It's still November, but the Big Ten will begin conference play on Friday with two league matchups. By next Thursday, all 14 Big Ten schools will have played two conference games.
A similar schedule was adopted last season, for the first time, in order to accommodate a Big Ten Tournament played a week sooner than usual. Teams played two league games each in early December, returned to nonconference action, and resumed league play for good in early January.
This year, the early conference games are because the league has moved to a 20-game schedule. The Big Ten is the first conference in Division I basketball history to do so.