Big Ten Roundup: Media Days and Midnight Madness

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With the first day of practice on Friday and team media days taking place across the conference, here’s a run-down of news, notes and updates on all 12 Big Ten schools. (Photo: Indy Star)

Illinois: Illinois held an open practice on Saturday attended by around 3,000 fans including Evan Turner (supporting his friend, 5th-year Bradley transfer Sam Mansacalco). The Illini come off confident and Weber plans to utilize a deeper rotation this season, somewhere from nine to 11 players. Paul Klee has more detailed notes at IlliniHQ.com from the scrimmage.

Indiana: Indiana hosted its Hoosier Hysteria event on Saturday evening, conveniently scheduled to host Gary Harris on an official visit, and welcomed over 16,000 fans to Assembly Hall. There’s a buzz around the Indiana program that hasn’t been there for the last two seasons. Will Sheehey won the dunk contest and Inside the Hall has all the coverage you need including scrimmage observations.

Iowa: McCaffery noted that he wants Melsahn Basabe to only play the four position this season. Basabe discusses the upcoming season in this video interview. Big man Andrew Brommer is out for a month with a sprained MCL. Bryce Cartwright wants to eliminate close losses in 2012.

Michigan: A couple of Michigan tidbits that haven’t yet been posted here. A photo gallery from the first day of practice, video of Evan Smotrycz acting as a reporter and interviewing his teammates and a new blog from Josh Bartelstein.

Michigan State: Recent reports are that Dwaun Anderson will not be attending Michigan State, last year’s Mr. Basketball is currently taking visits to other schools. Demetrius Jackson (who recently picked up an MSU offer), Cliff Alexander and Tyler Wideman headlined Michigan State’s visitor list for Midnight Madness which featured a Top Gun theme this season.

Minnesota: Tubby Smith wrote a letter to season ticket holders promising to play an uptempo style of offense this season. The Gophers also hosted a midnight madness and Maverick Ahanmisi was one player that drew praise from those in attendance. Tubby Smith played along with the boxing theme of the evening as you can see in this video interview

Nebraska: Nebraska opened its brand new practice facility last week and the $19 million facility will host both basketball teams and the wrestling team. Here’s a photo gallery for those that want to compare the facility to Michigan’s which will open shortly.

Northwestern: Northwestern’s opening practice was chronicled on the official website along with video interviews with John Shurna and Davide Curletti.

Ohio State: Jared Sullinger lost 20 pounds, Evan Ravenel hopes to emulate Dallas Lauderdale and Aaron Craft might play off the ball. Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch has you covered from media day. The Buckeyes have also secured $11 million in financing to begin planning a practice facility.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions are hosting a Midnight Madness-style event on November 2nd and Eric Gibson explains why Penn State fans should be excited about basketball.

Purdue: Robbie Hummel is back on the floor for Purdue and says that his knee felt great: “I’m not hurting at all. I’m able to move pretty good. I shot the ball pretty decently today. It’s great to be back.” Lewis Jackson is nursing a foot injury, Terone Johnson had knee surgery this summer for a torn meniscus and John Hart is not practicing due to foot surgery. Here’s footage of Hummel, Jackson and Barlow discussing the first practice.

Wisconsin: Jordan Taylor’s surgically repaired ankle isn’t 100 percent but he’s not concerned. Madison.com examines some of the major question marks about the upcoming season for Wisconsin.