2023–24 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season

2023–24 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	Big Ten Network, Fox, FS1, Peacock
2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season
Regular-season champions	Ohio State
Season MVP	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Tournament
Champions	Iowa
Runners-up	Nebraska
Finals MVP	Caitlin Clark, Iowa

2023–24 Big Ten women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 16 Ohio State	16	–	2		.889			26	–	6		.813
No. 2 Iowa †	15	–	3		.833			34	–	5		.872
No. 12 Indiana	15	–	3		.833			26	–	6		.813
Michigan State	12	–	6		.667			22	–	9		.710
Nebraska	11	–	7		.611			23	–	12		.657
Michigan	9	–	9		.500			20	–	14		.588
Penn State	9	–	9		.500			22	–	13		.629
Maryland	9	–	9		.500			19	–	14		.576
Illinois	8	–	10		.444			19	–	15		.559
Wisconsin	6	–	12		.333			15	–	17		.469
Minnesota	5	–	13		.278			20	–	16		.556
Purdue	5	–	13		.278			15	–	19		.441
Northwestern	4	–	14		.222			9	–	21		.300
Rutgers	2	–	16		.111			8	–	24		.250
† 2024 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 2023–24 Big Ten women's basketball season began with practices in October 2023, followed by the start of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November 2023. The regular season ended in March 2024.

This was the last season played with 14 teams in the conference, with four schools joining the following year.[1] This was the first season played under the Big Ten's new seven-year media rights deal. As a result, no conference games aired on ESPN and some games were streamed by Peacock for the first time.[2]

Head coaches

Coaching changes prior to the season

Michigan State

On March 31, 2023, Robyn Fralick was named the sixth head coach of Michigan State.[3][4]

Minnesota

On March 18, 2023, Dawn Plitzuweit was named the 13th head coach of Minnesota.[5][6]

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Big Ten record	Big Ten titles	Big Ten Tournament titles	NCAA Tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Illinois	Shauna Green	Dayton	2	22–10	11–7	0	0	1	0	0
Indiana	Teri Moren	Indiana State	10	200–93	99–57	1	0	5	0	0
Iowa	Lisa Bluder	Drake	24	494–246	247–142	2	4	17	1	0
Maryland	Brenda Frese	Minnesota	22	563–146	137–20*	6	5	19	3	1
Michigan	Kim Barnes Arico	St. John's (Asst.)	12	241–119	109–75	0	0	6	0	0
Michigan State	Robyn Fralick	Bowling Green	1	0–0	0–0	0	0	0	0	0
Minnesota	Dawn Plitzuweit	West Virginia	1	0–0	0–0	0	0	0	0	0
Nebraska	Amy Williams	South Dakota	8	110–95	58–65	0	0	2	0	0
Northwestern	Joe McKeown	George Washington	16	250–219	104–152	0	0	2	0	0
Ohio State	Kevin McGuff	Washington	11	172–97	87–55	3	1	6	0	0
Penn State	Carolyn Kieger	Marquette	3	41–73	16–57	0	0	0	0	0
Purdue	Katie Gearlds	Marian	3	36–26	16–19	0	0	1	0	0
Rutgers	Coquese Washington	Notre Dame (Assoc.)	2	12–20	5–13	0	0	0	0	0
Wisconsin	Marisa Moseley	Boston University	3	19–40	11–25	0	0	0	0	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school includes 2023–24 season.
• Overall and Big Ten records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the season.
• Frese's ACC conference record excluded since Maryland began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15.

Preseason

Preseason Big Ten poll

Prior to the conference's annual media day, conference standings were projected by a panel of writers.[7]

Rank	Team
1	Iowa
2	Indiana
3	Ohio State
4	Maryland
5	Michigan

Preseason All-Big Ten

A select media panel named a preseason All-Big Ten team and player of the year.[7]

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Preseason All-Big Ten Team	Makira Cook, Illinois
	Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana
	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
	Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
	Laila Phelia, Michigan
	Alexis Markowski, Nebraska
	Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
	Cotie McMahon, Ohio State
	Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State
	Makenna Marisa, Penn State

Regular season

Rankings

Main article: 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

Players of the Week

Throughout the conference regular season, Big Ten Conference offices named two players (Player and Freshman) of the week each Monday.

Week Player of the Week School Ref. Freshman of the Week School Ref. Nov. 13 Caitlin Clark Iowa [8] Natalie Potts Nebraska [9] Nov. 20 Sara Scalia Indiana [10] Rashunda Jones Purdue [11] Nov. 27 Caitlin Clark (2) Iowa [12] Natalie Potts (2) Nebraska [13] Dec. 4 Celeste Taylor Ohio State [14] Grace Grocholski Minnesota [14]

School PoW FoW Total Iowa 2 — 2 Nebraska — 2 2 Indiana 1 — 1 Minnesota — 1 1 Ohio State 1 — 1 Purdue — 1 1

All-Big Ten awards and teams

On March 5, 2024, the Big Ten announced its conference awards.[15][16]

Honor	Coaches	Media
Player of the Year	Caitlin Clark, Iowa	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Coach of the Year	Kevin McGuff, Ohio State	Kevin McGuff, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year	Natalie Potts, Nebraska	Mary Ashley Stevenson, Purdue
Defensive Player of the Year	Celeste Taylor, Ohio State	Serah Williams, Wisconsin
Sixth Player of the Year	Theryn Hallock, Michigan State	Theryn Hallock, Michigan State
All-Big Ten First Team	Julia Ayrault, Michigan State	Julia Ayrault, Michigan State
	Caitlin Clark, Iowa	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
	Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana	Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana
	Alexis Markowski, Nebraska	Alexis Markowski, Nebraska
	Cotie McMahon, Ohio State	Cotie McMahon, Ohio State
	Laila Phelia, Michigan	Laila Phelia, Michigan
	Sara Scalia, Indiana	Sara Scalia, Indiana
	Shyanne Sellers	Shyanne Sellers
	Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State	Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State
	Serah Williams, Wisconsin	Serah Williams, Wisconsin
All-Big Ten Second Team*	Destiny Adams, Rutgers	Kendall Bostic, Illinois
	Jakia Brown-Turner, Maryland	Makira Cook, Illinois
	Makira Cook, Illinois	Moira Joiner, Michigan State
	DeeDee Hagemann, Michigan State	Makenna Marisa, Penn State
	Moira Joiner, Michigan State	Kate Martin, Iowa
	Kate Martin, Iowa	Chloe Moore-McNeil, Indiana
	Chloe Moore-McNeil, Indiana	Jaz Shelley, Nebraska
	Ashley Owusu, Penn State	Hannah Stuelke, Iowa
	Jaz Shelley, Nebraska	Celeste Taylor, Ohio State
	Hannah Stuelke, Iowa	Taylor Thierry, Ohio State
	Celeste Taylor, Ohio State	Not Selected[a]
	Taylor Thierry, Ohio State
All-Freshman Team	Mary Ashley Stevenson, Purdue	Mary Ashley Stevenson, Purdue
	Gretchen Dolan, Illinois	Grace Grocholski, Minnesota
	Grace Grocholski, Minnesota	Rashunda Jones, Purdue
	Logan Nissley, Nebraska	Logan Nissley, Nebraska
	Natalie Potts, Nebraska	Natalie Potts, Nebraska
All-Defensive Team	Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana	Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana
	Leilani Kapinus, Penn State	Leilani Kapinus, Penn State
	Chloe Moore-McNeil, Indiana	Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State
	Celeste Taylor, Ohio State	Celeste Taylor, Ohio State
	Serah Williams, Wisconsin	Serah Williams, Wisconsin

1. The coaches' All-Big Ten Second Team had 12 members due to a tie in voting.

References

1. Rittenberg, Adam (August 4, 2023). "Big Ten adds Oregon, Washington as newest members in blow to Pac-12". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
2. Rittenberg, Adam (August 18, 2022). "Big Ten completes 7-year, $7 billion media rights agreement with Fox, CBS, NBC". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
3. "Robyn Fralick Named Spartan Women's Basketball Head Coach". msuspartans.com. March 31, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
4. Paul, Tony (March 31, 2023). "MSU hires Okemos native Robyn Fralick as women's basketball coach". The Detroit News. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
5. "Plitzuweit Named Women's Basketball Head Coach", gophersports.com, March 18, 2023, retrieved October 17, 2023
6. Philippou, Alexa (March 18, 2023), "Dawn Plitzuweit named Minnesota women's basketball coach", ESPN.com, retrieved October 17, 2023
7. "Iowa and Caitlin Clark Lead Big Ten Preseason Women's Basketball Honors". BigTen.org. October 4, 2023. Archived from the original on October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
8. "Clark Earns B1G Player of the Week Honors". hawkeyesports.com. November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
9. "Potts Earns Big Ten Freshman Honor". huskers.com. November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
10. "Scalia Earns Big Ten Player Of The Week Honors". iuhoosiers.com. November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
11. "Jones Named Big Ten Freshman of the Week". purduesports.com. November 20, 2023. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
12. "Clark Notches 20th Career Big Ten Weekly Honor". hawkeyesports.com. November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
13. "Potts Picks Up Second Big Ten Freshman Honor". huskers.com. November 27, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
14. "Ohio State and Minnesota Garner Big Ten Weekly Women's Basketball Awards". Big Ten Conference. December 4, 2023. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
15. "2023-24 Big Ten Women's Basketball Honors Announced". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. March 5, 2024. Archived from the original on March 7, 2024. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
16. "2023-24 All-Big Ten Women's Basketball Teams & Honors" (PDF). BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. March 5, 2024. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2024. Retrieved March 5, 2024.