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Big Ten Basketball: Best bets outside of Cassius Winston to win 2020 POY

By Adam Childs

MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 12: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 12, 2019 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
MADISON, WISCONSIN - FEBRUARY 12: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts in the first half against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center on February 12, 2019 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 23: Joshua Langford #1 of the Michigan State Spartans dribbles against Matt Coleman III #2 of the Texas Longhorns during the championship game of the 2018 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 23, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Michigan State defeated Texas 78-68. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 23: Joshua Langford #1 of the Michigan State Spartans dribbles against Matt Coleman III #2 of the Texas Longhorns during the championship game of the 2018 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on November 23, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Michigan State defeated Texas 78-68. (Photo by Sam Wasson/Getty Images) /

Michigan State – Joshua Langford

Chances of winning POY – Good

Langford was one of the favorites to win the award last year until an ankle injury derailed his season just 13 games in. That is when Winston took over and became the conference’s best player.

Langford is still recovering from that injury but if he comes back to where he was, he will make one of the best duos in all of college basketball with Winston. With that should come some talk about winning some postseason honors and Big Ten POY is one of them. Besides Winston, he has the ability to score a lot of points and can score from everywhere on the court.

If the Spartans do what they are supposed to do and win the Big Ten, Langford could be the one to win the conference’s top honor. Yes Winston will probably be right there and there is something to be said about them stealing each other votes, but Langford could still win the award.

The thing that could hurt both Winston and Langford is if Illinois jumps near the top or if Maryland finishes second and Smith has an outstanding year. The thing that could help Langford is if the voters just don’t want to have Winston win back-to-back awards, fair or not. That would lend itself to help Langford win the award if he stays healthy all year and reaches his potential.

We know Michigan State is going to be very good and if they run away with the Big Ten title one of these two guys will likely win the award, of course, unless Aaron Henry has a huge breakout year.

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