College Basketball Analyst Gives His All-Big Ten Selections, Names Player of the Year
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If Andy Katz were in charge of making the final decision, Purdue would be the home of the Big Ten Player of the Year for a third consecutive season. The college basketball analyst recently said that he believes junior guard Braden Smith will be named the league's Player of the Year at the conclusion of the regular season.
Former Purdue center Zach Edey claimed the honor in 2023 and 2024. Smith was selected as the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year back in October. While there's been a lot of great competition around him, Smith has lived up to the preseason hype.
The junior guard is averaging 16.0 points, 8.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game this season. He has recorded eight double-doubles this season, as well.
Smith has also become Purdue's all-time assist leader (696 and counting) and has joined the program's 1,000-point and 500-rebound club. It's been a year full of accolades for the Boilermaker guard. Can he add another achievement to his collection?
🏆 @TheAndyKatz has his early picks for All-B1G Men's 🏀 First and Second Teams, plus his Player of the Year selection. Do you agree? 👀
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 4, 2025
📍 AOI x #B1GMBBall @AutoOwnersIns pic.twitter.com/oJtXyVU9DW
Additionally, Katz provided the names of the players he believes will be first- and second-team All-Big Ten selections. He believes Smith's teammate, Trey Kaufman-Renn, is also a first-team All-Big Ten selection.
Kaufman-Renn is averaging a team-high 19.6 points per game for Purdue, along with 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 61% from the floor.
Here's the rundown from Katz as the 2024-25 campaign winds down.
First team All-Big Ten
- Braden Smith, Purdue
- Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue
- Joh Tonje, Wisconsin
- Vlad Goldin, Michigan
- Nick Martinelli, Northwestern
Second team All-Big Ten
- Danny Wolf, Michigan
- Derik Queen, Maryland
- Brice Williams, Nebraska
- Dawson Garcia, Minnesota
- Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
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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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