Big Ten tournament at Target Center brought plenty of big performances

Having a Big Ten tournament title game Sunday without the biggest star in men’s college basketball took some steam away from the ending of two fun weeks of college basketball at Target Center.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark cemented her legendary Big Ten career with a second consecutive title in the women’s tournament in Minneapolis last weekend. Purdue’s Zach Edey failed to do his part to accomplish the same feat after falling in Saturday’s semifinals to Wisconsin in overtime.

Even with two-time outright regular-season champion Purdue upset, the Big Ten men’s tournament didn’t disappoint in providing highlights, a big-time atmosphere and performances, and a memorable finish Sunday with Illinois edging Wisconsin 93-87 in front of an announced 13,991 to be crowned the 2024 champion.

Here were five observations of the first Big Ten men’s tournament in Minneapolis — hopefully not the last:

You would think the absence of a generational player like the 7-4 Edey would mean a lack of star power on championship Sunday at Target Center. Sure, the Boilermaker giant and the first back-to-back national player of the year since the early 1980s would’ve been nice to watch again. Still, there were other must-see players shining on the big stage. After scoring a Big Ten tourney-record 40 points against Nebraska on Saturday, Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. had 18 of his 34 points in the first second half Sunday. Wisconsin’s A.J. Storr, who outscored Northwestern’s Boo Buie 30-29 in the quarterfinals, finished with 24 points Sunday but couldn’t outduel Shannon. You’ll probably see them both playing in an NBA arena soon.

The Big Ten tournament gave us a glimpse of how many former state standouts are making contributions throughout the conference. Gophers fans were reminded how much the Badgers rely on Minnesota big men with Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl to reach the title game. Ex-Gopher Jamison Battle carried Ohio State as far as he could with 44 combined points against Iowa and Illinois. Michigan State’s Tre Holloman and Purdue’s Cam Heide faced off at Target Center for the first time since a state title matchup. And Illinois likely wouldn’t have made it past the quarterfinals without Dain Dainja’s season-high 18 points off the bench.

Iowa players cried when they fell to Ohio State in the Big Ten tourney second round on Thursday. The Hawkeyes figured their chances of staying on the NCAA tournament bubble were slim. The Buckeyes were close to a quarterfinal upset, losing 77-74 to Illinois. That meant two Big Ten bubble teams were heading to the NIT. When it was all said and done, six Big Ten teams made the NCAA tournament field, including Michigan State, which had reason to be concerned with so many unexpected teams winning automatic bids in other conference tournaments. Tom Izzo’s Spartans have the longest active NCAA tourney streak at 25 straight seasons.

Michigan’s Juwan Howard was a coaching candidate with the Timberwolves before being hired by his alma mater in 2019. He ended up coaching his last game with the Wolverines at the Wolves’ arena in a 66-57 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten tournament’s first round on Wednesday. Howard’s firing was announced two days after the 8-24 season ended. Ohio State was the first program to make a coaching move this season with Chris Holtmann’s dismissal. The Buckeyes went 6-2 under interim coach Jake Diebler, who was hired Sunday as the full-time coach. Their five-game win streak ended in the Big Ten tournament, but Diebler proved worthy of the job.

So, you’re saying there was a chance? Yes, it was a long shot, but Gophers coach Ben Johnson thought maybe his much-improved team could make a deep enough Big Ten tourney run in front of the home crowd to make it interesting on Selection Sunday. After all, Tubby Smith got into the NCAAs making the Big Ten finals in 2010. Not so fast. Dawson Garcia didn’t get much help and the Gophers lost their first game Thursday vs. Michigan State in the second round.