The 2012–13 Big Ten men's basketball season began with practices in October 2012, followed by the start of the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in early-January 2013, and concluded in March with the 2013 Big Ten men's basketball tournament at the United Center in Chicago. All conference regular season and tournament games were broadcast nationally. For the 37th consecutive season, the conference led the nation in attendance.
The conference enjoyed nine postseason invitations including seven to the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (NCAA Tournament). Eight of the nine postseason participants posted at least one win. The Conference compiled a 19–9 postseason record including a 14–7 record in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan was runner up in the NCAA Tournament and Iowa was runner-up in the 2013 National Invitation Tournament.
Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year Trey Burke won most National Player of the Year awards (Oscar Robertson Trophy, John R. Wooden Award, Associated Press POY, Sports Illustrated POY, NABC Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year), while Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Victor Oladipo won the Sporting News POY and Adolph Rupp Trophy. Oladipo also shared NABC Defensive Player of the Year with Jeff Withey. Four Big Ten athletes (Burke, Oladipo, Cody Zeller and Deshaun Thomas) earned 2013 NCAA All-American recognition (Burke, Oladipo and Zeller as consensus All-Americans). In addition, Jordan Hulls won the Senior CLASS Award and Aaron Craft earned Men's Basketball Academic All-American of the Year with Cody Zeller and Jordan Hulls also earning first and third team Academic All-America recognition, respectively. Craft was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2013 Big Ten tournament and national defensive player of the year per CBSSports.com. Burke also earned the Bob Cousy Award.
With Oladipo, Zeller and Burke being selected 2nd, 4th and 9th respectively in the 2013 NBA draft, the Big Ten had its first trio of top ten selections since the 1990 NBA draft. All five players who declared early for were drafted (Hardaway 24th and Thomas 58th).
Preseason Five teams were ranked in the preseason AP Poll and USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll: Indiana (number 1 AP/number 1 Coaches), Ohio State (4/4) Michigan (5/5), Michigan State (14/14) and Wisconsin (23/21). Minnesota was also receiving votes.
Preseason watchlists Below are lists selected by notable committees prior to the season that represent what they anticipate to be the most likely candidates to be recognized at the end of the season for their specific awards. They are called watchlists because they are lists of players to watch for each award. WoodenNaismithSenior CLASS Brandon Paul ILL Christian Watford IND Cody Zeller IND Jordan Hulls IND Trey Burke MICH Tim Hardaway Jr. MICH Keith Appling MSU Trevor Mbakwe MINN Drew Crawford NW Aaron Craft OSU Deshaun Thomas OSU Tim Frazier PSU Jared Berggren WIS
Preseason honors The following players were selected to the CBS Sports, Associated Press, Sporting News and ESPN preseason All-American teams and the preseason media All-Big Ten team. CBS AP TSN ESPN SI Big Ten Cody ZellerPOY1st1st1st1stPOY Deshaun Thomas3rd1st1st1st1st Trey Burke2nd1st3rd2nd2nd Trevor Mbakwe3rd Aaron Craft3rd2nd Tim Frazier
Preseason national polls
AP Coaches SI Athlon Lindy's Sporting News ! Blue RibbonIllinois Indiana 1 1 1 1 2 1 1Iowa Michigan 5 5 6 6 3 5 5Michigan State 14 1413 10 16 22 7Minnesota Nebraska Northwestern Ohio State 4 4 7 8 6 3 17Penn State Purdue Wisconsin 23 21 22 23 17 23
Preconference schedules Ohio State won the four-team Hall of Fame Tipoff tournament on November 18 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Indiana won the four-team Legends Classic on November 20 at Barclays Center. Illinois won the eight-team Maui Invitational Tournament on November 21 at Lahaina Civic Center. Michigan won the sixteen-team NIT Season Tip-off tournament on November 23 at Madison Square Garden. On November 24, Northwestern won the four-team South Padre Island Invitational.
Early-season tournament victories Name Dates No. teams Champion NIT Season Tip-Off November 12–13, 21, 2316Michigan Hall of Fame Tipoff November 16–184 Ohio State Legends Classic November 19–204* Indiana Maui Invitational tournament November 19–218 Illinois South Padre Island Invitational November 23, 248 Northwestern
*Although these tournaments include more teams, only the number listed play for the championship.
2012 ACC–Big Ten Challenge ACC–Big Ten Challenge results: DateTimeACC TeamBig Ten TeamLocationTelevisionAttendanceWinnerChallengeLeaderNovember 27, 2012 7:15 pm Virginia Tech Iowa Cassell Coliseum • Blacksburg, VA ESPNU 5,647 Virginia Tech (95–79) ACC (1–0) 7:15 pm Florida State #21 Minnesota Donald L. Tucker Center • Tallahassee, FL ESPN2 7,941 Minnesota (77–68) Tied (1–1) 7:30 pm #18 NC State #3 Michigan Crisler Arena • Ann Arbor, MI ESPN 12,693 Michigan (79–72) Big Ten (2–1) 9:15 pm Wake Forest Nebraska LJVM Coliseum • Winston-Salem, NC ESPNU 6,508 Nebraska (79–63) Big Ten (3–1) 9:15 pm Maryland Northwestern Welsh-Ryan Arena • Evanston, IL ESPN2 6,009 Maryland (77–57) Big Ten (3–2) 9:30 pm #14 North Carolina #1 Indiana Assembly Hall • Bloomington, IN ESPN 17,472 Indiana (83–59) Big Ten (4–2)November 28, 2012 7:00 pm Virginia Wisconsin Kohl Center • Madison, WI ESPN2 16,690 Virginia (60–54) Big Ten (4–3) 7:15 pm Clemson Purdue Littlejohn Coliseum • Clemson, SC ESPNU 7,632 Purdue (73–61) Big Ten (5–3) 7:30 pm Miami #13 Michigan State BankUnited Center • Coral Gables, FL ESPN 5,791 Miami (67–59) Big Ten (5–4) 9:00 pm Georgia Tech #22 Illinois Assembly Hall • Champaign, IL ESPN2 12,224 Illinois (75–62) Big Ten (6–4) 9:15 pm Boston College Penn State Bryce Jordan Center • University Park, PA ESPNU 6,889 Boston College (73–61) Big Ten (6–5) 9:30 pm #2 Duke #4 Ohio State Cameron Indoor Stadium • Durham, NC ESPN 9,314 Duke (73–68) Tied (6–6)
*All Times Eastern
Rankings
+ Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking Not ranked previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
Pre/Wk 1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 Wk19 Wk20 FinalIllinois AP 22 13 10 10 12 11 12 23 RV RV RV RV C 22 14 10 10 15 14 13 22 RV RV RV RV RV RVIndiana AP 1 (43) 1 (46) 1 (46) 1 (47) 1 (45) 1 (44) 6 5 5 5 2 (13) 7 3 1 (58) 1 (26) 1 (43) 1 (64) 2 (7) 3 4 C 1 (21) 1 (25) 1 (26) 1 (27) 1 (25) 1 (25) 6 5 5 5 2 (6) 8 3 1 (25) 2 (6) 1 (19) 1 (28) 2 3 4 7 Iowa AP C RV Michigan AP 5 5 4 3 3 3 2 (3) 2 (2) 2 (2) 2 (3) 5 (1) 2 (11) 1 (51) 3 4 7 4 7 6 T10 C 5 5 4 3 3 3 2 (1) 2 (1) 2 (1) 2 (1) 5 3 (1) 2 (14) 3 5 (1) 7 4 8 8 11 2Michigan State AP 14 21 15 13 19 19 20 19 18 22 18 13 13 12 8 4 9 10 8 9 C 14 22 19 14 17 19 T19 19 18 18 17 11 9 8 8 5 10 12 7 9 13Minnesota AP RV RV RV 21 14 13 13 11 9 8 9 12 23 18 RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV 21 16 16 14 13 10 12 14 24 18 RV RV RV RV Nebraska AP C Northwestern AP C Ohio State AP 4 4 3 4 7 7 7 10 8 15 11 14 11 10 13 18 16 14 10 7 C 4 4 3 4 7 7 7 10 8 14 11 15 11 10 14 18 15 13 9 6 6Penn State AP C Purdue AP C Wisconsin AP 23 22 RV RV RV RV RV RV 20 19 17 22 22 18 C 21 20 24 RV RV RV RV RV 19 17 16 21 23 17 22 By achieving high rankings throughout the season, the Big Ten was able to keep at least three teams in the top 10 of the national polls during 10 of the 11 weeks of the conference portion of the season. As a result, the Big Ten set a record for most matchups between two top 10 opponents in conference play with a total of 9 such games. Michigan played in six with a 3–3 record and Indiana played in five, winning all of them. Michigan State, Minnesota and Ohio State also played in top 10 games.
Conference Schedules Before the season, it was announced that for the sixth consecutive season, all regular season conference games and conference tournament games would be broadcast nationally by CBS Sports, ESPN Inc. family of networks including ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, and the Big Ten Network. During the season, the Big Ten led the nation in attendance for the 37th consecutive season with an average attendance of 13,114, which paced the nation's conferences by over 2,400 per game. The conference had 7 of the top 25 schools in terms of average attendance: Indiana (5th, 17,412), Wisconsin (7th, 16,843), Ohio State (9th, 16,524), Illinois (17th, 15,013), Michigan State (18th, 14,341), Iowa (21st, 13,625) and Minnesota (23rd, 12,580). The Big Ten distanced itself from other conferences: Big East (10, 699), SEC (10,571), Big 12 (10,289), and ACC (9,990).
Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season. Illinois IndianaIowaMichiganMichigan StMinnesotaNebraskaNorthwesternOhio StatePenn StatePurdueWisconsinvs. Illinois – 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 vs. Indiana1–0 – 0–2 0–2 0–2 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–2 1–0 vs. Iowa0–1 2–0 – 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–0 0–2 1–1 1–1 vs. Michigan0–2 2–0 0–1 – 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–0 vs. Michigan State0–1 2–0 0–1 1–1 – 1–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–2 vs. Minnesota1–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–1 – 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–1 1–0 1–1vs. Nebraska2–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–1 – 0–1 2–0 0–2 1–0 2–0vs. Northwestern1–1 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 – 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 vs. Ohio State1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–2 – 0–1 0–1 1–1 vs. Penn State1–0 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 – 2–0 2–0 vs. Purdue1–1 2–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 – 0–1 vs. Wisconsin0–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 2–0 1–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 0–2 1–0 – Total 8–10 14–4 9–9 12–6 13–5 8–10 5–13 4–14 13–5 2–16 8–10 12–6
On February 2, 2013, Michigan (number 1 AP/number 2 Coaches) and Indiana (3/3) appeared on ESPN's College GameDay at Assembly Hall. Indiana won 81–73, and the television broadcast of the game on ESPN set a Big Ten record for viewership with 4.035 million viewers.
The Iowa vs. Nebraska game, scheduled for February 21, 2013 at the Devany Center, was rescheduled for February 23 due to a winter storm.
Big Ten tournament seeding These are the Big Ten standings including tiebreakers and conference tournament games. Bold indicates the winner of the Big Ten tournament. + Legend Clinched first round bye in the Big Ten tournament Played in first round of the Big Ten tournament SeedSchoolConf*Tiebreak 1Tiebreak 2Conf**#1Indiana14–415–5#2Ohio State13–51–1 vs. MSU1–1 vs. IND16–5#3Michigan State13–51–1 vs. OSU0–2 vs. IND14–6#4Wisconsin12–61–0 vs. MICH14–7#5Michigan12–60–1 vs. WIS13–7#6Iowa9–910–10#7Purdue8–102–1 vs. ILL/MIN8–11#8Illinois8–102–2 vs. MIN/PUR9–11#9Minnesota8–101–2 vs. ILL/PUR8–11#10Nebraska5–136–14#11Northwestern4–144–15#12Penn State2–162–17 *Regular season record **Conference record including Big Ten tournament games
All tournament games were nationally broadcast. The tournament set an attendance record with 124,000 spectators attending 6 sessions, shattering the 109,769 total set for the 2001 tournament.
Player of the week Players of the week Throughout the conference regular season, the Big Ten offices named one or two players of the week each Monday.