2011–12 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season

Preseason

Three teams were ranked in the preseason USA Today/ESPN poll: Ohio State (#3), Wisconsin (#14) and Michigan (#18), while Michigan State and Purdue were also receiving votes. The Big Ten Basketball Media Day for men's and women's basketball was October 27 in Chicago. The men's basketball media day was covered by ESPNU.

Jared Sullinger was named preseason conference player of the year at the conference media day. Other preseason All-Big Ten first team selections were Draymond Green, Trevor Mbakwe, Robbie Hummel, and Jordan Taylor. Ohio State was chosen as the top team, followed by Wisconsin and Michigan State. Sullinger and Taylor were also both preseason Associated Press All-Americans. 5 of the 30 nominees for the men's basketball Lowe's Senior CLASS Award were from the Big Ten: Michigan's Zack Novak, Michigan State's Green, Ohio State's William Buford, Purdue's Hummel and Wisconsin's Taylor.

Midseason award lists

Trey Burke, Aaron Craft, Tim Frazier, Lewis Jackson and Jordan Taylor are five of the nearly 60 Bob Cousy Award candidates named in December. On January 4, Burke, Craft, and Taylor were included on the list of 20 finalists. On February 2, the finalist list was shortened to 11, including Taylor and Craft. William Buford, Draymond Green, Jared Sullinger, and Cody Zeller were included on the 25-man Wooden Midseason list on January 17. Novak, Green, Buford and Hummel were among the 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award on January 25. On February 6, Green, Sullinger and Zeller were included on the 20-player Oscar Robertson Trophy midseason watch list. On February 15, Zeller was named one of five finalists for the USBWA National Freshman of the Year won the previous year by Sullinger. On March 1, Zeller, Green, Sullinger and Taylor were named to the 30-player midseason Naismith Award watchlist. On March 6, Green and Sullinger were named to the 15-man Wooden Award finalist list. On March 19, Green became one of four finalists for the Naismith Award. Sullinger and Green were among the 10 finalists for the Wooden Award, a designation termed as Wooden All-American.

Tournaments

Big Ten teams emerged victorious in the following tournaments:

*Although these tournaments include more teams, only the number listed play for the championship.

Conference schedules

For the full season, the Big Ten led the nation in attendance. Conference play officially began on Tuesday, December 27 when Illinois hosted Minnesota and Nebraska hosted its first conference game against 11th-ranked Wisconsin.

Composite Matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. (x) indicates games remaining this season.

Player of the week

Players of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the Big Ten offices named a player of the week each Monday.

On January 17, Brandon Paul was named national player of the week by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

On February 21 Draymond Green was named national player of the week by the USBWA.

Honors and accolades

Four players (Novak, Craft, Drew Crawford and Jared Berggren) were named Academic All-District, meaning that they were among the 40 finalists to be named to the 15-man Academic All-America Team. Craft was named to the first team, Crawford to the second team and Novak to the third team, giving the Big Ten three Academic All-Americans, which was more than any other conference.

Conference honors

Two sets of conference award winners were recognized by the Big Ten - one selected by league coaches and one selected by the media.

NABC

The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All‐District teams on March 14, recognizing the nation’s best men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, 240 student-athletes, from 24 districts were chosen. The selection on this list were then eligible for the State Farm Coaches’ Division I All-America teams. The following list represented the Big Ten players chosen to the list. Since the Big Ten Conference was its own district, this is equivalent to being named All-Big Ten by the NABC.

USBWA

On March 6, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2011–12 Men's All-District Teams, based upon voting from its national membership. There were nine regions from coast to coast, and a player and coach of the year were selected in each. The following lists all the Big Ten representatives selected within their respective regions.

National postseason honors

Sullinger and Green were first team 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans by The Sporting News, while Zeller was a member of their All-Freshman team. Green and Sullinger were also first team All-American selections by the United States Basketball Writers Association. On March 20, the NABC chose Green and Sullinger as a first team All-Americans. Sullinger and Green were named first team Associated Press All-Americans, making them unanimous first team selections. Trey Burke, Robbie Hummel, Jordan Taylor, John Shurna, and Cody Zeller were honorable mention selections. Hummel was named the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award winner. Aaron Craft won the Elite 89 Award. Green was named the NABC Player of the Year. 41 men's basketball players in their second year or beyond earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition for carrying a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.

CBSSports.com used a modified selection process that resulted in Green being named a first team All-American, while Sullinger and Burke were second team selections. The process derided the traditional basketball All-American process of nameing the best players and was modelled on the All-Pro or NHL All-Star Team formula of choosing the best players by position. Shurna was also selected to participate in the NABC 2012 Reese's Division I All-Star Game at the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament final four.

Other tournaments

The Big Ten did not have any entrants in the other post season tournaments.

2012 NBA Draft

The following current 1st, 2nd & 3rd team All-Big Ten performers were listed as seniors: Draymond Green, Robbie Hummel, John Shurna, Jordan Taylor, Matt Gatens, William Buford. Former All-Big Ten performer and fifth-year Trevor Mbakwe has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA, and he has opted to use it. The deadline for entering the NBA draft is April 29, but once one has declared, the deadline for withdrawing the declaration and retaining NCAA eligibility is April 10. The deadline for submitting information to the NBA Advisory Committee for a 72-hour response is April 3. The following Big Ten underclassmen have sought the advice of the NBA's undergraduate advisory committee to determine his draft prospects: Trey Burke The following Big Ten underclassmen declared early for the 2011 draft: Jared Sullinger, Meyers Leonard The following Big Ten underclassmen entered their name in the draft but who did not hire agents and opted to return to college: