Big Ten facts and figures
May 7—College basketball writer Scott Richey shines a light on the Big Ten by offering up 10 interesting tidbits about the league ahead of the 2023-24 season:
1 Illinois coach Brad Underwood topped 100 wins in Champaign last season and currently sits at sixth all-time in program history with 114. Only Lou Henson (423), Harry Combes (316), Bruce Weber (210), Doug Mills (151) and J. Craig Ruby (148) have more. Underwood is also narrowing in on 250 wins in his career and could hit that mark in the 2023-24 season if the Illini win at least 27 games.
2 Illinois, as a program, is closing in on 1,000 Big Ten wins with just 11 more to go. Underwood has 66 Big Ten wins in his first six seasons and 55 — more than any other team in the conference — in the last four.
3 Tom Izzo has a bigger milestone in sight. The Michigan State coach is 686-278 in his time with the Spartans, and 14 wins to get to 700 seems rather likely given he'll have a top 10 team in the 2023-24 season. Izzo currently ranks 10th among active coaches with his 686 wins and trails only West Virginia's Bob Huggins (934), Kentucky's John Calipari (790), Kansas' Bill Self (787), Tennessee's Rick Barnes (779), Oregon's Dana Altman (731), Houston's Kelvin Sampson (731), Miami's Jim Larranaga (725), St. John's Rick Pitino (711) and Gonzaga's Mark Few (689).
4 Izzo is the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten and will enter his 29th season in 2023-24. That longevity is a trait he shares with several other coaches in the conference. Penn State's Mike Rhoades is the only new guy next season, and Purdue's Matt Painter, Iowa's Fran McCaffery and Northwestern's Chris Collins have all hit double-digit seasons with their respective programs. Painter is the closest to Izzo and is still a decade behind as he goes into his 19th year with the Boilermakers.
5 Terrence Shannon Jr. is still determining his next step. The Illinois guard has declared for the 2023 NBA draft and has until May 31 to decide if he'll stay in or play another season of college basketball. Should the 6-foot-6 guard come back to the Illini he could hit 1,000 points just at Illinois if he repeats his production from his first year in orange and blue.
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6 Shannon isn't the only Illinois player weighing the pros and cons of the NBA draft. Coleman Hawkins is doing the same. Should neither of them return to Illinois, Dain Dainja will be the team's top returning scorer with 315 points with the Illini. That's six points shy of Sencire Harris, Ty Rodgers and Luke Goode's career scoring combined.
7 The Big Ten could have as many as five first-round draft picks in the 2023 NBA draft in Ohio State's Brice Sensabaugh, Michigan's Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin, Indiana's Jalen Hood-Schifino and Iowa's Kris Murray. Should Howard and Bufkin both go in the first 30 picks, that would be 30 all-time first-round picks for the Wolverines. Michigan has the sixth-most in NCAA history currently, with a two-pick lead on Indiana.
8 The Big Ten has boasted at least one consensus first or second team All-American in each of the last 14 seasons and multiple All-Americans in 11 of those seasons. Like in 2022-23 when Purdue's Zach Edey, Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis and Penn State's Jalen Pickett earned such honors. That streak could be at risk in 2023-24. Unless Edey returns. Or maybe Shannon.
9 Michigan State is still the last NCAA champion out of the Big Ten. A streak of tournament futility now stretching two-plus decades since Maryland's 2002 title came when the Terrapins were still in the ACC and therefore doesn't count. The 22 titles won since Michigan State in 2000 have gone to 12 total teams. Reigning champion Connecticut has won four, and Duke and North Carolina have three apiece.
10 Future Big Ten teams UCLA and Southern California — they're inbound in the 2024-25 season — will only boost the level of competition within the conference. The Bruins have gone 99-36 in four seasons under Mick Cronin and reached two Sweet 16s and a Final Four. The Trojans are 205-129 in a decade with Andy Enfield and have reached five NCAA tournaments with one Elite Eight appearance.
