Point guard play: What does our survey say?

The Big Ten is loaded with great point guards. In fact, no conference may have a better collection. There’s Michigan’s Trey Burke, Minnesota’s Andre Hollins, Ohio State’s Aaron Craft, Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell and Michigan State’s Keith Appling, among others. The collection would be even better if Penn State’s Tim Frazier and Wisconsin’s Josh Gasser weren’t out for the season with injury.

And the future looks bright with freshmen like Purdue’s Ronnie Johnson and Iowa’s Mike Gesell, in addition to Ferrell.

Having such a good collection of lead guards will go a long way toward helping the league perhaps capture its first national championship since Mateen Cleaves led Michigan State to the summit in the 1999-2000 season. The Big Dance is all about guard play.

Knowing that, I polled seven Big Ten beat writers, asking them to rank their top five point guards in the conference. First place votes got five points, second place four, third place three, and so on.

I’m going to do these Big Ten writer surveys for the rest of the season with some other questions, but below are the results for the point guard question, and you won’t be shocked to hear that Burke was first on all seven ballots.

***

1. Trey Burke, Michigan, 35 points

Per Game	Team	G	GS	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	PFPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
2011-12	Mich	34	33	36.1	14.8	3.5	4.6	0.9	0.4	2.8	1.6	.433	.348	.744
2012-13	Mich	19	19	33.7	17.8	2.9	7.2	1.3	0.5	1.8	1.7	.504	.382	.797
Career		53	52	35.2	15.9	3.3	5.5	1.0	0.4	2.4	1.6	.460	.360	.762

***

2. Keith Appling, Michigan State, 29 points

Per Game	Team	G	GS	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	PFPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
2010-11	MSU	34	18	22.9	6.4	2.8	1.3	0.6	0.5	1.6	2.2	.436	.411	.895
2011-12	MSU	37	37	30.8	11.4	2.9	3.9	1.2	0.4	2.3	2.4	.427	.250	.788
2012-13	MSU	20	20	34.1	14.1	3.5	4.3	1.7	0.6	2.4	2.3	.421	.317	.779
Career		91	75	28.6	10.1	3.0	3.0	1.1	0.5	2.0	2.3	.427	.327	.798

***

3. Aaron Craft, Ohio State, 19 points

Per Game	Team	G	GS	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	PFPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
2010-11	OhioSt	37	1	29.6	6.9	2.9	4.8	2.0	0.1	2.1	2.7	.461	.377	.727
2011-12	OhioSt	39	39	32.2	8.8	3.2	4.6	2.5	0.2	2.2	2.5	.500	.359	.713
2012-13	OhioSt	18	18	31.8	8.9	3.2	4.7	2.1	0.1	1.8	2.4	.385	.320	.816
Career		94	58	31.1	8.1	3.1	4.7	2.2	0.1	2.1	2.6	.459	.355	.737

***

4. Andre Hollins, Minnesota, 12 points

Per Game	Team	G	GS	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	PFPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
2011-12	Minn	37	21	21.1	8.7	2.1	1.8	0.9	0.1	2.1	2.2	.393	.379	.904
2012-13	Minn	19	19	27.9	13.8	2.9	3.7	1.3	0.5	2.6	2.3	.443	.418	.772
Career		56	40	23.4	10.5	2.4	2.4	1.0	0.3	2.3	2.2	.414	.396	.844

***

5. Yogi Ferrell, Indiana, 10 points

Per Game	Team	G	GS	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TOPG	PFPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
2012-13	Ind	19	19	27.6	7.1	2.9	4.6	0.8	0.1	1.9	1.3	.381	.297	.771
Career		19	19	27.6	7.1	2.9	4.6	0.8	0.1	1.9	1.3	.381	.297	.771

***

Others receiving votes: Dave Sobolewski, Northwestern (4th on one ballot); Tracy Abrams, Illinois (5th on one ballot ); D.J. Newbill, Penn State (5th on one ballot).

About Tom Dienhart

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men’s basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

And if you want to leave a comment on this post, use the box below. All comments need to be approved by a moderator.