# 2019–20 Big Ten Conference women's basketball season

The 2019–20 Big Ten women's basketball season began with practices in October 2019, followed by the start of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November 2019. The regular season ended in March, 2020.
The Big Ten tournament was played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana in March 2020.

## Head coaches
### Coaching changes prior to the season
#### Penn State

On March 9, 2019, Penn State fired head coach Coquese Washington. On April 3, 2019, the school hired Carolyn Kieger away from Marquette to serve as head coach.

### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Big Ten record | Big Ten titles | Big Ten tournament titles | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA Final Fours | NCAA Championships |
| Illinois | Nancy Fahey | Washington (MO) | 3 | 19–42 | 2–32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Indiana | Teri Moren | Indiana State | 6 | 103–66 | 43–43 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Iowa | Lisa Bluder | Drake | 20 | 393–215 | 193–124 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| Maryland | Brenda Frese | Minnesota | 18 | 458–124 | 78–10* | 4 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 1 |
| Michigan | Kim Barnes Arico | St. John's (Asst.) | 8 | 156–85 | 66–52 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Michigan State | Suzy Merchant | Eastern Michigan | 13 | 265–134 | 127–77 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Minnesota | Lindsay Whalen | Minnesota Lynx (Player) | 2 | 21–11 | 9–9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nebraska | Amy Williams | South Dakota | 4 | 42–49 | 23–27 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Northwestern | Joe McKeown | George Washington | 11 | 180–172 | 67–119 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio State | Kevin McGuff | Washington | 7 | 134–65 | 71–31 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Penn State | Carolyn Kieger | Marquette | 1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Purdue | Sharon Versyp | Indiana | 14 | 276–162 | 128–92 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Rutgers | C. Vivian Stringer | Iowa | 25 | 499–277 | 42–42* | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | Jonathan Tsipis | George Washington | 4 | 33–61 | 9–41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Year at school includes 2019–20 season.
* Overall and Big Ten records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the season.
* Frese's ACC conference record excluded since Maryland began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15.
* Stringer's Big East and American conference record excluded since Rutgers began Big Ten Conference play in 2014–15.

## Preseason
### Preseason conference poll

The Big Ten released the preseason ranking on October 23, 2019, which featured a ranking by both media and coaches.
Media :
| Ranking | Team |
| 1 | Maryland |
| 2 | Michigan |
| 3 | Michigan State |
| 4 | Indiana |
| 5 | Minnesota |
Coaches :
| Ranking | Team |
| 1 | Maryland |
| 2 | Michigan State |
| 3 | Indiana |
| 4 | Michigan |
| 5 | Purdue |

### Preseason All-Big Ten

On October 21, 2019, a panel of conference media selected a 10-member preseason All-Big Ten Team and Player of the Year.
| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Player of the Year | Kaila Charles, Maryland |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Ali Patberg, Indiana |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Kathleen Doyle, Iowa |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Kaila Charles*, Maryland |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Taylor Mikesell, Maryland |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Naz Hillmon*, Michigan |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Shay Colley, Michigan State |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Destiny Pitts, Minnesota |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Lindsey Pulliam, Northwestern |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Ae'Rianna Harris, Purdue |
| Preseason All-Big Ten Team | Karissa McLaughlin, Purdue |
| *Unanimous selections ||

### Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.
| | Wooden | Naismith | Drysdale | Lieberman | Miller | McClain | Leslie |
| Ali Patberg, Indiana | Y | Y | | Y | | | |
| Kathleen Doyle, Iowa | | | Y | | | | |
| Shakira Austin, Maryland | | Y | | | | | Y |
| Kaila Charles, Maryland | Y | Y | | | Y | | |
| Stephanie Jones, Maryland | | | | | | Y | |
| Taylor Mikesell, Maryland | | | Y | | | | |
| Naz Hillmon, Michigan | | Y | | | | Y | |
| Shay Colley, Michigan State | | Y | | | | | |
| Taiye Bello, Minnesota | | | | | | Y | |
| Destiny Pitts, Minnesota | | | Y | | | | |
| Kate Cain, Nebraska | | | | | | | Y |
| Lindsey Pulliam, Northwestern | | | Y | | | | |
| Ae'Rianna Harris, Purdue | | Y | | | | | Y |

### Preseason national polls

| | AP | CBS Sports | Coaches | ESPN | ESPNW |
| Illinois | | | | | |
| Indiana | 24 | 16 | | 21 | 24 |
| Iowa | | | | | |
| Maryland | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Michigan | 25 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 23 |
| Michigan State | 17 | | 21 | 25 | |
| Minnesota | 23 | 18 | | 16 | 17 |
| Nebraska | | | | | |
| Northwestern | | | | | |
| Ohio State | | | | | |
| Penn State | | | | | |
| Purdue | | | | | |
| Rutgers | | | | | |
| Wisconsin | | | | | |

## Regular season
### Rankings

Legend :
| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll |
| (Italics) | Number of first place votes |
| | | Pre/ Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 |
| Illinois | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Illinois | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Indiana | AP | 24 | 21 | 18 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 18 | 20 | 24 | 22 |
| Indiana | C | RV | 25 | 23 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 23 | RV | 24 | |
| Iowa | AP | RV | | | | | | | RV | | RV | 22 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 17 | 19 | 18 |
| Iowa | C | RV | | | | | | | | RV | 24 | 21 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 20 | |
| Maryland | AP | 4 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 7 |
| Maryland | C | 5 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 17 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 7 | |
| Michigan | AP | 25 | 24 | 21 | RV | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | RV | 24 | | | | | | | |
| Michigan | C | 24 | 19 | RV | 25 | 22 | 22 | 23 | RV | RV | | | | | | | | |
| Michigan State | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Michigan State | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Minnesota | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Minnesota | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Nebraska | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Nebraska | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Northwestern | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Northwestern | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Ohio State | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Ohio State | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Penn State | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Penn State | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Purdue | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Purdue | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rutgers | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rutgers | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wisconsin | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wisconsin | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Early season tournaments

Nine of the 14 Big Ten teams participated in early season tournaments. All Big Ten teams participated in the ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge against Atlantic Coast Conference teams, the 13th year for the event.
| Team | Tournament | Finish |
| Indiana | Paradise Jam tournament | 3rd |
| Iowa | Puerto Rico Clasico | 2nd |
| Maryland | Dayton Beach Invitational | |
| Michigan State | Junkanoo Jam | 3rd |
| Purdue | Gulf Coast Showcase | 2nd |
| Rutgers | Junkanoo Jam | 1st |