[58] On March 20, the NABC chose Green and Sullinger as a first team All-Americans.[59] Sullinger and Green were named first team Associated Press All-Americans, making them unanimous first team selections. Trey Burke, Robbie Hummel, Jordan Taylor, John Shurna, and Cody Zeller were honorable mention selections.[60] Hummel was named the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award winner.[61] Aaron Craft won the Elite 89 Award.[62][63] Green was named the NABC Player of the Year.[64] 41 men's basketball players in their second year or beyond earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition for carrying a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.[65]

CBSSports.com used a modified selection process that resulted in Green being named a first team All-American, while Sullinger and Burke were second team selections. The process derided the traditional basketball All-American process of naming the best players and was modelled on the All-Pro or NHL All-Star team formula of choosing the best players by position.[66] Shurna was also selected to participate in the NABC 2012 Reese's Division I All-Star Game at the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament final four.[67]

Postseason

Big Ten tournament

First round
Thursday, March 8
ESPN2/BTN
Quarterfinals
Friday, March 9
ESPN/BTN
Semifinals
Saturday, March 10
CBS
Championship
Sunday, March 11
CBS
            
1 Michigan State 92
8 Iowa 75
8 Iowa 64
9 Illinois 61
1 Michigan State 65
4 Wisconsin 52
4 Wisconsin 79
5 Indiana 71
5 Indiana 75
12 Penn State 58
1 Michigan State 68
3 Ohio State 64
2 Michigan 73OT
10 Minnesota 69
7 Northwestern 68
10 Minnesota 75OT
2 Michigan 55
3 Ohio State 77
3 Ohio State 88
6 Purdue 71
6 Purdue 79
11 Nebraska 61

NCAA tournament

The Big Ten had six teams in the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament: Michigan State earned the automatic bid and a number 1 seed, while Indiana (2 seed), Michigan (4 seed), Ohio State (4 seed), Purdue (4 seed), Wisconsin (10 seed). With 5 top-4-seeded teams, the Big Ten tied the tournament record since seeding began in 1979. The Big Ten matched its conference best and for 2012 national lead with four Sweet Sixteen participants (Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State Wisconsin) and was the only conference with multiple entrants to have half its teams make the Elite Eight round. Ohio State achieved its conference leading 10th final four.[25]

More information # of Bids, Record ...
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National Invitation Tournament

All three Big Ten entrants in the 2012 National Invitation Tournament won their opening games and Minnesota reached the championship game before losing.[25]

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Other tournaments

The Big Ten did not have any entrants in the other post season tournaments.

2012 NBA draft

The following current 1st, 2nd & 3rd team All-Big Ten performers were listed as seniors: Draymond Green, Robbie Hummel, John Shurna, Jordan Taylor, Matt Gatens, William Buford. Former All-Big Ten performer and fifth-year Trevor Mbakwe has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA,[68] and he has opted to use it.[69] The deadline for entering the NBA draft is April 29, but once one has declared, the deadline for withdrawing the declaration and retaining NCAA eligibility is April 10.[70] The deadline for submitting information to the NBA Advisory Committee for a 72-hour response is April 3.[71]
The following Big Ten underclassmen have sought the advice of the NBA's undergraduate advisory committee to determine his draft prospects: Trey Burke[71]
The following Big Ten underclassmen declared early for the 2011 draft: Jared Sullinger,[72] Meyers Leonard[73]
The following Big Ten underclassmen entered their name in the draft but who did not hire agents and opted to return to college:

The following Big Ten players were drafted in the 2012 NBA draft.[74]

Pre-draft trades

Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between the teams.

  1. On February 23, 2011, the Golden State Warriors acquired Troy Murphy and a 2012 second-round draft pick (the 35th pick) from the New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) in exchange for Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric.[75]
  2. On December 13, 2011, the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Robert Vaden, a 2012 second-round draft pick (the 58th pick) and a future conditional second-round draft pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Lazar Hayward.[76]

References

  1. "Big Ten Men's Basketball Weekly Release - Nov. 9, 2011: All 12 Big Ten teams open 2011-12 season this weekend". CBS Interactive. November 14, 2011. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  2. "It's Madness!". CBS Interactive. October 14, 2011. Archived from the original on October 18, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  3. "Big Ten Releases CBS Sports and ESPN Men's Basketball Conference Schedule". CBS Interactive. September 6, 2011. Archived from the original on November 7, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  4. "Big Ten Leads Nation in Attendance for 36th Straight Year". CBS Interactive. May 11, 2012. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  5. "Three Big Ten Teams Ranked in Preseason Coaches Poll". CBS Interactive. October 20, 2011. Archived from the original on October 23, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  6. Miller, Travis (October 12, 2011). "Big Ten Basketball Media Day: Players List Announced". SB Nation. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  7. "College Basketball Media Days on ESPNU Tips Off with the ACC on October 19". ESPN. October 13, 2011. Archived from the original on October 20, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  8. "Sullinger, Ohio State Chosen as Preseason Big Ten Favorites". CBS Interactive. October 27, 2011. Archived from the original on November 1, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  9. "Big Ten Men's Basketball Weekly Release - Dec. 26, 2011: Conference play begins Tuesday night". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. December 26, 2011. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  10. "Three Big Ten Players Named Cousy Award Finalists". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. January 4, 2012. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  11. "Basketball Hall of Fame Announces Final 11 candidates for 2012 Bob Cousy Award" (PDF). CousyAward.com. February 2, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 15, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  12. Auerbach, Nicole (January 17, 2012). "25 Wooden Award finalists announced". USA Today. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  13. "Big Ten Student-Athletes Named Finalists for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. January 25, 2012. Archived from the original on January 31, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
  14. "Wooden Award finalists named". ESPN. March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  15. "Wooden team includes Final Four trio". ESPN. March 26, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  16. "Big Ten Leads Nation in Attendance for 36th Straight Year". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. May 11, 2012. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  17. Johnson, Gary (May 10, 2012). "Men's basketball attendance still strong". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  18. "Early Seasons Tourneys 2011". ESPN. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  19. "Northwestern and Indiana Take Home Weekly Awards". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. November 21, 2011. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  20. "Michigan Sweeps Weekly Honors: Burke and Hardaway Jr. Lead Wolverines to Third-Place Finish at Maui Invitational". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. November 28, 2011. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  21. "Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State Reel in Weekly Honors: Watford, Burke and Green claim conference awards". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. December 12, 2011. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  22. "Indiana and Ohio State Claim Men's Basketball Weekly Laurels". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. December 19, 2011. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
  23. "Illinois and Iowa Claim Weekly Men's Basketball Awards". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. December 26, 2011. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  24. "Michigan and Michigan State Earn Weekly Honors". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. January 2, 2012. Archived from the original on January 3, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  25. "Big Ten Sweeps National Player of the Week Awards". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. January 17, 2012. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  26. "Illinois' Paul Is Oscar Robertson National Player Of The Week". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. January 17, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  27. "Green Named National Player of the Week". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. February 21, 2012. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  28. "Michigan State's Green Is Oscar Robertson National PLayer Of The Week". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. February 21, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  29. "Four Big Ten Basketball Players Named Academic All-America". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. February 23, 2012. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  30. "2011-12 All-Big Ten Men's Basketball Team" (PDF). BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. March 5, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  31. Bean, Doug (March 29, 2012). "Craft gets another academic accolade". CBS Sports/CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  32. "Big Ten Recognizes Winter Academic All-Big Ten Honorees". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. March 28, 2012. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  33. Parrish, Gary and Jeff Goodman. "Kansas' Robinson worthy of POY, but Kentucky's Davis is better". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  34. "Harvard's Wright Selected to Play in the 2012 NABC Division I All-Star Game". IvyLeagueSports.com. March 26, 2012. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  35. "Trevor Mbakwe considering returning". ESPN. March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  36. "Trevor Mbakwe returning to Gophers". ESPN. April 16, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  37. Snyder, Mark (March 21, 2012). "Michigan's Trey Burke inquiring about NBA draft status". USA Today. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  38. "Jared Sullinger entering draft". ESPN. April 4, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  39. "Meyers Leonard to enter NBA draft". ESPN. April 3, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  40. "2012 NBA Draft". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
  41. "Warriors Acquire Troy Murphy and 2012 Second Round Draft Pick from New Jersey". NBA.com. February 23, 2011. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  42. "Timberwolves Trade Lazar Hayward to Oklahoma City". NBA.com. December 13, 2011. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2012.

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