Conference expansion creates intriguing new men’s basketball matchups for the Big Ten: ‘It will be challenging’

Of all the concerns he has about UCLAs move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, one clearly topped coach Mick Cronins list.

The Bruins play at Indiana on Feb.

14, and friends and family back home keep asking for tickets.

Cronin has bad news for them.

I dont have any tickets, he said with a smile Thursday at Big Ten media day in Rosemont.

But I want you to make sure you can somehow get this out.

I dont have any tickets.

Everybody in Cincinnati has asked me for tickets to the game at Indiana.

I dont have any.

Cronin grew up in the city and coached at Cincinnati for 13 years before taking over at UCLA in 2019 after Steve Alford was fired.

Now, as he begins his sixth season, the Bruins are entering unfamiliar territory.

UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington start their first year in the Big Ten in a few weeks.

And along with the added revenue streams and recruiting avenues and potential travel headaches and everything else that comes with expansion, it also has created some intriguing matchups.

UCLA and Indiana will be playing for just the second time since 1992 when the storied programs meet at Assembly Hall.

Their most recent game was in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Bruins knocked out the Hoosiers in the second round on the way to the Final Four.

The schools have played 12 times, with the last seven meetings on neutral sites.

The most recent home game for either team was at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1960.

They havent played in Bloomington, Ind., since 1956 15 years before Assembly Hall opened.

There are going to be a lot of cool games happening, Cronin said.

But its going to go on every year now.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was looking forward to bringing the Spartans to Pauley Pavilion on Feb.

4.

They havent played there since 2003.

Its just one of those iconic places that will be incredible for a player to play in or a coach to coach in, Izzo said.

The ghost of John Wooden is still there, and rightfully so.

Washington forward Great Osobor speaks during Big Ten media day on Oct.

3, 2024, in Rosemont.

(Erin Hooley/AP) UCLA, USC and Oregon usually finished near the top of the Pac-12 and made the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis.

It remains to be seen how their styles will translate to a new conference and whether they will win at the same rate.

Though the Big Ten might not be quite as rough and tumble as it used to be, it still presents a challenge.

Purdues Matt Painter looks forward to seeing what they bring to the league.

When Indiana was dominating our league and Purdue was dominating our league, you morphed into Bobby Knight and Gene Keady because thats who was winning the league, Painter said.

The Big Ten championships at that time were going through the state of Indiana.

Its just the way it was.

Who do you copy? I know that Ive copied a lot from Tom Izzo.

Ive copied a lot from Bo Ryan.

I dont go out and promote it because I dont want to see them get good players.

Ive stolen a lot from the people Ive competed against.

JuJu Watkins and USC come into their first college basketball season in the Big Ten with soaring expectations Cronin isnt the only one among the newcomers with ties to the Midwest or East Coast.

Oregons Dana Altman coached for years at Creighton after a run at Kansas State.

USCs Eric Musselman, who replaces Andy Enfield, spent the last five seasons at Arkansas and has a long NBA background.

New Washington coach Danny Sprinkle is from the West.

Not that the Big Ten is the smashmouth league it used to be, but if its a little more physical I know Mick pretty well that isnt going to phase him, Izzo said.

I know Dana pretty well, thats not going to phase him.

I think theyll adjust just fine.

The other two I dont know as well, but I like the fact that USC is going to be running and theyll get after it up and down.

And Washington ...

is a place that Ive heard is hard to play too.

For Altman, being in the Big Ten feels like a bit of a homecoming.

He had a strong recruiting base in Iowa when he coached at Creighton from 1994 to 2010, and his teams played Nebraska.

It will be different but it will be challenging, he said.

And hopefully our guys will look forward to it..

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