Todd’s Take: My Big Ten Men’s Basketball Awards, Official and Not So Official Categories

The Big Ten will announce the real men’s basketball awards on Tuesday, but here are my choices in the first year the Big Ten was an 18-team conference.

Todd Golden | Mar 10, 2025

Michigan State's Jaden Akins holds the Big Ten championship trophy after the game against Michigan on Sunday, March 9, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Big Ten will announce its official 2025 honors on Tuesday, but why wait?

I decided to weigh in with my own choices in what was an intriguing Big Ten season. I picked some of the long-standing traditional awards and created a few categories of my own.

No need to belabor the particulars. Let’s dive into it.

Player of the Year

Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) celebrates after scoring Tuesday, March 4, 2025, during the NCAA men’s basketball game at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. / Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

My first thought when I pondered this high honor was that Purdue point guard Braden Smith, the Preseason Player of the Year, was being overrated a tad given that the preseason conference favorite Boilermakers finished four games off the pace.

It's why first thoughts are often wrong thoughts. Smith had an excellent season. All of his numbers (16.3 ppg, 8.8 apg, 4.7 rpg) were up except 3-point shooting percentage from a very good 2024 campaign. He plays a position of huge influence, and it’s not like Purdue was that disappointing. They finished a game out of second.

Smith also doesn’t have any obvious competition. Cases could be made for his teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn, Wisconsin’s John Tonje, Maryland’s Derik Queen, Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli, Nebraska’s Brice Williams and others, but none have a compelling enough case to knock Smith out of the box.

Freshman of the Year

Maryland Terrapins center Derik Queen (25) handles the ball during the second half against USC Trojans guard Wesley Yates III (6) at Xfinity Center. / Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

This is an easy choice. While Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper had the sizzle at Rutgers, Queen had the sizzle and the steak.

The 6-foot-10 center averaged 15.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and converted 52.6% from the field. More importantly, he clearly made Maryland a better team – not something that can be said about Bailey or Harper. Others worth noting are Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis and Michigan State’s Jase Richardson.

Coach of the Year

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo reacts to a play against Michigan during the second half at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Sunday, March 9, 2025. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This will likely be a battle of the two Michigan-based coaches. Dusty May lifted Michigan from the basement of the Big Ten to second place in the league, no mean feat even in the transfer portal era.

My choice would be Michigan State’s Tom Izzo. Primarily because the Spartans won the Big Ten with ease, by three games over the rest of the league, but also because of how Michigan State vastly exceeded expectations.

They were picked fifth in the preseason media poll, but more than that is the notion expressed by some that the game has passed Izzo by. His reluctance about using the transfer portal is just one accusation thrown at him. Izzo showed his detractors something. He’s still got plenty in the tank.

First Team selections

Purdue Boilermakers forward Trey Kaufman-Renn (4) is defended by Michigan Wolverines center Vladislav Goldin (50) in the second half at Crisler Center. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

I’m going to choose a real team: point guard, off guard, two forwards and a center. I’ll go with a player’s “official” position, even if their role might not be traditional.

Purdue gets two on the team. Smith is the obvious choice at point guard. Kaufman-Renn (19.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg) gets the nod at power forward.

The small forward is Northwestern’s Martinelli – the Big Ten’s leading scorer. More on him later in the column.

Center is a very competitive spot. Indiana’s Oumar Ballo (13.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 63.5 FG%), Michigan’s Vlad Goldin (16.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 64.2 FG%) and Queen are all very close. Goldin gets the nod for me, but not by a wide margin.

Shooting guard is between Rutgers’ Harper (19.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 48.7 FG%, 34.5 3P%), Nebraska’s Williams (20 ppg, 46.8 FG%, 35.5 3P%) and Wisconsin’s Tonje (18.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 46 FG%, 37.8 3P%).

All are worthy. Tonje gets the slightest nod from me because he’s a bit more versatile, he goes the line a lot and is automatic there (91.6%) and he contributed to a better team.

Transfer of the Year

Maryland Terrapins guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie (0) handles the ball against Michigan State Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (1) during the second half at Xfinity Center. / Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Here we start with honors I made up. They’re not real Big Ten awards, though Transfer of the Year should be.

In my mind, to be an impact transfer, your team had to finish in the top half of the league. With that as a parameter, Indiana’s Ballo, Maryland’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice, Michigan’s Goldin and Danny Wolf and Wisconsin’s Tonje are the candidates.

All have solid cases, but it comes down to Gillespie and Tonje, and though I think Tonje would win the award if there was a vote on it, I’d pick Gillespie, who was only kept off my Big Ten first team by Purdue’s Smith.

Why? Point guard Gillespie – who came to Maryland from Belmont – plays a position of huge influence. He averaged 4.7 assists to go with 14.9 points per game. He kept his turnovers down and helped carry the Terrapins to a higher spot in the Big Ten standings than the high-flying Badgers finished.

Surprise Team of the Year

Wisconsin Badgers guard John Tonje (9) drives towards the basket as Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Frank Mitchell (00) defends during the second half at Williams Arena. / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

This is a surprise in a good way, by the way. Michigan had a great rags to riches story, but most observers thought even in the preseason that the Wolverines would be better with its infusion of talent. Maryland was picked 10th in the preseason poll, but there were pieces there, plus Queen was thought to be a potential game-changer, which he was.

The team few saw coming was Wisconsin. Picked 12th in the preseason poll, the Badgers had lost A.J. Storr, Chucky Hepburn, Connor Essegian to the portal and Tyler Wahl to graduation.

However, coach Greg Gard re-tooled Wisconsin into an analytically friendly high-scoring machine – that switch in style alone is worthy of being a surprise team. He still had solid proven returning players in John Blackwell, Steven Crowl and Max Klesmit and hit on a quality transfer in Tonje. The Badgers were in the Big Ten fight for the duration and can be a dangerous team in the NCAA Tournament.

Surprise Player of the Year

Northwestern Wildcats forward Nick Martinelli (2) celebrates his teams win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers after the game at Williams Arena. / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

I’m certain that when coaches, media members and fans were asked before the season who the 2025 Big Ten’s leading scorer would be, the first answer that escaped people’s lips was Martinelli, who finished as the champ with a 20.2 scoring average. Martinelli was no fluke. He averaged 20.5 points in Big Ten contests.

Martinelli made a huge leap. He averaged only 8.8 points in 2024, but you can see the improvement in his per-40-minute stats. He averaged 13.6 points per 40 in 2024 and raised his game to 21.5 in 2025. That’s not an easy leap to make in the per-minute stats.

Most Disappointing Team of the Year

Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Dylan Harper (2) and Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Ace Bailey (4) looks on during the second half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Jersey Mike's Arena. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Indiana, picked second in the preseason poll, certainly merits mention after a ninth-place, 10-10 finish. Nebraska’s finish – five losses in a row to not only wreck their NCAA Tournament hopes, but cause their elimination from the Big Ten Tournament – was a meltdown of epic proportion. But the choice here is Rutgers.

Based on the hype – much of it justified – in Bailey and Harper, some predicted great things for the Scarlet Knights. Lest anyone forget that they were ranked No. 25 in the preseason Associated Press poll. Rutgers finished the regular season with a 15-16 record and 8-12 Big Ten mark. Rutgers will not be in the NCAA Tournament unless they win five games in five days at the Big Ten Tournament.

Harper (19.2 ppg) and Bailey (17.8 ppg) were great, but Rutgers was a mess in every other sense.

It was hard to believe that coach Steve Pikiell, known for his tough, defensive-minded teams, was on the sideline for a team that gave up 78.8 points in conference play as opponents shot 47.6% against them.

It was a completely unbalanced team that never won more than two games in a row in the Big Ten. A lesson that star power alone won’t carry a team to glory.

Unexpected Trend of the Year

Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad, left, and Ra'Heim Moss battle Illinois’ Tre White, center, for the ball during the first half. Illinois won 109-77 in Eugene, Ore. / Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Big Ten’s new West Coast teams might have finished higher in the standings if they had protected home court against visiting conference teams from the Eastern and Central time zones.

Every West Coast team dropped at least two home games against Big Ten teams making the trip to the West Coast. Naturally, last place Washington lost the most with five, but even a quality team like Oregon fell three times at home to schools east of the Rocky Mountains.

On the other side of the coin? West Coast schools all had at least two road wins at the Big Ten’s Central and Eastern time zone schools. Even lowly Washington managed to win two games on its travels. Oregon won four such road games.

Most Impactful Injury of the Year

Northwestern Wildcats guard Brooks Barnhizer (13) takes a free throw in overtime against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

A case can be made that Nebraska’s Rienk Mast, who never played in the 2024-25 season, had an significant adverse effect on the Cornhuskers, but as far as players we got to see prove their worth? There’s no doubt that Northwestern’s loss of Brooks Barnhizer (and later Jalen Leach) took a lot of wind out of the Wildcats’ sails. Barnhizer was shut down at the start of February due to a foot injury, Leach due to a torn ACL.

Northwestern still managed to finish 7-13 in the Big Ten. One wonders if they would have been battling Indiana and Ohio State nearer to the middle of the pack had Barnhizer and Leach stayed healthy?