Before the 68-team bracket is unveiled on March 14, college basketball writer Scott Richey will weigh in on his favorite sport. Today’s topic: A look at how the last four Big Ten Player of the Year winners fared in the NCAA tournament.
2019: Cassius Winston, Michigan State
We start with Winston because last year’s winner — Iowa center Luka Garza — didn’t get a chance to see what he and the Hawkeyes could do in the Big Dance. Winston and Co. made quite a run in the 2019 tournament, though, before falling to Texas Tech in the Final Four. The veteran point guard averaged 18.4 points and 6.6 assists in five tournament games.
2018: Keita Bates-Diop, Ohio State
It was a breakthrough season for the Normal U-High grad. Healthy again, Bates-Diop set career highs in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Ohio State’s tourney run was short-lived, however. The Buckeyes got past Mike Daum and South Dakota State in the first round, but even 28 points from Bates-Diop in round two wasn’t enough against Gonzaga.
2017: Caleb Swanigan, Purdue
Swanigan was a no-brainer selection for Big Ten Player of the Year that season. The 6-foot-9 forward was a dominant force in the paint, averaging 18.5 points and 12.5 rebounds to garner First Team All-American honors, too. Swanigan got the Boilermakers to the Sweet 16, with double-doubles in his first two games, before running up against guard-heavy Kansas.
2016: Denzel Valentine, Michigan State
Valentine also claimed a pair of national player of the year honors and wound up a consensus First Team All-American in his final season with the Spartans. None of that made a lick of difference in the NCAA tournament. Valentine had 13 points, 12 assists and six rebounds, but No. 15 seed Middle Tennessee upset the second-seeded Spartans 90-81 in St. Louis.
Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).
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