ROSEMONT, Ill. – The University of Iowa was voted as the 2022-23 preseason Big Ten Conference women’s basketball favorite by both the conference’s 14 head coaches and a select media panel, the conference office announced Wednesday. The coaches and media also named Iowa junior guard
Caitlin Clark as the 2022-23 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, with Clark chosen by the coaches as the preseason honoree for the second consecutive year.
Ohio State was voted second in the coaches’ preseason poll, while Indiana was third in that balloting. The order was reversed in the media survey, with Indiana No. 2, followed by Ohio State. Maryland was fourth in both the coaches and media polls, while the two groups diverged on their No. 5 selections — the coaches voted for Michigan, while the media selected Nebraska.
Each of the schools selected in the Big Ten preseason coaches or media polls also appeared in the 2022-23 “Way Too Early” rankings released by espnW and The Athletic. According to espnW’s latest rankings on June 14, Iowa was No. 6, Indiana No. 12, Ohio State No. 15, Maryland No. 18 and Nebraska No. 22 The Big Ten’s five Top 25 programs tied for the most from any major conference.
The April 5 rankings from The Athletic listed Iowa at No. 4, followed by No. 9 Maryland, No. 17 Ohio State, No. 20 Indiana and No. 23 Michigan. Once again, the Big Ten’s five schools in the Top 25 tied for the most among major conferences.
The Big Ten Conference is coming off another successful season that saw six programs selected for the 2022 NCAA Tournament and another two invited to the WNIT. For the second consecutive year, the Big Ten tied a conference record by sending four teams to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and saw one of its member institutions advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in school history (Indiana in 2021; Michigan in 2022).
Along with her Player of the Year selection, Clark was one of two student-athletes, along with Ohio State’s
Jacy Sheldon, to be unanimously voted to the coaches and media Preseason All-Big Ten teams. Three other student-athletes were unanimous selections to the coaches Preseason All-Big Ten Team — Indiana’s
Grace Berger, Iowa’s
Monika Czinano and Ohio State’s
Taylor Mikesell.
Both preseason all-conference teams featured the same 10 Big Ten standouts, with the following five joining the quintet of Clark, Sheldon, Berger, Czinano and Mikesell: Indiana’s
Mackenzie Holmes, Maryland’s
Diamond Miller, Michigan’s
Leigha Brown, Nebraska’s
Alexis Markowski and Penn State’s
Makenna Marisa.
All 10 of Wednesday’s Preseason All-Big Ten selections were all-conference honorees last season, including six first-team selections, and seven who went on to be named All-Americans (Berger, Holmes, Clark, Czinano, Brown, Mikesell and Sheldon). Two of the Big Ten’s four individual award recipients from last year are also among Wednesday’s Preseason All-Big Ten teams, in Clark (Player of the Year) and Markowski (Freshman of the Year).
Preseason practices are underway for all 14 Big Ten member institutions, with all Big Ten head coaches and selected student-athletes from each school preparing to make their way to Minneapolis for the 2022 Big Ten Basketball Media Days Oct. 11-12 at the Target Center (more details at
bigten.org/22BBMD). The 2022-23 regular season tips off Nov. 7, while the 30th Big Ten Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament will take place March 1-5, also at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The 2023 NCAA Women’s Final Four is scheduled for March 31 and April 2 at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.
The 2022-23 Preseason All-Big Ten Teams and rankings are as follows:
2022-23 COACHES BIG TEN PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Iowa
2. Ohio State
3. Indiana
4. Maryland
5. Michigan
2022-23 COACHES PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN TEAM
GRACE BERGER, Grad., G, Indiana
Mackenzie Holmes, Sr., F, Indiana
CAITLIN CLARK, Jr., G, Iowa
MONIKA CZINANO, 5th-Yr., F/C, Iowa
Diamond Miller, Sr., G, Maryland
Leigha Brown, 5th-Yr., G, Michigan
Alexis Markowski, So., C/F, Nebraska
TAYLOR MIKESELL, Sr., G, Ohio State
JACY SHELDON, Sr., G, Ohio State
Makenna Marisa, Sr., G, Penn State
2022-23 COACHES BIG TEN PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Caitlin Clark, Jr., G, Iowa
2022-23 MEDIA BIG TEN PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Iowa
2. Indiana
3. Ohio State
4. Maryland
5. Nebraska
2022-23 MEDIA PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN TEAM
Grace Berger, Grad., G, Indiana
Mackenzie Holmes, Sr., F, Indiana
CAITLIN CLARK, Jr., G, Iowa
Monika Czinano, 5th-Yr., F/C, Iowa
Diamond Miller, Sr., G, Maryland
Leigha Brown, 5th-Yr., G, Michigan
Alexis Markowski, So., C/F, Nebraska
Taylor Mikesell, Sr., G, Ohio State
JACY SHELDON, Sr., G, Ohio State
Makenna Marisa, Sr., G, Penn State
2022-23 MEDIA BIG TEN PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Caitlin Clark, Jr., G, Iowa
bigten.org