For the second consecutive year, the kickoff event for Big Ten men's and women's basketball will be in Minneapolis when the conference's media days are being held at Target Center.
The women's teams will take the stage Monday morning, with all 14 coaches holding news conferences. Select players from each team will also meet with the media into the afternoon. The men's teams will do the same on Tuesday.
Big Ten Network will run coverage on both days from 8:30 a.m. to about 2 p.m. First-year Gophers women's coach Dawn Plitzuweit and Gophers men's coach Ben Johnson will meet the media at 10:40 a.m., Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Target Center is also the site of the Big Ten women's and men's basketball tournaments this spring after hosting the women's tournament last year. This year's women's tournament is from March 6-10, with the men's tournament March 13-17.
Three women's story lines
It's all about Caitlin Clark
Who has done more for the popularity of women's college basketball lately than Clark? Still waiting. Nobody. The most prolific scorer in the nation, Clark is back at Iowa for her fourth year, but we still don't know if it will be her last. She led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA title game last year, logging back-to-back 41-point games in the process. Entering the season having scored 2,717 points, Clark will likely need only four years to set the NCAA career scoring record. She needs only 811 to pass former University of Washington star Kelsey Plum in that category. The question, though, is this: Can Clark and Iowa do it all again, given that both Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock are gone? The play of Hannah Stuelke, last season's Big Ten sixth player of the year, will be key.
Defending a title
Indiana lost Grace Berger. But Mackenzie Holmes, a first-team All-America player last year, is back, as are three other starters and a top reserve, former Gophers player Sara Scalia. Last year the Hoosiers won the Big Ten regular-season title, earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament … and lost, in the second round, to a Miami (Fla.) team that made it to the regional finals before losing to eventual national champion LSU. Can Indiana repeat as conference champs? Can they make a deeper run in the NCAA tournament?
Illini intrigue
Illinois isn't necessarily one of the favorites to contend for a conference title. But consider: The Illini finished sixth in the conference before advancing to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament and received their first NCAA tournament bid in 20 years. Quick, fast and athletic, Illinois returns all five starters from last year's team, including Makira Cook, who was a first-team all-conference player last year, Kendall Bostic and Genesis Bryant (both second team) and former Park Center star Adalia McKenzie (honorable mention).
Three men's story lines
Boiler best
Purdue is expected to be the preseason pick to win the Big Ten. The Boilermakers, who return national player of the year and preseason Big Ten player of the year Zach Edey, were ranked No. 1 in the nation for eight weeks last season. They were No. 3 in the final Associated Press poll, the highest program finish since 1993-94. But the season ended with a major disappointment, as the Boilermakers became the second No. 1 seed to ever lose in the NCAA tournament first round, falling to Farleigh Dickinson.
