2020–21 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season

The 2020–21 Big Ten women's basketball season began with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November 2020. The regular season will end in March, 2021.

2020–21 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	Big Ten Network, ESPN, Fox, FS1
2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season
Regular season champions	Maryland
Tournament
Champions	Maryland
Runners-up	Iowa
Finals MVP	Diamond Miller
Basketball seasons
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Big Ten women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 7 Maryland †	17	–	1		.944			26	–	2		.929
No. 12 Indiana	16	–	2		.889			20	–	5		.800
No. 21 Rutgers	10	–	3		.769			14	–	5		.737
No. 16 Michigan	9	–	4		.692			16	–	6		.727
Northwestern	11	–	7		.611			16	–	9		.640
Iowa	11	–	8		.579			20	–	9		.690
No. 22 Ohio State	9	–	7		.563			13	–	7		.650
Michigan State	8	–	7		.533			15	–	9		.625
Nebraska	9	–	10		.474			13	–	13		.500
Minnesota	7	–	11		.389			8	–	13		.381
Penn State	6	–	13		.316			9	–	15		.375
Purdue	4	–	14		.222			7	–	16		.304
Illinois	2	–	16		.111			5	–	18		.217
Wisconsin	2	–	18		.100			5	–	19		.208
† 2021 Big Ten tournament winner As of March 27, 2021 Rankings from AP poll

The Big Ten tournament will be played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana in March 2021.

Head coaches

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	Nancy Fahey	Washington (MO)	4	30–58	4–46	0	0	0	0	0
Indiana	Teri Moren	Indiana State	7	127–74	56–48	0	0	2	0	0
Iowa	Lisa Bluder	Drake	21	416–222	207–128	1	2	14	0	0
Maryland	Brenda Frese	Minnesota	19	486–128	92–12*	5	4	16	3	1
Michigan	Kim Barnes Arico	St. John's (Asst.)	9	177–96	76–60	0	0	3	0	0
Michigan State	Suzy Merchant	Eastern Michigan	14	281–148	136–86	2	0	9	0	0
Minnesota	Lindsay Whalen	Minnesota Lynx (Player)	3	37–26	14–22	0	0	0	0	0
Nebraska	Amy Williams	South Dakota	5	59–62	30–38	0	0	1	0	0
Northwestern	Joe McKeown	George Washington	12	206–175	83–121	0	0	1	0	0
Ohio State	Kevin McGuff	Washington	8	155–77	82–38	2	1	4	0	0
Penn State	Carolyn Kieger	Marquette	2	7–23	1–17	0	0	0	0	0
Purdue	Sharon Versyp	Indiana	15	294–176	136–102	0	4	9	0	0
Rutgers	C. Vivian Stringer	Iowa	26	521–286	53–49*	0	0	16	2	0
Wisconsin	Jonathan Tsipis	George Washington	5	44–79	12–56	0	0	0	0	0

Notes:

• All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
• Year at school includes 2020–21 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.
• Stringer's Big East and American conference record excluded since Rutgers began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15.

Preseason

Preseason conference poll

The Big Ten released the preseason ranking on November 11, 2020, which featured a ranking by both media and coaches.^[1]

Media Ranking Team 1 Indiana 2 Northwestern 3 Maryland 4 Michigan 5 Ohio State

Coaches Ranking Team 1 Indiana 2 Maryland 3 Michigan 4 Northwestern 5 Ohio State

Preseason national polls

See also: 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season § Pre-season polls

	AP^[2]	CBS Sports^[3]	Coaches^[4]	ESPNW^[5]
Illinois
Indiana	16	18	15	17
Iowa
Maryland	12	10	11	12
Michigan	25	24	24	25
Michigan State
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern	17	15	16	16
Ohio State	20	25	22	21
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Regular season

Rankings

Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Honors and awards

All-Big Ten awards and teams

On March 8, 2021, the Big Ten announced its conference awards.^[6]

Honor	Winner
Player of the Year	Naz Hillmon, Michigan
Coach of the Year	Brenda Frese, Maryland
Freshman of the Year	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Defensive Player of the Year	Veronica Burton, Northwestern
Sixth Player of the Year	Maddie Burke, Penn State
All-Big Ten First Team	Grace Berger, Indiana
	Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana
	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
	Monika Czinano, Iowa
	Diamond Miller, Maryland
	Ashley Owusu, Maryland
	Naz Hillmon, Michigan
	Nia Clouden, Michigan State
	Veronica Burton, Northwestern
	Dorka Juhász, Ohio State
	Arella Guirantes, Rutgers
All-Big Ten Second Team	Ali Patberg, Indiana
	Katie Benzan, Maryland
	Leigha Brown, Michigan
	Jasmine Powell, Minnesota
	Sam Haiby, Nebraska
	Lindsey Pulliam, Northwestern
	Jacy Sheldon, Ohio State
	Kayana Traylor, Purdue
	Diamond Johnson, Rutgers
All-Big Ten Honorable Mention	Chloe Bibby, Maryland
	Sara Scalia, Minnesota
	Isabelle Bourne, Nebraska
	Kate Cain, Nebraska
	Madison Greene, Ohio State
	Johnasia Cash, Penn State
	Makenna Marisa, Penn State
	Tekia Mack, Rutgers
	Sydney Hilliard, Wisconsin
	Imani Lewis, Wisconsin
All-Freshman Team	Caitlin Clark, Iowa
	Kateri Poole, Ohio State
	Maddie Burke, Penn State
	Madison Layden,Purdue
	Diamond Johnson, Rutgers
All-Defensive Team	Akienreh Johnson, Michigan
	Kate Cain, Nebraska
	Veronica Burton, Northwestern
	Sydney Wood, Northwestern
	Tekia Mack, Rutgers

References

1. "Indiana Tops Big Ten Women's Basketball Preseason Rankings". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. November 11, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
2. "AP Top 25 Women's Basketball Poll - Preseason". apnews.com. The Associated Press. November 10, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
3. "Women's college basketball power rankings: South Carolina is preseason No. 1 ahead of No. 2 UConn". CBSSports.com. CBS Interactive. November 23, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
4. "Women's Basketball Coaches Poll - Preseason". usatoday.com. USA Today. November 19, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
5. "Women's college basketball's Way-Too-Early Top 25: South Carolina still on top, Baylor rising". ESPN.com. ESPN. September 28, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
6. "2020-21 All-Big Ten Women's Basketball Teams & Honors" (PDF). BigTen.org. March 8, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.