The Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1984–85 season. Only four players have won the award multiple times: Jim Jackson of Ohio State (1991, 1992), Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State (1998, 1999), Luka Garza of Iowa (2020, 2021), and Zach Edey of Purdue (2023, 2024). Ten players who won the Big Ten Player of the Year award were also named the national player of the year by one or more major voting bodies: Jim Jackson (1992), Calbert Cheaney of Indiana (1993), Glenn Robinson of Purdue (1994), Evan Turner of Ohio State (2010), Draymond Green of Michigan State (2012), Trey Burke of Michigan (2013), Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin (2015), Denzel Valentine of Michigan State (2016), Luka Garza of Iowa (2021), and Zach Edey of Purdue (2023 and 2024).
Michigan State has the record for the most winners with nine. Of current Big Ten Conference members, nine schools have never had a winner. Of these, only Northwestern was in the conference since the inception of this award—Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1991, Nebraska joined in 2011, followed by Maryland and Rutgers in 2014, and by Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington in 2024. With Braden Smith winning the 2025 award, the Purdue Boilermakers became the first program to have conference players of the year in three consecutive seasons (2023–2025).
Key † Co-Players of the Year* Awarded a national player of the year award that same season:UPI College Basketball Player of the Year (1954–55 to 1995–96)Oscar Robertson Trophy (1958–59 to present)Naismith College Player of the Year (1968–69 to present)John R. Wooden Award (1976–77 to present) Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year award at that point
Winners
Season Player School Position Class Reference 1984–85 Michigan PF / C 1985–86 Michigan State PG 1986–87 Ohio State SF 1987–88 Michigan PG 1988–89† Indiana SG Michigan SG / SF 1989–90 Purdue C 1990–91 Ohio State SG 1991–92 * (2) Ohio State SG 1992–93 * Indiana SF 1993–94 * Purdue SF 1994–95 Michigan State SG 1995–96 Indiana PF 1996–97 Minnesota PG 1997–98 Michigan State PG 1998–99† (2) Michigan State PG Ohio State PG 1999–00† Indiana SG Michigan State SF 2000–01 Illinois PG 2001–02 Indiana C 2002–03 Illinois PF 2003–04 Wisconsin PG 2004–05 Illinois SG 2005–06 Ohio State PF 2006–07 Wisconsin SF 2007–08 Indiana PF 2008–09 Michigan State PG 2009–10 * Ohio State SG 2010–11 Purdue C 2011–12 * Michigan State SF 2012–13 * Michigan PG 2013–14 Michigan SG 2014–15 * Wisconsin PF 2015–16 * Michigan State SG 2016–17 Purdue PF 2017–18 Ohio State SF 2018–19 Michigan State PG 2019–20 Iowa C 2020–21 * (2) Iowa C 2021–22 Wisconsin SG 2022–23 * Purdue C 2023–24 * (2) Purdue C 2024–25 Purdue PG 2025–26 Michigan PF Bobby Jackson's selection was later vacated (along with that season's win total and all other accolades) due to an academic fraud scandal that ruled the entire team ineligible.
Winners by school School (year joined) Winners Years Michigan State (1953) 9 1986, 1995, 1998, 1999†, 2000†, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2019 Ohio State (1912) 7 1987, 1991, 1992, 1999†, 2006, 2010, 2018 Purdue (1896) 7 1990, 1994, 2011, 2017, 2023, 2024, 2025 Indiana (1900) 6 1989†, 1993, 1996, 2000†, 2002, 2008 Michigan (1896) 6 1985, 1988, 1989†, 2013, 2014, 2026 Wisconsin (1896) 4 2004, 2007, 2015, 2022 Illinois (1896) 3 2001, 2003, 2005 Iowa (1900) 2 2020, 2021 Minnesota (1896) 0 1997 Maryland (2014) 0 — Nebraska (2011) 0 — Northwestern (1896) 0 — Oregon (2024) 0 — Penn State (1993) 0 — Rutgers (2014) 0 — UCLA (2024) 0 — USC (2024) 0 — Washington (2024) 0 —
References