THIS IS A WEEKLY BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH, by Luke Maiers .

There were some impressive stat lines thrown up in the last week, some of those coming in losses. The race just keeps tightening up as the year moves on though, and some players keep stepping up there play and putting there names right into this race. After a couple of losses this week, Nate Mason of Minnesota has fallen out and there is some movement in the top five. Let’s get to the watch list.

Watch List:

5. Malcolm Hill- The three year starter is a bright spot in this Fighting Illini season. Hill has been a quality player every year for this team, but with Illinois sitting at 12-6 this season, he is finally getting some recognition.

4. Thomas Bryant- Bryant struggled mightily against Rutgers, but I won’t hold that against him. Rutgers has some big dudes on their squad and they can cause a lot of problems. This is where I think the separation of talent starts to appear in Big Ten Players. These top four players play at another level.

3. Ethan Haap- The Badgers only played one game since the last rankings and Haap had trouble finding the bottom of the net. He shot only 30% from the field in this game but managed 11 rebounds with four of those being offensive boards. Haap can win this race, there is no doubt about that. It was just a rough game for him.

2. Peter Jok- Iowa went 1-1 this week with an amazing win at home and an absolute dismantling on the road. But in their matchup at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against a top 25 team in Purdue, Jok was absolutely soaking, nailing almost every shot he fired up. With that being said, Sunday against Northwestern was the first time all year he has failed to score 10 points. But that performance against Purdue is hard to ignore.

1. Caleb Swanigan– Purdue may have lost to Iowa, but Swanigan came to play. The most impressive part about his performance was his ability to quiet the arena. Iowa would hit a run, get loud, and then Swanigan would bury a three. It was unreal how many times that happened. I guess you could say he had a down game because he didn’t have a double-double, but that is nit picking.

Banging Team Performance of the Week:

Northwestern gets the nod this week. They had two wins this week but the most impressive game was the Wildcat’s performance against Iowa on Sunday night. They lit up the Hawkeyes, scoreboard, and their arena early. It was a party in Evanston as Northwestern shot 60% from the field and 46% from three. They were banging all night. This team is good. Check them out sometime.