Country United States | First awarded 1985 | |
Awarded for the most outstanding basketball player in the Big Ten Conference Currently held by Denzel Valentine, Michigan State | ||
The Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is a basketball award given to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1984–85 season. Only two players have won the award multiple times: Jim Jackson of Ohio State (1991, 1992) and Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State (1998, 1999). Six 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), Trey Burke of Michigan 2013, and Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin (2015).
Michigan State has the record for the most winners with eight. Of current Big Ten Conference members, six schools have never had a winner: Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, and Rutgers. Of these, only Iowa and Northwestern were 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.