CHICAGO – The Big Ten Tournament provided an up-close look at all 14 teams in the conference as Stadium sat courtside in press row all week, right behind the “away” team’s (read: lower-seeded team’s) bench. It provided an unfiltered look at the communication between coaches, players, officials and fans in an intense win-or-go-home setting.

Over the course of the week, we recorded our observations. Here are some of the highlights.

 

Here’s what it takes for a coach to lose his jacket

Nebraska Head Coach Tim Miles’ suit jacket didn’t survive three possessions of the Huskers’ first-round game against Rutgers on Wednesday. Junior forward Isaiah Roby blew past Rutgers forward Eugene Omoruyi, driving to his right, and he skied for an emphatic dunk.

Nebraska’s bench collectively stood up to celebrate as Roby was mid-air.

Roby missed the dunk.

Miles, who was standing at the far left end of his team’s bench on the baseline opposite of Roby, was so upset he ripped off his jacket. He then walked over to his seat on the right end of Nebraska’s bench and hung it up on the back of his chair.

He took a sip of purple Gatorade.

“Too [expletive] easy,” Miles said.

The next day, Indiana Coach Archie Miller’s jacket survived the first half – barely.

Ohio State led 33-28 when Indiana guard Romeo Langford and forward Juwan Morgan played a two-man game with Morgan screening for Langford, then rolling to the rim. Langford tried to feed Morgan across the lane but his pass was stolen by Ohio State’s Duane Washington.

Ohio State called a timeout, trying to maximize its final possession of the first half with 22 seconds remaining.

Fifth-year senior guard Keyshawn Woods, who scored a team-high 18 points for the Buckeyes in their win, sized up Langford and nailed a fadeaway jumper over Langford before the buzzer sounded.

An Indiana staffer slammed the chair next to him as the Hoosiers faced a seven-point deficit heading into halftime. Miller, in a quiet frustration, took off his jacket before he reached the tunnel on his way to the locker room.

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What do opposing fans say to players?

In Michigan’s quarterfinal win over Iowa Friday night, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Ignas Brazdeikis drove down the lane, jumped and drew a foul on Joe Wieskamp.

“You have the worst hair in the Big Ten,” yelled an Iowa fan in one of the first few rows. “Nice haircut.”

Brazdeikis missed both free throws.

During Michigan State’s semifinal win over Wisconsin, Cassius Winston was at the free throw line with the Spartans’ victory all but sealed, a fan from across the arena yelled, “You wear a headband to cover your hairline,” directed towards Winston’s iconic headband.

The insults ranged from a really young fan yelling that a player looks like a pig to “You suck.”

There was a “You suck, [expletive]” directed at Michigan guard Charles Matthews and a more personal “Eli Brooks, you are trash,” during Michigan’s win over Iowa.

A Nebraska fan shouted “Nice chin strap, Pritzl,” at Wisconsin guard Brevin Pritzl on Friday, in regards to the guard’s facial hair.

After Ohio State guard Keyshawn Woods got called for an offensive foul against Michigan State, play stopped for a media timeout.

Woods returned to the Buckeyes’ bench and put his hands on his head in disbelief at the foul call.

A Michigan State fan in the first row of the stands behind Ohio State’s bench shouted, “You can’t do that,” dragging out the word “that” for taunting effect.

Woods gave him a glaring side eye and walked to Ohio State’s huddle.

There were a few instances of players being fooled by opposing fans shouting a fake shot-clock countdown during the Big Ten Tournament.

Penn State’s Lamar Stevens got fooled twice by some Minnesota fans who were sitting behind the Nittany Lions’ bench during their second round matchup.

With the game tied at 61 and nine seconds left in regulation, Stevens forced a jumper after some Gopher fans had counted down a fake shot clock that was several seconds ahead of the actual shot clock.

He missed the jumper, Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy got the rebound, Penn State had a foul to give that stopped play with roughly one second remaining. Amir Coffey missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer and the game went to overtime.

Team staffers and players on Penn State’s bench had counted down the shot clock during the game, so it was understandable if Stevens thought the shot clock countdown was accurate.

The fake shot clock countdown appeared to fool Stevens a second time in overtime, when he took (and missed) a three with his team trailing 69-66 and 37 seconds remaining in overtime.

Some Iowa fans tried a similar fake shot clock countdown when Michigan’s Jordan Poole had the ball early in the second half of their quarterfinal matchup. It was about five seconds ahead of the actual shot clock but Hawkeye fans weren’t as fortunate as Minnesota fans the day before.

Poole nailed his three from the right wing and he also drew a foul on Iowa’s Tyler Cook in the process, allowing Michigan’s sophomore guard to complete a four-point play.

 

What is the communication like between coaches and officials?

Ohio State’s leading scorer, sophomore center Kaleb Wesson, picked up his second foul against Michigan State with 13:06 left in the first half, just 33 seconds after he was called for his first.

Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann complained to a nearby official that “our two best players” have two fouls as fifth-year senior Woods also had two fouls.

“Tell him to quit fouling,” the official responded.

“Just don’t get the third,” Holtmann told Wesson on the bench before he returned to the game with 9:41 left in the half.

After Tim Miles was assessed a technical foul in the Huskers’ game against Wisconsin, he was still pleading his case with the officials.

“Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim,” official D.J. Carstensen said as he walked towards Miles, trying to calm him down.

There’s a tangible give-and-take between coaches and officials, with an official’s tone, a sharp glance or hand motions indicating how close a coach is to crossing the proverbial “line.”

After Michigan’s Jordan Poole got away with an apparent travel in the Wolverines’ win over Minnesota, Gophers Head Coach Richard Pitino told one official, “That’s twice you guys missed a call.”

When the first official didn’t budge on the call, Pitino pleaded with the next closest official, who was standing near the baseline. Same story. Then Pitino shouted across to the opposite sideline to the third official, trying to make his case that Poole traveled.

Think of it like when children ask one parent for money, get told no, so they go to the other parent.

That feels like a reasonable visual metaphor, at least.

The fans that sat in the first few rows behind the team’s bench, which is where family members and friends of players, coaches and team staffers sat, knew the names of every ref, often shouting to them as if they’re on a first-name basis.

“Call a foul, Bo. Wake up!” yelled an Iowa fan to official Bo Boroski during the Hawkeyes’ loss to Michigan.

“Kelly, it’s a Euro move,” shouted one Nebraska fan to official Kelly Pfeifer after he called a travel against the Huskers.

 

Coaches making adjustments, substitutions, commentary

One Big Ten team was forced to put a freshman in the game after a starter picked up two early fouls and the freshman was at a severe disadvantage at his position.

It was apparent almost immediately as he committed a foul on his first play in the game.

“We gotta help him out,” his head coach told the coaching staff. “We gotta help that [expletive] kid out.”

The coach wanted help-side defense ready and available whenever the player who the freshman was defending received a pass.

It’s never too early to get a sense of the opponent’s game plan. On Indiana’s first offensive possession against Ohio State, when Langford brought the ball down the court, Miller noted to his assistant coaches, “They switched that ball screen,” after guard Al Durham missed a jumper in which he was defended by Ohio State’s Wesson.

After Indiana junior center De’Ron Davis picked up his second foul after a hold against Ohio State’s Kyle Young, Miller turned to his bench, asking, “What are we going to do?”

“Race, Race, Race,” he said, telling redshirt freshman Race Thompson to replace Davis as Thompson checked in for the first time.

In the first half of Iowa’s win against Illinois, Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood pulled freshman guard Alan Griffin and told him, “We never help on the strong side. You cost us a five-point lead.”

An assistant coach later walked over to Griffin and told him, “You help on strong side … you give them open shots.”

On one possession when Minnesota freshman center Daniel Oturu was defending Michigan forward Isaiah Livers in the Big Ten semifinals, one Minnesota assistant coach shouted, “Make him drive!”

That was clearly part of the scouting report on Livers. Livers scored a game-high 21 points, including 4-of-6 3-pointers, and Minnesota wanted to force Livers to drive versus being a catch-and-shoot player.

In the second half of the Big Ten Championship, Michigan stole the ball on a pass from Michigan State’s Kenny Goins and freshman Ignas Brazdeikis forced a contested 3-pointer early in the shot clock, which led to a run-out for Michigan State that ended in an and-one for Xavier Tillman.

Michigan Head Coach John Beilein turned to his bench and shouted, “You cannot take shots like that.”

The Wolverines were nursing a four-point lead at the time of Brazdeikis’ shot.

“You cannot waste a possession by taking shots like that,” Beilein told his bench. Michigan lost by five.

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