BigTen Player of the Year, A Two Man Race
The BigTen Player of the Year race is a tossup between Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Trace Jackson-Davis. Let’s start with a blind resume (conference season per game stats): Any given year either of these men would win the award as a runaway, but find themselves pitted against each other in a single season that is likely their last in college basketball. So who deserves it most? While these two players put up a strikingly similar statline, there is a clear edge toward player two in assists per game. So which is which? Player 1 is Zach Edey. Player 2 is Trace Jackson-Davis. Even though season long schedules aren’t quite as comparable (we’ll get to that in a second), below are each of their season’s per-game stats for the sake of including them: We can all agree both players are competing at an elite level, and rightfully in the conversation for BigTen and National Player of the Year awards. So what splits the difference? To help understand my thinking, let’s use a s...