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Big Ten Basketball: 3 bold predictions for the 2019-20 season

By Adam Childs

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates after his teams 68-67 win over the Duke Blue Devils in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates after his teams 68-67 win over the Duke Blue Devils in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans is defended by Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans is defended by Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

3. Cassius Winston does not win Big Ten POY

Winston won the Big Ten POY award last year after leading the Spartans to the regular season and tournament championships last year. Winston was the best player in the conference and if it weren’t for Zion Williamson at Duke he might have been the national POY.

Winston is great and is the odds on favorite to win again this year as the Spartans again look to be really good. But he will not win the award for the second year in a row.

There are a few reasons why he won’t win it. One like it or not but if you are the favorite to win it, you must be a lot better than everyone else or some experts will think you didn’t play well enough.

Another reason is some voters might not want to vote for the same guy for the second year in a row if others play well. This may not be a good reason but it happens. They feel like they need to spread the love around and while Winston might be just as good this year they find someone else to give the award to. It’s the reason Bill Belicheck doesn’t win NFL coach of the year every year.

The biggest reason why he won’t win this year is there are some very good players that could play better than him. Dosunmu from Illinois and Stevens from Penn State, who we mentioned earlier, are both in great positions to be considered for the award. They are great players and if they can get their teams into the NCAA tournament they will get votes for the award.

Jalen Smith at Maryland also has breakout potential and Zavier Simpson is considered one of the best players in the conference also.

Next. Big Ten preseason rankings. dark

Winston is going to be great this year and could make an argument for the award, but he isn’t going to win it. In fact, Michigan State will win the conference but they will miss out on the major awards.

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