Indiana coach Mike Davis knows who is getting his vote for Big Ten Player of the Year.
Northwestern’s Jitim Young.
“I know they’re not in first place, but at the same time, they’ve only lost one home game and they’ve won two road games and he’s a big part of that success,” said Davis, Indiana’s fourth-year head coach. “You always want to reward a guy like that.”
Despite Davis’ enthusiastic endorsement, Young shouldn’t prepare his victory speech just yet. Other conference coaches said they plan to vote for a player on the conference’s top team.
“I’ve always been one that tends to vote for guys who are winning the league,” said Iowa coach Steve Alford, who was named Big Ten’s Player of the Year when he led Indiana to the Final Four in 1987.
Young’s Wildcats are currently mired in a three-way tie for fifth place in the conference.
With Young out of the picture in the coach’s mind, Alford said he expects to vote for Illinois’ Deron Williams or Wisconsin’s Devin Harris, depending on which squad wins the league title.
Harris, the early favorite, averages 19.1 points a game — 1.2 points more than Young.
Purdue’s Gene Keady said he’ll cast his vote for the top performer on one of the league’s best teams, probably Harris.
The Badgers’ point guard dropped 16 points Sunday in Wisconsin’s 82-46 victory over the Boilermakers. That was enough to get Keady’s attention — and probably his vote as well.
BOILERMAKER BLUES: Although his team meets Illinois tonight, Keady says he hasn’t quite bounced back from the trouncing at Wisconsin.
“I never recover until the next win,” he said.
With an overall record of 15-10, the Boilermakers, tied with the Cats for fifth place, are on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The squad recorded a 10-point victory over Duke in November, but that might not be enough to get Purdue an invitation to the Big Dance.
“We lost a couple of close games this year and that’s the price you pay,” Keady said.
Early in February, the Boilermakers lost two consecutive games — to NU and Michigan — by one point.
Keady said now his team must win its two remaining regular season games (Illinois and Iowa) to be guaranteed a spot in the tournament.
In the meantime, Keady said he won’t be worry about the proclivities of the selection committee.
“It’s a fact of life,” he said. “We can’t worry about that. We just need to play better.”
TOURNEY TIME: Michigan State’s Tom Izzo is tired of people telling him the conference isn’t as strong as usual.
“I think the Big Ten gets more abuse than most leagues,” he said. “What you’re starting to see happen is that we are bouncing back. I’ve said all along five or six teams could get in (the NCAA Tournament).”
Along with Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin, all expected to receive invitations, Izzo said Purdue, Michigan and Iowa are in the hunt.
But the borderline teams will need strong showings in the Big Ten Tournament, something Izzo said will add to the excitement of the postseason.
“There’s so many teams that could win it,” he said.
Still, even Izzo agrees the Big Ten — and college basketball in general — isn’t quite what it used to be.
Three years after Mateen Cleves and Morris Peterson graduated from Michigan State, the Spartans don’t have any big names on their roster.
The trend of college players leaving after only a year or two in school to join the NBA is the game’s biggest problem, Izzo says.
“We have lost a lot of players in this league,” he said. “You’re not going to lose what we lose and keep everything the same.”
“I think the early defections in a lot of ways have hurt the college game.”
