Big Ten Men's Player of the Year candidates

With Big Ten men’s basketball conference play beginning this week, numerous players across the conference have established themselves as early Big Ten Player of the Year candidates.

As we are about a month into the college basketball season, I will be naming a few players who I think are serious contenders for the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Player of the Year Award based on pre-season predictions and performances in early non-conference play.

Dylan Harper, Freshman Guard, Rutgers

Dylan Harper was one of two prized recruits for Rutgers along with Ace Bailey, who will find himself on this list later on. The New Jersey native and Don Bosco Prep (NJ) product was the number one prospect in New Jersey and number three in the nation for the 2024 men’s basketball recruiting cycle, according to 247 sports basketball recruiting rankings.

Through the Scarlet Knights’ first eight games of the season, Harper is averaging 23.8 points per game and shooting just over 50% from the field. He has struggled with his three-point shooting, but that did not stop him from scoring 36 points against Notre Dame and 37 against Alabama.

Harper is projected to be a top-10 pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft.

Mackenzie Mbgako, Sophomore Forward, Indiana

After a rather disappointing freshman season at Indiana, Mackenzie Mbgako has shown major improvements in his game through seven games as a sophomore.

Last season Mbgako struggled to shoot the basketball, both from the field and from beyond the arc. This season he has flipped the script with his shooting, launching threes at a 51.6% clip and an overall field-goal percentage of 54.5% compared to his 32.7% three-point percentage and sub-40% field-goal accuracy.

He is also averaging 17.3 points per game this season compared to his 12.2 last season.

The former five-star recruit and No. 10 recruit in the nation for 2023 is now showing that he is capable of being the player he was in high school at the college level and if he continues to play the way he has through seven games, the rest of the Big Ten should be on the lookout.

Ace Baldwin, Senior Guard, Penn State

To no one’s surprise, Ace Baldwin is an early contender for the Big Ten Player of the Year and has been one of the best point guards in the country.

Last season, Baldwin followed Nittany Lions’ head coach Mike Rhoades to Penn State from VCU. In his first season in the Blue and White, Baldwin won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and averaged 14.2 points per game, six assists, and 2.7 steals.

This season he has been nothing short of spectacular being one of the best all-around players in the country, averaging 14.9 points, 8.4 assists, 2.4 steals, and shooting the three-ball at a 38.2% clip.

Baldwin has been an integral part of Penn State’s early success this season and is arguably the best point guard in the Big Ten right now.

Trey Kaufman-Renn, Junior Forward, Purdue

Prior to the season college basketball fans were wondering who would step up for Purdue with the departure of Zach Edey and lead the Boilermakers.

Enter Trey Kaufman-Renn.

Kaufman-Renn being on this list comes as a surprise to anyone viewing this list as no one was expecting a role player who averaged 6.4 points per game last season to enter the spotlight the way he has.

Through eight games this season Kaufman-Renn is shooting 60.4% from the field and averaging 19.1 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game. In 39 games last season, Kaufman-Renn averaged 6.4 points per game, but only played half the minutes per game that he has this season.

Regardless of his minutes played the past two seasons, no one had Trey Kaufman-Renn’s breakout on the cards for this season let alone finding him on the Big Ten Player of the Year watchlist.

Ace Bailey, Freshman Guard/Forward, Rutgers

Along with his teammate Dylan Harper, it comes to no one’s surprise that Ace Bailey is on this Big Ten Player of the Year watchlist.

Bailey was the number two prospect in the nation for the 2024 recruiting cycle and has certainly lived up to the hype generated around him from his high school days.

In six games, Bailey is averaging 18.8 points per game while shooting 37.9% from three and 46.7% from the field.

Bailey is an elite scorer and a solid shooter and possesses the intangibles to be a lottery pick in next year’s NBA draft. As of now Bailey is projected to be a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and is one of the top players in the Big Ten as a freshman.

Big Ten play recently just began and over the course of the next few months, more players will likely push themselves into the Big Ten Men’s Player of the Year conversation.

Ian Rothenberg is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact, him email imr5327@psu.edu.