The Big Ten arguably boasts the best player on the best team in the country. Miles Bridges skipped the glam and glitter of the NBA for another year (at least) in East Lansing, MI, with Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans.
But he’s not the only talented returner in the conference. Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ is one of the nation’s premier frontcourt players, Nate Mason spearheads a lethal Minnesota backcourt, and Moritz Wagner is the best big man you’ve never (or sparingly) heard of.
Check out the top returning player for each Big Ten squad below.
Michigan State
G Miles Bridges | Sophomore | 6-foot-7
Last Year: 16.9 PPG | 8.3 RPG | 2.1 APG
The Spartans are the media’s unanimous choice to win the Big Ten, and they’re led by sophomore sensation Miles Bridges, who turned down a chance at the NBA — he probably would’ve slotted somewhere in the second half of the lottery — to continue to create his legacy in East Lansing.
Bridges is an amalgam of athletic swingmen, with the potential to be a Kawhi Leonard-es que grinder. Last season he hoisted nearly five long balls per game and connected on almost 40 percent, but maybe we should tell him to lay off the threes, because it’s starting to get unfair to the competition. A guy with a 7-foot wingspan who finished in the top 10 in the conference in points per game, rebounds per game, and blocks per game — who can also rain sweet rain from beyond the arc. Just for the heck of it, he finished third on Michigan State in assists per game.
Bridges isn’t just the real deal, like a two-for-one at Wendy’s or something; he’s the Big Mac that comes with a side of a Whopper, a basket of Animal Style fries, and a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit for dessert.
Purdue
C Isaac Haas | Senior | 7-2
Last Year: 12.6 PPG | 5.0 RPG | 0.6 APG
Purdue is a special case. The reigning Big Ten champs are a collection of really good players without a star around which to orient the pieces. (That star, of course, was Caleb Swanigan, who led the conference in rebounding by more than three per game and finished second in the league in scoring.)
Isaac Haas is big: 7-2 and nearly 300 pounds. While he may not have the sheer talent to provide the centerpiece the Boilermakers need if they want to seriously defend their title, he does, at least, provide the solidity and consistency which could sustain Matt Painter’s squad until someone new steps into Swanigan’s vacated role. Prime candidate: Carsen Edwards, a highly touted recruit who averaged more than 10 points last year playing under 25 minutes per game.
Minnesota
G Nate Mason | Senior | 6-2
Last Year: 15.2 PPG | 3.6 RPG | 5.0 APG
The Golden Gophers senior is probably really, really mad — in Minnesota’s upset loss to Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year, Mason was a dud. In 38 minutes on the hardwood, he finished 2 of 10 from the field and 1 for 7 beyond the arc with four turnovers to boot.
The horrid stat line, of course, belies his contribution and consistency. That poor performance against the Blue Raiders was one of four games the entire year in which the Georgia native scored in single digits.
This year, Mason will continue to anchor the Golden Gophers with budding backcourt phenom Amir Coffey.
Northwestern
G Bryant McIntosh | Senior | 6-3
Last Year: 14.8 PPG | 2.8 RPG | 5.2 APG
A relatively unheralded recruit out of Indiana, McIntosh turned down fellow Big Ten schools Iowa and Purdue for a tenure in Evanston, IL. And it’s paying off: The senior led the conference in assists and finished ninth overall in scoring, leading the Wildcats to the most successful season in school history and a 24-12 record overall.
McIntosh racked up 20 points and seven assists in Northwestern’s oh-so-close, painfully memorable loss to Gonzaga in round two of March Madness. The senior and the other Wildcats will use that pain — and that success — to build momentum for this year, which, barring injuries, has the look of an even better campaign.
Maryland
G Anthony Cowan | Sophomore | 6-0
Last Year: 10.3 PPG | 3.9 RPG | 3.7 APG
The Terps have work to do after the graduation of Melo Trimble, and Anthony Cowan is the man to do it. The undersized guard would’ve made the all-freshman team in most other conferences, but the Big Ten was particular stacked with rookie talent last year.
As a freshman, Cowan finished 10th in the league in steals per game and averaged double-digits in points, playing less than 30 minutes each outing and, of course, sharing the backcourt with Trimble. If the Maryland native can sharpen that jumper, his vision, lithe athleticism, and court awareness could slot him naturally into Trimble’s role. Cowan is joined by a pair of other talented Terrapins sophomores in Justin Jackson and Kevin Huerter.
Michigan
F Moritz Wagner | Junior | 6-11
Last Year: 12.1 PPG | 4.2 RPG | 0.5 APG
Mo Wagner — pronounced Vagner, because he’s from Berlin — twists out of the post faster than a fidget spinner. When the Wolverines blew past two-seed Louisville in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament, the giant German scored 26 points on just 14 shots.
Athletically speaking, the junior is absolutely explosive. He’s managed to do the same statistically: After chipping in 2.9 points per game in under 10 minutes of action as a freshman, he eclipsed double digits last year. But, like the Louisville victory, Wagner occasionally wrangled games all by his lonesome. In a February win over No. 14 Purdue, the German scored 24 points on 15 shots, including 4 of 8 from beyond the arc.
If Wagner finds a way to put the pieces together more consistently, he’ll earn first-team Big Ten honors.
Wisconsin
F Ethan Happ | Junior | 6-10
Last Year: 14.0 PPG | 9.0 RPG | 2.8 APG
Last year, the Badgers did what the Badgers do, which is surprise everybody in March. At this point, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising.
Wisconsin’s success certainly wasn’t happenstance; actually, it was Happ. (Was that good?) The Big Ten’s best bruiser averaged 14 points and nine rebounds per game while averaging under 30 minutes of action, but probably the most impressive feat was his field goal percentage of 58.6 percent.
Happ is one of three preseason unanimous choices for the all-conference team, joining Bridges and McIntosh, and there are whispers that the Milan, IL, native is working on his range. Happ has made zero 3-pointers for his career, because he’s attempted exactly zero 3-pointers for his career. Whether or not he adds the long ball to his arsenal, he’s the best returning frontcourt player in the conference.
Iowa
G Jordan Bohannon | Sophomore | 6-0
Last Year: 10.9 PPG | 2.2 RPG | 5.1 APG
Iowa scores. The Hawkeyes drop buckets; it’s what they do. Led by the conference’s leading scorer Peter Jok, Iowa was one of three teams to average 80 points per game. The not-so-happy statistic, though, was Iowa’s defense, which allowed 77.7 points per outing.
In his eighth year in Iowa City, Fran McCaffery is finally getting the ideal players for his torrid system. This year’s squad is led by sophomores Tyler Cook and point guard Jordan Bohannon, both of whom made the all-freshman team in the Big Ten a season ago.
How’s this for a rookie pedigree: Bohannon shattered the single-season assist record for Iowa freshmen, finished in the top five in the conference in assists, and shot over 40 percent beyond the arc. With Jok gone, Bohannon might see his numbers take a dip as defenses swarm the Marion, Iowa, native, but he’ll retain his distribution duties (and skills) on a deep and prolific Hawkeyes team.
Indiana
G Robert Johnson | Senior | 6-3
Last Year: 12.8 PPG | 4.4 RPG | 2.5 APG
The Hoosiers finished in the bottom rung of conference play last season, and that just doesn’t feel right. Indiana tallied an 18-16 record, but seven of those losses were by five points or less. The year wasn’t without its embarrassments, which included a 30-point drubbing at the hands of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, and an OT loss to in-state school Ft. Wayne. To make matters worse, Indiana lost three of its four leading scorers.
Johnson, the team’s second-best scorer a year ago, will try to step into that gap and give the Hoosiers the punch they desperately need to bounce back. At 6-3, the senior offers decent size and athleticism. It shows on the boards, where he finished near the top for guards. The native of Richmond, VA, will need to fill the stat sheet even more than he has in the past to keep this team float.
Penn State
G Tony Carr | Sophomore | 6-5
Last Year: 13.2 PPG | 4.8 RPG | 4.2 APG
In a league loaded with talented freshman guards last year, Tony Carr was arguably the best. As a true freshman, he led his team in points and assists per game en route to earning all-freshman honors in the conference.
Carr was good, but there’s certainly room for improvement — both individually and collective for a Penn State team that went 6-12 in conference play. At his worst, Carr was a volume shooter whose efficiency was anything but convincing. He connected on just 32 percent of his 3-pointers and under 38 percent from the field overall. The last three games of the season weren’t particularly flattering for Carr, either: 8 of 41 from the field for a whopping 19.5 shooting percentage mark.
He’s got talent, and he’ll be back.
Ohio State
F Jae’Sean Tate | Senior | 6-4
Last Year: 14.3 PPG | 6.4 RPG | 2.0 APG
The Buckeyes’ leading scorer is an undersized forward who gets things done. He’s been a mainstay for Ohio State during all three of his years in Columbus, and if this team has any chance of inching its way back to the NCAA Tournament then Tate needs to be at his best.
With the return of Keita Bates-Diop, who went down early last year with a season-ending injury, Tate isn’t alone in the frontcourt.
If it wasn’t official a year ago, it’s official now: Head coach Thad Matta is officially on the hot seat. With a fair, though not mind-blowing, amount of talent returning and a solid recruiting class, the Buckeyes need to turn things around. Just don’t expect them to.
Illinois
G Mark Alstork | Senior | 6-5
Last Year: 19.0 PPG | 4.7 RPG | 3.5 APG
The Fighting Illini lost their top three scorers from a season ago, but are returning — via Wright State... we realize we’re cheating here — Alstork, a prolific scorer who led a pretty decent Raiders team to a 20-12 season.
At 6-5, the senior can do a bit of everything: bang in the post, make plays off the dribble, and pull up from deep. He attempted nearly six 3-pointers per game last year, connecting on almost 40 percent. Alstork’s release is fairly quick, and his habit of pulling the ball up from his belly before reaching the apex of the release point is somewhat mitigated by his height.
Nebraska
G Glynn Watson Jr. | Junior | 6-0
Last Year: 13.0 PPG | 3.0 RPG | 2.6 APG
The good news for Nebraska’s star guard: He’s the center of attention for this offense. The bad news: He’s the center of attention for the opponent’s defense, too.
The Huskers parted ways with their top scorer and frontcourt force, Tai Webster, and two other regular fixtures among the bigs, Ed Morrow and Michael Jacobson, ditched Lincoln, NE, for Marquette and Iowa State, respectively. Watson Jr. does have help on the way, with incoming transfers in Duby Okepe and Isaac Copeland.
The junior needs to increase his efficiency in the paint, but he’s nearing lethal levels from beyond the arc, where he averages a hair under 40 percent.
Rutgers
F Deshawn Freeman | Senior | 6-7
Last Year: 11.1 PPG | 7.8 RPG | 0.9 APG
Rutgers finished first in the conference in rebounding last year.
If you’re a fan of the Scarlet Knights and you’re excited about that statistic, you probably shouldn’t be — Rutgers finished dead last in field goal percentage, meaning there were plenty of rebounds for the taking.
All the same, the undersized Freeman plays above the rim; he finished in the top 10 in the conference last season on the boards and provided a pretty pleasing highlight reel of dunks. If the Scarlet Knights want to climb out of the dark depths of the conference standings — they recorded a 3-15 league record last year — Freeman needs to step it up even more.