The Big Ten Conference (B1G), formerly Western Conference and Big Nine Conference, is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions (which are primarily flagship research universities in their respective states, well-regarded academically, and with relatively large student enrollment) are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east, and from Indiana in the south to Minnesota in the north. The conference competes in the NCAA's Division I; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport. Member schools of the Big Ten also are members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a leading educational consortium.

Despite the conference's name, the Big Ten actually consists of twelve schools, following the addition of Pennsylvania State University in 1993 and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2011. It is not to be confused with the Big 12 Conference, which has only ten schools and represents a different region of the country.

Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American entrepreneur, abolitionist and philanthropist of 19th-century Baltimore, Maryland.

His bequests founded numerous institutions bearing his name, including Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

A biography entitled Johns Hopkins: A Silhouette written by his cousin, Helen Hopkins Thom, was published in 1929 by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Johns Hopkins was born on May 19, 1795, to Samuel Hopkins (1759–1814) of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, and Hannah Janney (1774–1864), of Loudoun County, Virginia. Home was Whitehall, a 500-acre (two km²) tobacco plantation in Anne Arundel County. His first name derives from a maternal great-grandmother, Margaret Johns, who passed it on to her son.

The Hopkins family were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). In 1807 they emancipated their slaves in accordance with their local Society decree, which called for freeing the able-bodied and caring for the others, who would remain at the plantation and provide labor as they could. The second eldest of eleven children, 12 year-old Johns was required to work on the farm, interrupting his formal education. From 1806 to 1809, he likely attended The Free School of Anne Arundel County, which was located in today's Davidsonville, Maryland.

Seth Davis is a writer for Sports Illustrated magazine and an in-studio analyst for CBS' NCAA men's college basketball coverage with Greg Anthony and host Greg Gumbel.

Davis attended Duke University, graduating in 1992 with a degree in political science. He was host of a sports related cable television show on Cable 13, and was also a sports columnist for the university's daily campus newspaper, The Chronicle.

Davis began writing at Sports Illustrated in July 1995. He is currently a staff writer for SI and authors the Inside College Basketball column during the college basketball season. Before joining Sports Illustrated, Davis spent several years at The New Haven Register, where he wrote about various sports, including the NFL, NBA, college basketball and local high school sports.

In 2003, his book Equinunk, Tell Your Story: My Return to Summer Camp about his experiences as a camp counselor, was published. His second book When March Went Mad, was published in 2009.

Davis was born in Connecticut and raised in Potomac, Maryland.