Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
Awarded for | the most outstanding basketball player in the Big Ten Conference |
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Country | United States |
History | |
First award | 1985 |
Most recent | Zach Edey, Purdue |
The Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1984–85 season. Only four players have won the award multiple times: Jim Jackson of Ohio State (1991, 1992), Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State (1998, 1999), Luka Garza of Iowa (2020, 2021), and Zach Edey of Purdue (2023, 2024). Ten players who won the Big Ten Player of the Year award were also named the national player of the year by one or more major voting bodies: Jim Jackson (1992), Calbert Cheaney of Indiana (1993), Glenn Robinson of Purdue (1994), Evan Turner of Ohio State (2010), Draymond Green of Michigan State (2012), Trey Burke of Michigan (2013), Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin (2015), Denzel Valentine of Michigan State (2016), Luka Garza of Iowa (2021), and Zach Edey of Purdue (2023).
Michigan State has the record for the most winners with nine. Of current Big Ten Conference members, five schools have never had a winner: Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, and Rutgers. Of these, only Northwestern was in the conference since the inception of this award—Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1991, Nebraska joined in 2011, followed by Maryland and Rutgers in 2014.
Key
† | Co-Players of the Year |
* | Awarded a national player of the year award: UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96) Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present) John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present) |
Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year award at that point |
Winners
a Bobby Jackson's selection was later vacated (along with that season's win total and all other accolades) due to an academic fraud scandal that ruled the entire team ineligible.
Winners by school
School (year joined) | Winners | Years |
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Michigan State (1953) | 9 | 1986, 1995, 1998, 1999†, 2000†, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2019 |
Ohio State (1912) | 7 | 1987, 1991, 1992, 1999†, 2006, 2010, 2018 |
Indiana (1900) | 6 | 1989†, 1993, 1996, 2000†, 2002, 2008 |
Purdue (1896) | 6 | 1990, 1994, 2011, 2017, 2023, 2024 |
Michigan (1896) | 5 | 1985, 1988, 1989†, 2013, 2014 |
Wisconsin (1896) | 4 | 2004, 2007, 2015, 2022 |
Illinois (1896) | 3 | 2001, 2003, 2005 |
Iowa (1900) | 2 | 2020, 2021 |
Minnesota (1896) | 0 | 1997 vacated |
Maryland (2014) | 0 | — |
Nebraska (2011) | 0 | — |
Northwestern (1896) | 0 | — |
Penn State (1993) | 0 | — |
Rutgers (2014) | 0 | — |