Big Ten Men’s Basketball POY
Big Ten basketball is in full swing. It seems like I was mostly spot on regarding my other blog with perhaps the only change I would make would be switching Minnesota and Purdue after the Boilermakers grabbed their first big win of the year by beating the Badgers (their win against the Buckeyes also looks good but both of those wins are at home). It appears that the NCAA tournament will see five teams - Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Purdue.
After watching the Ohio State-Penn State game last night I started to think about who should be up for player of the year in the Big Ten. There are three obvious choices in my opinion … I would say that Raymar Morgan and DJ White just miss the cut. The following three players are, in my opinion, up for the award.
Jamar Butler of Ohio State means more to his team than any other player in the league. Without Butler the Buckeyes are potentially not even an NIT squad. His maturity and leadership have pushed the Buckeyes through some tough wins.
Drew Neitzel provides senior leadership to the Spartans who very well may be the class of the Big Ten. Recently Neitzel overcame a scoring slump and has returned to the form we saw at the end of last season.
Eric Gordon of Indiana …. holy freshmen sensation. Gordon and teammate DJ White have the Hoosiers battling the Spartans for the top of the Big Ten. Gordon is the difference between this years Hoosier squad and last years and is the reason that the Hoosiers could return to the Final Four.
Eric Gordon is averaging nearly 22 points per game is probably the more popular choice out of the three candidates mentioned. However in the grander scheme of things Neitzel and Butler are more important to their teams and make a bigger contribution. Right now I think it is a crime if the award goes to any but Jamar Butler. However, I’ll be surprised if Gordon doesn’t take the award home and move on to the NBA next year.
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