The 2009–10 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season marked the continuation of the annual tradition of competitive basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 among Big Ten Conference

Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

 members.

Offseason

• On July 30, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA
  Women's Basketball Coaches Association
  The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels.The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches.The mission of the WBCA is:...
  
  ), on behalf of the Wade Coalition, announced the 2009-2010 preseason "Wade Watch" list for The State Farm Wade Trophy
  Wade Trophy
  The Wade Trophy is an award presented annually to the best women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I competition. It is named after three–time national champion Delta State University coach Lily Margaret Wade. The award debuted in 1978 as the first–ever...
  
   Division I Player of the Year. The nominees are made up of top NCAA Division I student-athletes who best embody the spirit of Lily Margaret Wade. This is based on the following criteria: game and season statistics, leadership, character, effect on their team and overall playing ability. The list of Big Ten athletes are as follows:
• Jantel Lavender, Ohio State
• Samantha Prahalis, Ohio State
• Jenna Smith, Illinois

Preseason

• October 29: Ohio State junior Jantel Lavender was selected as the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year by the conference coaches and a panel of media members.

Preseason polls

• Coaches Polls
  • 1. Ohio State
  • 2. Michigan State
  • 3. Minnesota
  • 4. Purdue
  • 5. Iowa
  • 6. Illinois
  • 7. Penn State
  • 8. Northwestern
  • 9. Indiana
  • 10. Wisconsin
  • 11. Michigan

Preseason All-Big Ten Coaches Team

• JENNA SMITH, Sr., F, ILL
• Allyssa DeHaan, Sr., C, MSU
• JANTEL LAVENDER, Jr., C, OSU
• Samantha Prahalis, So., G, OSU
• Tyra Grant, Sr., F, PSU

Preseason All-Big Ten Media Team

• Jenna Smith, Sr., F, ILL
• Allyssa DeHaan, Sr., C, MSU
• JANTEL LAVENDER, Jr., C, OSU
• Samantha Prahalis, So., G, OSU
• Tyra Grant, Sr., F, PSU

November

• Nov. 11: The Big Ten and Big 12 Conferences announced the formation of an annual inter-conference challenge for women’s basketball. The challenge will span at least two years and will begin in the fall of 2010. The series will feature a home-and-home format over the initial two-year agreement, and each of the Big 12’s teams will play in each Challenge, while one Big Ten team, Wisconsin, will play two Challenge games each year.

2009 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Schedule

Date	Visiting Team	Home Team	Score	Leading Scorer	Attendance
Dec. 2/09	Georgia Tech	Penn State	G Tech 64-60	Tyra Grant, PSU (20)	TBD
Dec. 2/09	Illinois	Wake Forest	Illinois, 65-50	Jenna Smith, Illinois (27)	TBD
Dec. 2/09	Boston College	Iowa	BC, 72-67	Kamilee Wahlin, Iowa (23)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	Michigan	Virginia Tech	Mich, 71-51	Veronica Hicks, Michigan (19)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	Clemson	Northwestern	CLEM, 69-68	Kirstyn Wright, Clemson (22)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	Minnesota	Maryland	MD, 66-45	Kim Rodgers, Maryland (14)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	North Carolina	Michigan State	MSU, 72-66	Italee Lucas, North Carolina (29)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	Ohio State	Duke	Duke, 83-67	Jasmine Thomas, Duke (29)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	Purdue	Virginia	VA, 56-49	Brittany Rayburn, Purdue (19)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	Florida State	Indiana	FSU, 82-74	Jori Davis, Indiana (23)	TBD
Dec. 3/09	Wisconsin	NC State	Wisc, 53-48	Taylor Wurtz, Wisconsin (13)	TBD

Rankings

The rankings are based on the ESPN/USA Today poll.

AP Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Final^
Illinois	NR
Indiana	NR
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State	10	25	22		20
Minnesota
Northwestern
Ohio State	3	3	3		7
Purdue	23
Wisconsin

^Final Poll = ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll

In season honors

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

Week	Player of the week
11/16/09
11/23/09
11/30/09
12/7/09
12/14/09
12/21/09
12/28/08
1/4/10
1/11/10
1/18/10
1/25/10
2/1/10
2/8/10
2/15/10
2/22/10
3/1/10
3/8/10

Midseason watch lists

Conference honors

Honor	Coaches	Media
Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
Freshman of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year
Sixth Woman of the Year
All Big Ten First Team
All Big Ten Second Team
All Big Ten Third Team
—
—
—
All-Freshman Team
All Defensive Team

Statistical leaders

Scoring
Name	School	PPG

Rebounding
Name	School	RPG

Assists
Name	School	APG

Steals
Name	School	SPG

NCAA Tournament

# of Bids	Record	Win %	R32	S16	E8	F4	CG
	0–0

National Invitation Tournament

# of Bids	Record	Win %	R2	R3	SF	CG
	0–0