Big Ten Basketball: Analyzing each team’s 2021-22 opening night matchup

Ah, non-conference play, the only time of the year when the Crimson Guard will cheer on the Golden Gophers as much as The Barnyard will, and the students in the Nuthouse are just as happy when Michigan State wins as when their beloved Ohio State does. The Big Ten Conference may include schools from eleven different states encompassing fans from New Jersey to Nebraska, but come Tuesday they will all be Big Ten Basketball fans – that is – until conference play begins in early December.

For it is only in non-conference play that top-tier teams hope their closest competitors for the Big Ten crown win in order to have as many Quadrant 1 teams on their schedule as possible. As well, the lower-tier teams are rooted on so they can remain a potential Quadrant 3 win instead of slipping to a Quadrant 4. Come opening night on Tuesday, 9, 2021, there will be plenty of Big Ten fans cheering and plenty of Big ten teams playing in front of those fans.

There will be 11 Big Ten teams in action Tuesday night with just Michigan, Rutgers, and Penn State having to wait an extra day. Five of those Tuesday games will be televised as the Big Ten Network will have an Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa triple header, while Ohio State will be on ESPN2 and Michigan State will be featured on ESPN and it is only those Spartans who will not be playing at home.

The Big Ten hopes to bounce back from a disappointing NCAA Tournament after being heralded as “the best conference in college basketball”.  The Big Ten captured nine bids into the tournament as five were in the Final AP Poll yet Michigan was the lone team to get more than one victory.

In late October the Big Ten placed five teams in the Busting Brackets 2021-22 Preseason Power Rankings that hope to bring a National Title back to the Big Ten for the first time since Michigan State did so in capping off the 1999-00 season.