After seven months of waiting, college basketball is back. We’ve already released our all-Big Ten third team, second team and individual award picks earlier this week. As we head into the opening night of hoops, our microsite staff picked who we believe are the Big Ten’s best five players, listed below in no particular order.

Melo Trimble is the favorite, but any of these other four guys could also easily nab Big Ten Player of the Year.

• Melo Trimble (SO, Guard, Maryland). Trimble, our preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, was the best player on a Maryland team that won 14 conference games in its first year in the league. His 16.2 points per game ranked fifth in conference play, but his efficiency was just as impressive, becoming one of only two players to average at least 15 PPG in fewer than 10 field goal attempts per game. Trimble is the best player on the conference’s best team and should be even better in his second collegiate season.
• Yogi Ferrell (SR, Guard, Indiana). Ferrell and Trimble are likely to battle for the Big Ten scoring title all season long, and the diminutive Hoosier just might win it. He’s a natural scorer (17.0 PPG since 2013-14) who is elite in just about every offensive category. If Ferrell didn’t have such a strong supporting cast, he’d probably run away with the scoring title with ease. He’s also an outstanding facilitator who assists on 26.7 percent of his offensive possessions and rarely turns the ball over (14.2 percent of possessions).

• Denzel Valentine (SR, Guard, Michigan State). There’s nothing flashy about Valentine’s game but he’s the glue guy on an unselfish team that finds ways to win Big Ten games. The Lansing, Michigan, native’s best attribute is three-point shooting (41.6 percent from deep last season), and while he’s prone to incurring Tom Izzo’s wrath for an occasional bad shot, there might not be a better clutch shooter in the entire conference.
• Nigel Hayes (JR, Forward, Wisconsin). Hayes’ impressive rise from solid bench guy to Big Ten elite was a big reason why Wisconsin made the Final Four for the second straight season. He’s versatile, has great shot selection — his 123.8 offensive rating ranked 40th nationally last season — and plays good defense. In the absence of Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky’s production, Hayes’ production is poised to rise yet again.
• A.J. Hammons (SR, Center, Purdue). When he’s at his best, Hammons is as good a rim protector and defensive presence as anyone in the country. His 2.9 blocks per game led the conference by a full block last season (Northwestern’s Alex Olah finished second at 1.8 BPG). At a legitimate seven-feet and 250 pounds, Hammons is an immovable force in the paint. Hammons is a near-lock for 12 to 14 points, seven to eight rebounds and three blocks per game on any given night regardless of opponent.

Patrick Engel (33 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2015 at 10:01 am by Patrick Engel and is filed under big ten, microsites. Tagged: A.J. Hammons, all-big ten, Denzel Valentine, feature, Melo Trimble, Nigel Hayes, yogi ferell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.