The 2015–16 Big Ten men's basketball season began with practices in October 2015, followed by the start of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in late December and concluded in March, 2016.

Indiana won the Big Ten regular season by two games over second place Michigan State. Four teams tied for third place.

Denzel Valentine was the Conference Player of the Year and won many national player of the year awards (splitting them with Buddy Hield). Valentine and Jarrod Uthoff were consensus All-Americans, while Yogi Ferrell also received some All-American recognition. Uthoff was named Academic All-America Team Member of the Year, while Shavon Shields and Mike Gessell were also named Academic All-America. Tom Crean was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Following the season, Tom Izzo was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. After taking over for Bo Ryan midseason, Greg Gard was named the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award winner.

The Big Ten tournament was held from March 9–13, 2016 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Michigan State won the tournament championship by defeating Purdue in the championship game. As a result, the Spartans received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Seven Big Ten schools (Michigan State, Indiana, Maryland, Purdue, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan) were invited to the NCAA Tournament marking the sixth consecutive year the Big ten had at least six teams in the Tournament. The conference sent three teams to the Sweet Sixteen (Indiana, Maryland, and Wisconsin), marking the ninth consecutive season multiple Big Ten teams advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. In the previous four seasons, at least one Big Ten team reached the Final Four, however no Big Ten team made it past the Sweet Sixteen. The conference achieved an 8–7 record in the Tournament. Ohio State also received a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, losing in the first round.

Nine Big Ten teams won 20 games on the season marking the first time in history this occurred.

Head coaches

Team Head coach Previous job Year at school Overall record Big Ten record Big Ten titles NCAA Tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA ChampionshipsIllinois John Groce Ohio 4th 62–42 24–30 0 1 0 0Indiana Tom Crean Marquette 8th 121–109 49–77 1 3 1 0Iowa Fran McCaffery Siena 6th 96–75 42–48 0 2 0 0Maryland Mark Turgeon Texas A&M 5th 87–50 14–4* 0 1 0 0Michigan John Beilein West Virginia 9th 166–110 78–66 2 5 1 0Michigan State Tom Izzo Michigan State (Asst.) 21st 495–199 233–107 7 19 7 1Minnesota Richard Pitino Florida International 3rd 43–28 14–22 0 0 0 0Nebraska Tim Miles Colorado State 4th 47–49 21–33 0 1 0 0Northwestern Chris Collins Duke (Asst.) 3rd 29–36 12–24 0 0 0 0Ohio State Thad Matta Xavier 12th 299–94 132–60 5 9 2 0Penn State Pat Chambers Boston University 5th 56–75 16–56 0 0 0 0Purdue Matt Painter Purdue (Assoc.) 11th 212–124 101–75 1 7 0 0Rutgers Eddie Jordan Los Angeles Lakers (Asst.) 2nd 10–22 2–16 0 0 0 0Wisconsin Bo Ryan* UW–Milwaukee 15th 357–125 172–68 4 14 2 0 Notes: Year at school includes 2015–16 season. Overall and Big Ten records are from time at current school and are before the beginning of the season. Turgeon's ACC conference record excluded since Maryland began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15 On December 16, 2015, following a win versus Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, Bo Ryan officially retired as head coach of Wisconsin. Greg Gard took over on interim basis. Media guide source for content.

Preseason

In late October some schools celebrated Midnight Madness. The Big Ten teams would begin their seasons between November 13 and 15.

According to the Big Ten media, Melo Trimble was the preseason conference player of the year and he was joined on the All-Big Ten preseason team by James Blackmon, Jr., Yogi Ferrell, Jarrod Uthoff, Jake Layman, Caris LeVert, Denzel Valentine, A. J. Hammons, Nigel Hayes, and Bronson Koenig. Valentine, Hammons, Hayes and Trimble were all unanimous selections. According to the Big Ten Network, the preseason All-Big Ten team was composed of Trimble, Ferrell, Hayes, LeVert, and Valentine. Trimble, Ferrell, and Hayes were unanimous.

Preseason watchlists Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists. WoodenNaismithRobertsonCousyWestErvingMaloneAbdul-JabbarOlsonTisdale James Blackmon, Jr. IND Thomas Bryant IND Yogi Ferrell IND A. J. Hammons PUR Nigel Hayes WIS Bronson Koenig WIS Jake Layman MD Caris LeVert MICH Diamond Stone MD Rasheed Sulaimon MD Caleb Swanigan PUR Melo Trimble MD Denzel Valentine MSU Troy Williams IND

The following players were selected to the 5 major positional preseason 20-man watch lists announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Bob Cousy Award (point guard): Yogi Ferrell, Melo Trimble, and Bronson Koenig Jerry West Award (shooting guard): James Blackmon, Jr., Rasheed Sulaimon, and Caris LeVert Julius Erving Award (small forward): Troy Williams, Jake Layman, Denzel Valentine and Nigel Hayes Karl Malone Award (power forward): Caleb Swanigan Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (center): Thomas Bryant, Diamond Stone and A. J. Hammons

Ferrell, Hayes, Valentine and Trimble were selected to the 30-man Lute Olson Award preseason watchlist.

Blackmon, Ferrel, Hammons, Hayes, Koenig, Layman, LeVert, Trimble, Valentine and Williams all made the initial 50-man John R. Wooden Award watch list on November 17. On December 2, the 50-man Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist, 33-man Robertson Trophy watchlist and 18-man Wayman Tisdale Award watchlist were announced. Naismith honorees were Ferrel, Hammons, Hayes, LeVert, Swanigan, Trimble, and Valentine. Robertson honorees were Ferrel, Hayes, LeVert, Trimble, and Valentine. Swanigan was the lone Tisdale honoree from the Big Ten. Iowa's Mike Gesell, Maryland's Varun Ram, Michigan's Spike Albrecht, Nebraska's Shavon Shields, Purdue's Rapheal Davis, Rutgers' Greg Lewis and Wisconsin's Hayes were named Allstate Good Works Team nominees.

Preseason All-American teams CBS AP TSN USAToday SBNation BlueRibbon AthlonSports BleacherReport NBC BigTen.org BTN SportsIllustratedLindy'sSports James Blackmon, Jr. Yogi Ferrell 2nd 2nd 3rd A. J. Hammons Nigel Hayes 2nd 1st 3rd 3rd 3rd 2nd1st Bronson Koenig Jake Layman Caris LeVert 3rd Melo Trimble 2nd 3rd 1st 1st 3rd 2nd 2nd 3rd Jarrod Uthoff Denzel Valentine3rd 3rd 2nd 2nd

On October 6, CBS Sports announced its preseason All-American team, which included Trimble and Hayes on its 2nd team and Valentine on its 3rd team. Sporting News selected Hayes to its preseason All-American first team, Ferrell to its second team, and Trimble to its third team. Trimble was an Athlon Sports Preseason All-American 1st team selection, while Hayes, Ferrell and LeVert were 3rd team selections. Lindy's Sports did not name an All-America team, but did rank all college basketball players by position and presented a top 25 list at each position. It included Hayes as the top power forward and Trimble as the third best point guard. Hayes, Valentine and Trimble were second team selections by Sports Illustrated. On November 3, NBC Sports included Valentine and Trimble on its preseason All-American 2nd team. Trimble, Ferrell and Hayes were 1st, 2nd and 3rd team selections respectively by USA Today. Trimble, Valentine and Hayes were all third team selections by Bleacher Report. Trimble was one vote shy of tying Ben Simmons for the fifth and final spot on the Associated Press pre-season All-American team. No Big Ten player made the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook preseason All-America first team.

Preseason polls

Maryland was the unanimous selection by the Big Ten Network to top the preseason conference rankings.

The Big Ten had 5 teams ranked in the preseason Coaches' Poll (Maryland at No. 3, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 15 Indiana, No. 17 Wisconsin and Purdue, which was tied for No. 24) and six in the preseason AP Poll (Maryland at No. 3, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 15 Indiana, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 23 Purdue and No. 25 Michigan).

According to Athlon Sports, the preseason top 25 included Maryland (No. 4), Michigan State (No. 12), Purdue (No. 16), Indiana (No. 17), Wisconsin (No. 19), and Michigan (No. 22). CBS Sports listed Maryland (No. 4), Michigan State (No. 11), Indiana (No. 13), Wisconsin (No. 17), and Purdue (No. 26) in its preseason rankings. Sporting News ranked five Big Ten Teams among its Top 25: Indiana (No. 3), Indiana (No. 15), Michigan (No. 18), Wisconsin (No. 20) and Michigan State (No. 23). Lindy's Sports ranked Maryland number 1, Indiana number 4, Purdue number 21 and Michigan State number 23 in its top 25. Michigan was among the other 15 teams mentioned (at number 33). NBC Sports ranked Maryland 2, Michigan State 9, Indiana 14, Michigan 17, Purdue 21 and Wisconsin 25. ESPN's 10-person panel selected Maryland number 1, Indiana 14, Michigan State 15, Wisconsin 17, Michigan 22, and Purdue 24. Sports Illustrated ranked all 351 teams. The following teams were in its top 25: Maryland 5, Indiana 14, and Michigan State 15 (but also listed 3 Big Ten teams in positions 26–28). Bleacher Report ranked Maryland 4, Indiana 12, Michigan State 13 and Purdue 18. Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook selected Maryland 2, Indiana 13, Michigan State 15, Michigan 17 and Purdue 19. The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) ranked 1. Maryland (8); 13. Indiana; 15. Michigan State; 18. Purdue; 23. Michigan; and 25. Wisconsin.

AP Coaches CBS NBC SportingNews SportsIllustrated Blue RibbonYearbook BleacherReport AthlonSports Lindy'sSports ESPN USBWAIllinois Indiana15 15 13 14 15 14 13 12 17 4 14 13Iowa Maryland3 3 4 2 3 5 2 4 4 1 1 1Michigan25 17 18 17 22 22 23Michigan State13 13 11 9 23 15 15 13 12 23 15 15Minnesota Nebraska Northwestern Ohio State Penn State Purdue23 24T26 21 19 16 21 24 18Rutgers Wisconsin17 17 17 25 20 18 19 17 25

Regular season

Conference schedules Before the season, it was announced that the Big Ten Network would televise 75 games including 9 straight Wednesday doubleheaders and regular Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders. The schedule also included an extensive slate of ESPN Inc. family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU) Tuesday and Thursday night of the conference season coverage and CBS Sports scheduled games for Saturday or Sunday afternoons starting January 10, 2016. CBS will carry the semifinals and finals of the 2016 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament, marking the 19th consecutive year that they have covered the Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament. All teams begin a balanced 18-game conference game schedule during the week of December 28 – January 3 in which teams play home and away against 5 teams, home against 4 teams and away against the remaining 4 opponents. On January 30, the conference scheduled its inaugural annual "Super Saturday – College Hoops & Hockey" doubleheader featuring a basketball game between Michigan and Penn State followed by a hockey game between the teams from the same schools at Madison Square Garden.

2015 ACC–Big Ten Challenge (Big Ten 8–6)