Big Ten Basketball: Predicting award winners for 2021-22 season

Coach of the Year – Tom Izzo, Michigan State

It has been a full decade since Tom Izzo has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year.  This award typically goes to the coach of the conference champions or the coach of the biggest overachieving team relative to preseason expectations, which is what I see happening for Izzo and the Spartans.

Michigan State is not named in the majority of preseason Top 25 lists, but they had a nice offseason adding Northeastern transfer point guard Tyson Walker and one of Izzo’s best recruiting classes in his tenure.  Some of Izzo’s best teams have been some of the most overlooked preseason, and I fully expect the Spartans to have a bounce-back year where they return to being a factor in the conference title race.

Another odd truth about the Big Ten Coach of the Year award is that only Bo Ryan has won the award twice in the last decade – voters tend to reward coaches who haven’t won it recently, which leaves Izzo in a nice spot compared to his counterparts at the top of the conference in Juwan Howard, Matt Painter, and Chris Holtmann.

Player of the Year – Kofi Cockburn, Illinois

Kofi Cockburn heads into his junior season at Illinois off an impressive sophomore campaign where he averaged 17.7 points on 65% shooting from the field, 9.5 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 27 minutes per game, earning a first-team all-conference selection.

With the loss of Ayo Dosunmu, Cockburn will be forced to inherit a bit more responsibility on the offensive end, and point guard Andre Curbelo is the perfect guy to make it easy for him.  As Curbelo’s pick and roll counterpart, Cockburn will see no shortage of lobs and easy catch and finish opportunities.

20+ points and 10+ rebounds should be the goal for Cockburn next year, and if he can elevate Illinois into a top 3 team in the conference, he will be my best bet for Big Ten Player of the Year.