Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year


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, Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State, Luka Garza of Iowa, and Zach Edey of Purdue. 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, Calbert Cheaney of Indiana, Glenn Robinson of Purdue, Evan Turner of Ohio State, Draymond Green of Michigan State, Trey Burke of Michigan, Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin, Denzel Valentine of Michigan State, Luka Garza of Iowa, and Zach Edey of Purdue.
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.

Winners

SeasonPlayerSchoolPositionClassReference
1984–85MichiganPF / C
1985–86Michigan StatePG
1986–87Ohio StateSF
1987–88MichiganPG
1988–89†IndianaSG
1988–89†MichiganSG / SF
1989–90PurdueC
1990–91Ohio StateSG
1991–92* Ohio StateSG
1992–93*IndianaSF
1993–94*PurdueSF
1994–95Michigan StateSG
1995–96IndianaPF
1996–97MinnesotaPG
1997–98Michigan StatePG
1998–99† Michigan StatePG
1998–99†Ohio StatePG
1999–00†IndianaSG
1999–00†Michigan StateSF
2000–01IllinoisPG
2001–02IndianaC
2002–03IllinoisPF
2003–04WisconsinPG
2004–05IllinoisSG
2005–06Ohio StatePF
2006–07WisconsinSF
2007–08IndianaPF
2008–09Michigan StatePG
2009–10*Ohio StateSG
2010–11PurdueC
2011–12*Michigan StateSF
2012–13*MichiganPG
2013–14MichiganSG
2014–15*WisconsinPF
2015–16*Michigan StateSG
2016–17PurduePF
2017–18Ohio StateSF
2018–19Michigan StatePG
2019–20IowaC
2020–21* IowaC
2021–22WisconsinSG
2022–23*PurdueC
2023–24* PurdueC
2024–25PurduePG

Bobby Jackson's selection was later vacated due to an academic fraud scandal that ruled the entire team ineligible.