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The Big Ten Basketball Tournament will be held March 11th through the 14th in Indianapolis, IN at the Conseco Fieldhouse. Michigan State has led the conference for much of the season, but the top 5 teams in the conference this season included State, Ohio State, Purdue, Illinois, and Wisconsin. All of the teams are expecting to make the NCAA tournament with the regular season title still being open at Valentines Day. Wisconsin has exceeded expectations this season, and Illinois has been peaking as we move into the later portion of the Big Ten conference schedule.

One of the neat marketing efforts that is happening this year for the Big Ten basketball tournament is the local pubs and restaurants associating themselves with different teams. The following is the listing put out by the Indianapolis Visitors bureau if you are going to find your self watching the 2010 Big Ten tournament in person.

Team/Establishment/Address/Phone Number
llinois – The Ram (140 S. Illinois; 317-955-9900)
Indiana – Kilroy’s Bar & Grill (201 S. Meridian St.; 317-638-9464)
Iowa – Claddagh Irish Pub (234 S. Meridian St.; 317-822-6274)
Michigan – O’Reilly’s Irish Bar and Restaurant (36 S. Pennsylvania; 317-974-0674)
Michigan State – Slippery Noodle (372 S. Meridian; 317-631-6974)
Minnesota – Alcatraz Brewing Co. (49 W. Maryland St.; Circle Centre Mall; 317-488-1230)
Northwestern – Buffalo Wings & Rings (111 W. Maryland St.; 317-822-8400)
Ohio State – Champps (49 W. Maryland St.; Circle Centre Mall; 317-951-0033)
Penn State – Harry & Izzy’s (153 S. Illinois; 317-635-9594)
Purdue – Scotty’s Brewhouse (1 Virginia Ave.; 317-571-0808)
Wisconsin – Buffalo Wild Wings (7 E. Washington; 317-951-9464)

2010 Big Ten Basketball Tournament

2010 Big Ten Tournament – First Round – March 11, 2010
Game 1: # 8 Michigan vs. # 9 Iowa         2:30 p.m. ET    ESPN2
Game 2: #7 Northwestern vs. #10 Indiana       25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1   ESPN2
Game 3: #6 Minnesota vs. #11 Penn State       25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2  |  Big Ten Network

2010 Big Ten Basketball Tournament – Quarter Finals – March 12, 2010
Game 4: #1 Ohio State vs. Game 1 Winner    Noon ET                                                             ESPN
Game 5: #4 Wisconsin vs. # 5 Illinois                25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 4  ESPN
Game 6: #2 Purdue vs. Game 2 Winner    6:30 p.m. ET   Big Ten Network
Game 7: #3 Michigan State vs. Game 3 Winner   25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 6  Big Ten Network

2010 Big Ten Basketball Tournament – Semi Finals – March 13, 2010
Semifinal 1     12:00 p.m.     ABC
Semifinal 2     2:15pm.          ABC

2010 Big Ten Basketball Tournament 2010 – Championship – March 14, 2010
Championship Game     12 p.m.     ABC

The Big 10 is coming off of a great season that culminated with Michigan State making it to the 2009 NCAA championship game before ultimately losing to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Many preseason college basketball rankings have the Spartans in the top 5 in the 2009-10 preseason polls.

Only two Big 10 teams finished the 2008-09 season with losing records: Iowa at 15-17 and Indiana at 6-25. Every other team in the conference was over .500 with 8 teams amassing more than 20 wins, two of those 8 being over 25 wins, and Michigan State finishing at 31-7. State returns a solid core lineup for the 2009-10 NCAA basketball season, led by guard Kalin Lucas with Purdue, Ohio State, Illinois, and Michigan being close behind the Spartans in the race for the 2010 Big Ten championship.

2009 Big-10 Basketball Rankings

#1 2009 Big-10 Basketball Team – Michigan State

State made it to the NCAA championship game last season. They bring back a solid core with Kalin Lucas back to lead the Spartans this season. Lucas will be looked upon to score at or above his 14.7 ppg average last season and has Raymar Morgan coming back for his senior year after averaging 10.2 ppg and 5.3 rbg last season to help State in their quest to make it back to the Final Four and NCAA title games.

#2 2009 Big-10 Basketball Team – Purdue

Purdue had a great 2008-09 season finishing second in the Big 10 at 11-7 in conference play and 27-10 overall. The Boilermakers leading scorers from last season were JaJuan Johnson at 13.4 ppg, E’Twaun Moore at 13.8 ppg, and Robbie Hummel at 12.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg. With the number of returning upper classmen returning, there is plenty of talent on the squad this year to compete for the Big 10 title and potentially run deep in the 2010 NCAA tournament.

#3 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Ohio State

Ohio State wants to get back to their 2007 form when the Buckeyes went 15-1 in Big Ten play and made the NCAA title game. State returns three players who averaged more than 10 points per game last season in William Buford, Jon Diebler, and Evan Turner. Turner coming back this season after averaging 17.3 points per game last year gives the Buckeyes an outside shot at up-ending Purdue or Michigan State for the Big 10 title this season.

#4 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Illinois

The top three scorers return for the Illini and they have an extremely strong recruiting class coming in. The top three scorers from 2008-09 were Mike Davis at 11.3 ppg and 8.1 rpg, Demetri McCamey at 11.5 ppg, and Mike Tisdale at 10.2 ppg and 4.0 ppg. After being a bit of a surprise to everyone last season, the Illini will have a higher standard to live up to this year to meet or better their tie for 2^nd in the Big 10 from 2009.

#5 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Michigan

DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris come back having averaged 15.4 and 16.9 ppg las season respectfully. Last year, the Wolverines lacked a robust upfront presence which hurt them at times. They finished the year at 9-9 in Big Ten play, but are expecting to improve on that record in the upcoming season with having a deeper roster.

#6 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Minnesota

Coach Tubby Smith brings his top 9 scorers back from last season’s team that finished 22-11, and 9-9 in Big 10 play. He has a deep bench, although he only has two senior’s on the squad this year. The leading scorer from last year’s squad is guard, Lawrence Westbrook who scored at a 12.6 ppg clip.

#7 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Wisconsin

Coach Bo Ryan will likely have trouble exceeding 20 wins like he did last year with the Badgers. Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes return having averaged 10.3ppg and 12.1 ppg last season. Look for Wisconsin to end up in the middle to lower portion of the Big 10 this coming season.

#8 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Northwestern

Kevin Coble is the lead returning scorer on this year’s squad having averaged 15.5 ppg last season. They made the postseason for the first time in a long time last year getting to the NIT. The team has improved, but not at the pace of the rest of the conference. Look for another solid year out of the Wildcats, but they will not likely finish above seventh in the Big 10 this season.

#9 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Penn State

Its worth watching Penn State just to see Talor Battle run the point. He averaged 16.7 ppg and 5.0 assists per game last year. The Nittany Lions won the 2009 NIT for the school’s first national tournament title in basketball ever. They will be looking to try to make the NCAA tournament this year after setting a school record for victories last year with 27. A lot will depend on how quickly this year’s team develops after losing Jamelle Cornley and Stanley Pringle from last year’s squad.

#10 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Indiana

The good news is that Coach Tom Cream’s twitter account should not be the main attraction for Hoosiers fans this year. The bad news is that the upgraded talent he has been bringing in to IU will not likely be enough to break back into familiar Hoosier territory in the upper portion of the Big 10. New recruit, Maurice Creek should be exciting to watch this season, and IU will definitely improve on their 1-17 Big 10 record from last year. Look out for IU in the 2010-11 season at this point.

#11 2009 PAC-10 Basketball Team – Iowa

Iowa lost most of their core players from last year’s team that finished 15-17. Matt Gates and Anthony Tucker averaged 10.8 ppg and 10.4 ppg last year respectfully. Look for another down year for Coach Todd Likliter’s Hawkeyes this year.

Of the top 5 teams in the pre-season college basketball Top-25, Kansas is the only team who is returning the majority of their starters from last season. The Big East has been the dominant conference over the past several seasons with the ACC a close second, however the other major conferences have made some major in-roads in that time. The SEC has made a huge jump this season with Coach Calipari’s re-birth of the Kentucky program and the signing of the one best recruiting classes in NCAA history. The ACC comes in at a respectable leve, just with a lot of questions to answer with the number of graduations and players who have left for the NBA draft. The following are how I hold the top 10 conferences headin into the start of the college year.

#1 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference – Big Ten

The Big Ten had a break-through year last year with seven of its members making the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The conference is considered by many to be even stronger this year with a potential to send eight teams to the 2010 NCAA tournament. Heading into the start of the college season, the Big Ten is led by Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan. Penn State and Wisconsin also look like they could end up with at-large bids to the 2010 Tourney. The incoming recruiting classes for the Big 10 are not as strong as some of the other conferences, but that should not be an impact for the 2009-10 season. Some of the returning players that will lead their teams in the 2009-10 NCAA basketball season are: Evan Turner (Ohio State), Kalin Lucas (Michigan State), Robbie Hummel (Purdue) and Manny Harris (Michigan).

#2 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference -ACC

Many folks are putting the ACC below the Big 10 and Big 12 this coming season, but I don’t think the conference will be down that far this season. North Carolina will miss Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson, but they have a crop of McDonald’s All-American’s who have been waiting their turn to show what they can do. Wake returns Al-Farouq Aminu who skipped his chance at the 2009 NBA draft and Maryland looks like they will break into the upper-portion of the ACC this season with Greivis Vasquez returning this season. Duke may also quietly creep up in the national rankings and ACC standings as Coack K’s squad becomes more seasoned during the season.

#3 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference -SEC

The SEC has had two down years after the Florida Gators won back-back NCAA titles. Even if John Calipari had not migrated to Lexington to re-birth the Kentucky, the SEC would have been assessed higher this season, however, with Coach Cal bringing the number 1 NCAA recruiting class to Kentucky along with keeping star post-player Patrick Patterson for one more season, there are a lot of expectations for this season’s Kentucky team. Some mock drafts have Kentucky with as many as three lottery picks on the squad and four first round overall picks. Tennesssee and Mississippi State return Tyler Smith and Jarvis Varnado back this coming season, and the SEC is finally back to having a number of teams in the Top 25. Vanderbilt, LSU, Florida, and Ole Miss could all see the Top 25 once the season gets going depending on how other conference teams play. A big test to see where the SEC stands will be after Kentucky has played North Carolina, Indianna, Louisville, and UCONN in their pre-conference games.

#4 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference - Big 12

The Big 12 is strong at the top with Kansas as the pre-season number 1 and Texas. Two of the NCAA’s top post players are playing in the Big 12 this season with Kansas’ COle Aldrich and Iowa State’s Craig Brackins. Other notable players returning this season are James Anderson of Oklahoma State, Willie Warren of Oklahoma, Damion James of Texas, K-State’s Jacob Pullen, and A+M’s Donald Sloan. Some of the top Big 12 recruits are Avery Bradley (Texas), Keith Gallon (Oklahoma), and Xavier Henry (Kansas). The Big 12 has the potential to put a number of teams in the NCAA tournament for 2010 and could make a case to supplant the SEC or ACC in the top 10 conferences in the country.

#5 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference -Big East

The Big East is down a bit from last season with a number of stars departing for the 2009 NBA draft. Villanova brings in the number 2 overall NCAA recruiting class, and West Virginia comes into conference play with a strong returning class this season. UCONN will have point guard Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson as well as Stanley Robinson and Gavin Edowards inside. Ater Majok will see more playing time as the season progresses for the Huskies and they may just walk away with the Big East title. There will be a lot of fans watching well-known recruit Lance Stephenson of Cincinnati and Louisville will also be in the mix as Coach Pitino’s players proceed through the season.

#6-10 Pre-Season College Basketball Conferences

#6 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference – PAC 10

#7 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference – Mountain West

#8 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference – Conference USA

#9 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference – Atlantic 10

#10 Pre-Season Top 5 College Basketball Conference – Horizon