BTN.com staff, October 16, 2014
BTN & BTN2Go aired the 2014 Big Ten Basketball Media Day live on Thursday. The Big Ten Media Day TV show will air again at 8 p.m. ET Thursday. Video of each coach's press conferences is also posted inside this post.
A topic of conversation at Big Ten Media Day was the new scheduling format, which was necessitated with the additions of Maryland and Rutgers to make the Big Ten a 14-team league.
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League teams will play five double-plays and eight single-plays each season. It will be a true rotation without protected rivals or preference to geography. Previously, Big Ten squads have seven double-plays and four single-plays that rotated every two years.
?I think with where we are right now and adding obviously Rutgers and Maryland as members 13 and 14, yeah, I think it makes sense,? said Illinois coach John Groce. ?Obviously in a perfect world, I think everyone would love a round-robin where you play everybody home and away, but at this juncture, I think it's wise. I've got no problem with the schedule and the way that it's done in the climate of college basketball right now for us to play 18 games.?
But has the schedule been water-down and devalued?
?I don't know if it's being devalued because there's still 18 games and 18 tough ones,? said Maryland coach Mark Turgeon. ?Obviously everybody plays a different schedule. It's almost impossible with so many teams to put the schedule together. I think the Big Ten did a nice job with the three-year cycle that they're going to have. It is what it is.
"You look at your 18 games, you do the best you can, and some year you might get lucky and have a little bit easier schedule, and some years you might have a tougher schedule," Turgeon added. "But you won't know until you play the game. Sometimes it looks on paper like it's going to be tough, and it might not be, and sometimes on paper what looks like it's not going to be tough, it's tougher than you think.?
As for the rest of Media Day, BTN.com's Tom Dienhart, Brent Yarina and Sean Merriman covered the event and are posting reports to BTN.com throughout the day. You can follow each of our BTN.com reporters on Twitter, too:
Below you'll find the individual men's coach's sessions with the media. We posted them shortly after each one ended.
What's going to be the key for @IlliniHoops in 2014-2015? @JohnGroce talks about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/F3GOMf47e3
— Illinois on BTN (@IllinoisOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @IndianaMBB in 2014-2015? @TomCrean talks about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/Dp1AHJsyT7
— Indiana On BTN (@IndianaOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @IowaHoops in 2014-2015? Fran McCaffery talks about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/QLOpgjlmu8
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @TerrapinHoops in their first B1G season? @CoachTurgeon talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/rU9Rc3gn6O
— Maryland On BTN (@MarylandOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @umichbball in 2014-2015? @JohnBeilien talks about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/FFLgHdsfe0
— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @MSU_Basketball in 2014-2015? Coach Izzo talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/nG4G9zSZUn
— Michigan State on BTN (@MichiganStOnBTN) October 16, 2014
How will @GopherBBall build off their NIT Championship? @MNCoachPitinio talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/sM9ntz9xnl
— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) October 16, 2014
How will @HuskerHoops build upon last season's NCAA Tournament berth? @CoachMiles talks about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/OeidaiqyKM
— Nebraska On BTN (@NebraskaOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @NUMensBBall in 2014-2015? Coach Collins talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/GkNkWx9PcS
— Northwestern On BTN (@NUOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @OhioStateHoops in 2014-2015? Coach Matta talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/igarbc4vQi
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @PennStateMBB in 2014-2015? @Coach_Chambers talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/UcE8RyKN56
— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @BoilerBall in 2014-2015? Coach Painter talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/gpq56HWYbg
— Purdue On BTN (@PurdueOnBTN) October 16, 2014
What can you expect from @RutgersMBB in their first B1G season? Coach Jordan talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/qbAMCvvQiD
— Rutgers On BTN (@RutgersOnBTN) October 16, 2014
How will @BadgerMBB build upon last season's Final Four appearance? Coach Ryan talked about it at #B1GMediaDay. http://t.co/fHHF9S0FJ1
— Wisconsin On BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) October 16, 2014
Also online, we're posting pictures from our various social media accounts, including the Instagram account for the Big Ten Network. And below is a stream of tweets and Instagram photos from a variety of Big Ten accounts at media day.
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Over the past months BTN's Stephen Bardo has conducted a series of podcasts with Big Ten basketball names. Listen to any of them below.