NFL
By: Melo Williams
The 2024 TIAA Big Ten Conference men’s basketball tournament is set to kick off March 13-17 2024 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The top four seeds Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska, and Northwestern have earned double-bys and will begin play in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
Purdue (28-3, 17-3) won its league-best 26th Big Ten Conference championship and is the No.1 seed for the second consecutive year. Head Coach Matt Painter won Co-Coach of the Year, his assistant coach Brandon Brantley won the Howard Moore Assistant Coach of the Year award, and Zach Edey was announced Big Ten Conference Player of the Year for the second consecutive year and All-Big Ten 1st team.
Illinois (23-8, 14-6) is the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Terrence Shannon Jr. was named All-Big Ten First Team, Marcus Domask was named All-Big Ten 1st and 2nd Team, and Coleman Hawkins was named All-Big Ten Third Team.
Nebraska (22-9, 12-8) will claim the No. 3 seed. This is Nebraska’s best finish Big Ten finish since joining the conference in 2011-2012 and the program’s best conference finish since tying for second in the Big Eight in 1992-1993. The Cornhuskers 22 wins and 12 conference wins tied for second on the Huskers’ all-time single-season list. Keisei Tominaga was named All-Big Ten 2nd and 3rd team. Rink Mast was named All-Big Ten 3rd team.
Northwestern (21-10, 12-8) will be the No. 4 seed. Northwestern tied the program’s record with 12 conference wins. The Wildcats recorded 10-plus league wins in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history and secured a .500 or better conference record for the fourth time in the last 56 years. Northwestern’s 24 Big Ten conference wins over the last two seasons are the most in consecutive seasons in school history.
Boo Buie earned All-Big Ten First Team and Brooks Barnhizer earned 3rd team honors.
The Wisconsin Badgers is the No. 5 seed in the 2024 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament and begins postseason play on Thursday at approximately 1:30 p.m. (CT). The Badgers will face the winner between No. 12 seed Maryland and No. 13 seed Rutgers. If the Badgers win that game, they’ll face off against Northwestern.
Four Badgers earned All-Big Ten Honors, AJ Storr, Tyler Wahl, Chucky Hepburn, and John Blackwell.
AJ Storr was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team by both the coaches and the media. Storr averaged a team-high 16.2 points per game this season and became the first Badger to earn a spot on the All-Big Ten Second Team since Brad Davison in 2022.
Tyler Wahl and Chucky Hepburn earned Honorable Mention honors for the second time in their careers. Wahl earned Honorable Mention in 2022, and Chucky Hepburn in 2023.
Hepburn also earned All-Big Ten Defensive Team and became the ninth Badger to earn Big Ten All-Defensive Team recognition, and the first since both Ethan Happ and Zak Showalter earned a spot on the team in 2017.
Freshman John Blackwell who is averaging 8.5 PPG and shooting a team-high 48.1% from 3-point range this year earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team Honors. Blackwell is the ninth player in Badgers history to earn Big Ten All-Freshman honors. This is the third consecutive season that UW has had a player earn the honor. Chucky Hepburn earned the honor in 2022, Connor Essegian in 2023, now Blackwell in 2024.
Wisconsin has had five players named to the All-Freshman Team under head coach Greg Gard as Ethan Happ earned the honor in 2016 and Brad Davison in 2018.
Blackwell was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Week honoree for the fourth time this season. Blackwell is the first Badger to earn four Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards since Nigel Hayes in the 2013-14 season.
Chris Hodges was named the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient for Wisconsin.
The 2024 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, March 13 (First Round)
Game 1 (#12 Maryland vs. #13 Rutgers) – 5:30 p.m. CT (Peacock)
Game 2 (#11 Penn State vs. #14 Michigan) – 25 minutes following Game 1 (Peacock)
Thursday, March 14 (Second Round)
Game 3 (#8 Michigan State vs. #9 Minnesota) – 11 a.m. CT (BTN)
Game 4 (#5 Wisconsin vs. Game 1 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 3 (BTN)
Game 5 (#7 Iowa vs. #10 Ohio State ) – 5:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 6 (#6 Indiana vs. Game 2 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 5 (BTN)
Friday, March 15 (Quarterfinals)
Game 7 (#1 Purdue vs. Game 3 winner) – 11 a.m. CT (BTN)
Game 8 (#4 Northwestern vs. Game 4 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 7 (BTN)
Game 9 (#2 Illinois vs. Game 5 winner) – 5:30 p.m. CT (BTN)
Game 10 (#3 Nebraska vs. Game 6 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 9 (BTN)
Saturday, March 16 (Semifinals)
Game 11 (Game 7 vs. Game 8 winner) – noon CT (CBS)
Game 12 (Game 9 vs. Game 10 winner) – 25 minutes following Game 11 (CBS)
Sunday, March 17 (Championship)
Game 13 (Game 11 vs. Game 12 winner) – 2:30 p.m. CT (CBS)
NOTES: All times are approximate and subject to change … BTN games are also available on the FOX Sports app … CBS games are also available on the Paramount+ app … for more information, please visit the tournament website at (https://t.co/5cYviidSBm).
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