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College Basketball Analyst Andy Katz Names Top Big Ten Player of the Year Candidates

College basketball analyst Andy Katz believes it's a four-man race for Big Ten Player of the Year, coming down to Purdue's Braden Smith, Illinois' Kasparas Jakucionis, and Michigan's Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin.
Dustin Schutte|
Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) high fives a teammate during warm ups
Purdue Boilermakers guard Braden Smith (3) high fives a teammate during warm ups | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

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Purdue BoilermakersMichigan WolverinesIllinois Fighting Illini

There's still more than half of the Big Ten basketball season remaining, but college hoops analyst Andy Katz believes the race for the conference's Player of the Year is down to just four candidates.

In a recent edition of B1G Today on Big Ten Network, Katz said that he believes the winner of the Big Ten Player of the Year comes down to four guys: Braden Smith (Purdue), Vladislav Goldin (Michigan), Danny Wolf (Michigan) and Kasparas Jakucionis (Illinois). He also made a mention of Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue).

"I really think it's going to come down to a four-person race — maybe that's not fair to Trey Kaufman-Renn," Katz said. "But I do think it's Braden Smith, the two Michigan guys and Jakucionis."

Smith was selected as the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year back in October. So far, he's lived up to the hype, averaging 15.0 points, 8.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. He's also become a more aggressive offensive player, which has helped Purdue tremendously since the return of league play.

Both Goldin and Wolf have been tremendous in Michigan's surprising run this season. Goldin is averaging 16.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per contest while shooting 64.6% from the floor and 56.3% from behind the 3-point line. He's also logging 1.8 blocks and 1.4 assists per game.

Wolf has been a walking double-double for the Wolverines thus far, averaging 12.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. He's also a great passer and shot-blocker, recording 3.9 assists and 1.4 blocks per game.

Jakucionis is another do-it-all player, dropping 15.9 points and dishing out 5.4 assists per game. He's collecting 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, and is shooting nearly 50% from the floor and 40.5% from 3-point range. The guard has been a key piece to Illinois' success.

There's still plenty of basketball to be played, but Katz believes those four names are the strongest candidates to take home the Big Ten's highest individual honor at the end of the season.

It will be interesting to see how this race unfolds in the final month of the year.

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Dustin Schutte
DUSTIN SCHUTTE

Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.

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