Conference expansion creates intriguing matchups for Big Ten

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Of all the concerns he has about UCLA’s move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, there was one that clearly topped coach Mick Cronin’s list.

The Bruins play at Indiana on Feb. 14, and friends and family back home keep asking for tickets. Cronin has bad news for them.

“I don’t have any tickets,” he said with a smile Thursday at Big Ten media day. “But I want you to make sure you can somehow get this out. I don’t have any tickets. Everybody in Cincinnati has asked me for tickets to the game at Indiana. I don’t have any.”

Cronin grew up in the city and coached at Cincinnati for 13 years before taking over at UCLA in 2019 after Steve Alford was fired. Now, as he begins his sixth season, the Bruins are entering unfamiliar territory.

UCLA, Southern California, Oregon and Washington start their first year in the Big Ten in a few weeks. And along with the added revenue streams and recruiting avenues and potential travel headaches and everything else that comes with expansion, it’s also created some intriguing matchups.

UCLA and Indiana will be playing for just the second time since 1992 when the storied programs meet at Assembly Hall. Their most recent game was in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Bruins knocked out the Hoosiers in the second round on the way to the Final Four.

The two schools have played 12 times, with the past seven meetings on neutral sites. The most recent home game for either team was at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1960. They haven’t played in Bloomington, Indiana, since 1956 — 15 years before Assembly Hall opened.

“There are gonna be a lot of cool games happening,” Cronin said. “But it’s gonna go on every year now.”

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was looking forward to bringing the Spartans to Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 4. They haven’t played there since 2003.

“It’s just one of those iconic places that will be incredible for a player to play in or a coach to coach in,” Izzo said. “The ghost of John Wooden is still there, and rightfully so.”

UCLA, USC and Oregon usually finished near the top of the Pac-12 and made the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis. It remains to be seen how their styles will translate to a new conference and whether they will win at the same rate.

Though the Big Ten might not be quite as rough and tumble as it used to be, it still presents a challenge. Purdue’s Matt Painter looks forward to seeing what they bring to the league.

“When Indiana was dominating our league and Purdue was dominating our league, you morphed into Bobby Knight and Gene Keady because that’s who was winning the league,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “The Big Ten championships at that time were going through the state of Indiana. It’s just the way it was. Who do you copy? I know that I’ve copied a lot from Tom Izzo. I’ve copied a lot from Bo Ryan. I don’t go out and promote it because I don’t want to see them get good players. I’ve stolen a lot from the people I’ve competed against.”

Cronin isn’t the only one among the newcomers with ties to the Midwest or East Coast. Oregon’s Dana Altman coached for years at Creighton after a run at Kansas State. USC’s Eric Musselman, who replaces Andy Enfield, spent the past five seasons at Arkansas and has a long NBA background. New Washington coach Danny Sprinkle is from the West.

“Not that the Big Ten is the smashmouth league it used to be, but if it’s a little more physical — I know Mick pretty well — that isn’t gonna phase him,” Izzo said. “I know Dana pretty well, that’s not gonna phase him. I think they’ll adjust just fine. The other two I don’t know as well, but I like the fact that USC is gonna be running and they’ll get after it up and down. And Washington … is a place that I’ve heard is hard to play, too.”

For Altman, being in the Big Ten feels like a bit of a homecoming. He had a strong recruiting base in Iowa when he coached at Creighton from 1994 to 2010, and his teams played Nebraska.

“It will be different, but it will be challenging,” he said. “And hopefully, our guys will look forward to it.”