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Big Ten Basketball: Top 5 point guard-big man combos for 2019-20 season

By Anthony Brown

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 12: Big Ten logo on the floor before the Big Ten Men's Basketball Final against the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan Wolverines at the Verizon Center on March 12, 2017 in Washington, DC. The Wolverines won 71-56. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 12: Big Ten logo on the floor before the Big Ten Men's Basketball Final against the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan Wolverines at the Verizon Center on March 12, 2017 in Washington, DC. The Wolverines won 71-56. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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Big Ten Basketball
COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND – MARCH 08: Jalen Smith #25 of the Maryland Terrapins (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

Big Ten basketball showcased it’s talented point guards and big men who compliment them. In this piece, the conference’s best tandems are highlighted.

The 2019-20 college basketball season ended prematurely due to a coronavirus (COVID-19) disease that has taken the world by storm. That role has been reserved by the NCAA Tournament every year since 1939. Sadly, no madness and a ton of questions unanswered.

Big Ten Basketball was the best conference in the NCAA and could have had 10 tournament bids to show for it. It was the only conference with a projected double-digit number. Luka Garza dominating en route to becoming an All-American, Big Ten Player of the Year among other honors, Cassius Winston suffering the loss of his younger brother and still playing at a high level for Michigan State and Greg Gard leading Wisconsin to a Big Ten title share and earning Big Ten Coach of the Year are just some of the storylines that took shape in the Big Ten this season.

Since the season was cut short, we’ll never know if Maryland could have made the Final Four and won the national championship, if Wisconsin was going to be the conference’s dark horse, whether Michigan State was going to go on a tournament run of their own, whether Garza was going to lead Iowa deep in the tournament so on and so forth.

My criteria for determining who the best point guard-big man pairs were this season are as follows: How did they finish the season? What awards were earned as a result of their performance? What has their overall impact been on the team?

My list break down is the following: 1) Anthony Cowan Jr.-Jalen Smith, 2) Cassius Winston–Xavier Tillman Sr., 3) D’Mitrik Trice – Nate Reuvers, 4) Joe Wieskamp – Luka Garza, 5) Ayo Dosunmu – Kofi Cockburn. Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske are my honorable mention pick

For Ohio State, Minnesota and Penn State fans out there, Kaleb Wesson, Daniel Oturu and Lamar Stevens and their point guards didn’t make the list because of their team’s finish in the Big Ten.

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