Player of the Week
Caleb Swanigan, Purdue
Ho-hum. Another week, another pair of double-doubles by Caleb Swanigan. Purdue got strong wins over Wisconsin and on the road over Ohio State, and in the process, Swanigan averaged another 17 points and 12 boards on 11/22 shooting between the two games. The 11 total turnovers were ugly, but at the end of the day, Swanigan proved to be too dominant to not earn another Big Ten Player of the Week award, both from this blog and from the league. He is the clear-cut favorite to win the honor for the year, as he is now averaging 18 points and nearly 13 rounds a game, and he has his team in a tie for first place in the conference. Meanwhile, Purdue’s biggest expected competition entering the year find themselves with a double-digit loss to the Boilermakers (Wisconsin) or trailing the conference leaders by several games (Indiana). This is likely a middle-of-the-pack team at best without Swanigan, so his contributions have been absolutely vital, in addition to eye-popping. And to go along with all the points and rebounds, the big fella was 3/5 from behind the three-point line this week, as well.
Who’s Hot?
Amir Coffey, Minnesota
Perhaps the biggest competition for Purdue at the moment comes from the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the only team through two weeks of conference play with an actual win over Purdue under the belt, and on the road, to boot. By that metric, you could certainly argue that Minnesota is the surprise best team in the conference after the abysmal season they endured last season. This week, it was the super-freshman Amir Coffey leading the way. He put up 17 in a gritty road win over Northwestern, then 19 in another win over Ohio State. Overall, he shot 14/23 (61%) from the field this week, along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game. He now ranks second among Big Ten freshmen in scoring at 12.8 PPG, second in steals (1.25 SPG) and 5th in assists (2.9 APG).
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin
They split the week, but Ethan Happ had another nice pair of games. He’s become just as key to this offense as Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig. Happ opened the week with 19 points (8/11 shooting; 73%), 6 rebounds, and 4 assists while holding Thomas Bryant to 6 points in a road win over Indiana. He followed it up with 17 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 6 steals in a loss to Purdue. Happ now ranks in the conference top 30 in points, rebounds, blocks, steals, assists, and field goal percentage, including 2nd in shooting (65%) and rebounding (9.1).
DJ Wilson, Michigan
It’s been a few years since Michigan had a dynamic big man, but they may have found one once more in DJ Wilson. After showing flashes of brilliance in his first two seasons, Wilson is breaking out as a junior. He blew his previous career high out of the water with 28 last week against Iowa, then followed it up with 12 against Penn State and 13 against Maryland. He connected on 10/16 for the week (64%), and the 6’10” forward has connected on 7/12 three-pointers in his last three games. On the year, He’s averaging 10.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 1.5 BPG, with stellar shooting percentages of 56% from the field, 43% from the arc, and 88% from the free throw stripe.
Who’s Not?
Nigel Hayes, Wisconsin
While his teammate, Ethan Happ, had a great week, Hayes didn’t quite put up his usual numbers. In a pair of inefficient performances, he shot 8/23 (35%) on the week for a total of only 20 points. He also turned the ball over four times as the Badgers fell to Purdue. Still, his shooting percentage is up 10 points from last season as the Badgers look to rebound.
Top 5 Biggest Surprises
It’s been a year of big turnarounds in the Big Ten, as well as big disappointments. Few teams are performing quite as expected this year, and the conference race looks to be quite wide open.
1) Minnesota Golden Gophers
After sharing the conference basement with Rutgers last season (and that was BEFORE most of their rotations players were suspended or dismissed before the conference tournament even arrived), the Gophers are tied for the conference lead with 15 victories, including a big road win over Purdue and solid non-conference wins over Vanderbilt, St. John’s, and Arkansas. The rotation is mostly the same, aside from freshman Amir Coffey, but these guys are just playing harder, tougher, and faster on both ends of the court. A tournament berth is a given at this point. Now it’s a matter of whether they can hang in the Big Ten title race.
2) Northwestern Wildcats
While they were a little better than the Gophers last season, and haven’t been quite AS consistent this season, the big picture for the Wildcats is the fact that they are in contention for the program’s first tournament berth. Now, we’ve heard this storyline a few times before after a string of wins over weak non-conference schedule for the Wildcats, but this year, the trio of Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey, and Vic Law could have this team headed for great things. I’m not personally 100% sold on this team, as their best win was possibly over a vastly underachieving Texas team, but they do have the pieces to win some games in the Big Ten, the stage where the magic has usually run out in recent seasons. But they’ll have to get some consistency in conference play and earn wins over their fellow potential bubble teams.
3) Nebraska Cornhuskers
Things looked bleak for Nebraska after they entered conference play with 6 losses, fresh off one of which which came against lowly Gardner-Webb. But if you looked at the big picture and saw that the rest came against respectable non-conference opponents, there was still reason for something other than complete pessimism about the Huskers. Thanks to the heroics of Tai Webster and Glynn Watson in the Huskers backcourt, they pulled off the huge road upset of Indiana, then won another big one in a road comeback against Maryland. They now sit in a big tie across the conference, and they may not have enough in the tank to make the big dance, but they are a force to be reckoned with, especially for any complacent Big Ten teams expecting an easy home win.
4) Vic Law, Northwestern
After missing all of last season with, not only has the once-highly touted recruit regained his freshman year form, but he has far exceeded expectations with a 13.8 PPG average and a big role in the early success of Northwestern. He’s one of the best small forwards in the Big Ten and he’s only getting better.
5) Nic Ward, Michigan State
While it was Miles Bridges who was expected to be the breakout freshman for the Spartans this season (and he has been, when healthy), it’s power forward Nick Ward who has really shone, averaging 14.3 PPG and 6.6 RPG, both second only to Bridges on the team. He’s been a great replacement to early departure Deyonta Davis, and he really plays with the strength and maturity of a man much older.