When Maryland joined the Big Ten in 2012, the league’s commissioner, Jim Delany, promised Mark Turgeon that he would bring the conference tournament to Washington, D.C. “He kept his word,” Turgeon said at the league’s media day on Thursday morning at the Marriott Wardman Park in Northwest Washington, not far from where the Big Ten tournament will be held at Verizon Center in March.
Thursday’s event, which had traditionally been held in Chicago near the league’s headquarters, felt fresh for Turgeon as he enters his third year in the league. It certainly felt different from a year ago, when Turgeon arrived at this event to field questions about gaudy expectations and the national championship-potential of his team.