On October 16, 2009 five schools celebrated Midnight Madness to mark the beginning of the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.

Trévon Hughes, E'Twaun Moore, Kalin Lucas and Robbie Hummel also received various All-American recognitions.

The entire 2008–09 All-Big Ten Conference first-team returned: Manny Harris MICH; Kalin Lucas MSU; Evan Turner OSU; Talor Battle PSU; and JaJuan Johnson PUR.

[40] Michigan State's Magic Johnson and Jud Heathcote were inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on November 22.

[50] Four Big Ten athletes (Talor Battle, Harris, Trevon Hughes and Lucas) were named as finalists for the 2010 Bob Cousy Award to lead all conferences.

Harris, Lucas, Robbie Hummel and Turner were also selected Midseason Top 30 finalists for the 2010 John Wooden Award.

[51] On January 12, Hummel and Turner became only the third pair of opposing Big Ten players to post 30 points against each other in one night.

[52][53] Michigan State established a new school record by winning its first eight conference games and extended the streak to nine by the end of the month.

[34] Two weeks later he set the single-season record with his sixth recognition when he averaged 24.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists against two ranked opponents (No.

[45] The 2009–10 season marked the third consecutive year that every Big Ten men's basketball conference regular-season and tournament game was nationally televised.

In excess of 100 games appeared nationally on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 or the Big Ten Network every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday during conference play beginning on December 29.

[68] These student-athletes were eligible to be named Distinguished Scholar Awardees if they maintained a 3.7 GPA for the entire academic year.

[68] Turner was named the winner of the Oscar Robertson Trophy by the United States Basketball Writers Association as the consensus choice by voters in all nine geographical districts.

[71][72] He was also recognized the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Division I Player of the Year[73] and was honored as the Naismith Award recipient.

[74] In addition to his basketball honors, Turner was selected as the male Big Ten Athlete of the Year for all sports.

The selection on this list were then eligible for the State Farm Coaches' Division I All-America teams announced at the 2009 NABC Convention in Detroit.

To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution.

[82] Purdue's senior economics major Mark Wohlford was the conference's only men's basketball distinguished scholar by achieving the minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher.

recognized E'Twaun Moore as a third-team selection and both Trevon Hughes and Kalin Lucas as honorable mentions.

[95] The following All-Big Ten performers were listed as seniors: Trévon Hughes, Jason Bohannon, and DeShawn Sims.

The following were All-Big Ten underclassmen, who declared early with the intent to hire agents:[96][97] Evan Turner and Manny Harris.

[98] The following were All-Big Ten underclassmen who entered their name in the draft but who did not hire agents and opted to return to college:[98] Talor Battle, Mike Davis, JaJuan Johnson, Demetri McCamey, and E'Twaun Moore.