The Big Ten held its annual Media Day in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. And in March, the conference will hold its postseason tournament at the Verizon Center.
A year from now, the conference will move its festivities to New York, with the Big Ten Tournament set for Madison Square Garden in 2018 — a week ahead of the Big East Tournament there.
And the move Eastward gets a big thumbs up from Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell.
“We’re excited about having Media Day here in D.C. and excited about having the tournament,” Turgeon said. “Jim Delaney kept his word. He told me when we were joining the league that he would get us into D.C. So we’re grateful for that, and I know our fans are excited about that too.”
A year from now, the Big Ten tourney will be in Rutgers’ back yard in New York.
“I love it,” Pikiell said. “I mean, these are exciting areas. I lived down here in the D.C. area for five years. If you’re into basketball, it’s a great way to spread the great word of what our conference is all about and what great institutions we have and great basketball programs and great coaches. There will be an energy down here, too, in the city, then when we come to New York, there’s energy and then some playing in that city.”
For the Big Ten head coaches in the conference’s traditional footprint, moving East seems to be a bit of an adjustment.
“Yeah, when I first heard that, that was like, okay, this is different, this is something really unique to be able to do this,” Michigan’s John Beilein said. “I think it’s been a fantastic idea to do this. As I’ve learned more about the Big Ten, I’ve learned more about Michigan, obviously. The number of people that we have, when I walk out on these streets of Washington, D.C., New York, the amount of Go Blues I see here is incredible.
He added: “I think we’re going to have the people that have always traveled with us in NCAA Tournaments are going to be here. But we’ll have a whole other group of people that are experienced in Big Ten tournament for the first time.”
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