On Monday, the Big Ten Conference named Wisconsin Badgers point guard Jordan Taylor Big Ten Player of the Week.
Taylor was spectacular while helping the #10 Badgers pull out an overtime win against Iowa and a huge upset of the undefeated and former #1 Ohio State Buckeyes.
In those two games, Taylor averaged 21.5 points, 4 rebounds and 7.5 assists.
Several weeks ago, people were dubbing Taylor the best point guard in the Big Ten. With what started out as a healthy dose of optimism seems to be turning into reality.
By: Nick Grays
An entire country is perplexed to why Taylor is not one of the ten finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, an award given out to the nation’s top point guard. The junior leads the nation with a ridiculous 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and is averaging a surprising 20.8 points per game in conference play.
The one person who you think would be most confused about the situation is Taylor, but after being asked about the snub, he had a candid response.
“Honestly I have no idea. I don’t know what the (Bob) Cousy thing is, I didn’t know until the day after anyway,” said Taylor.
That is exactly the type of attitude which has molded Taylor into the great point guard he is. When he’s on the basketball court, he has one thing on his mind and that is Wisconsin Badgers Basketball. Head Coach Bo Ryan could see this quality in his starting point guard from the early days of his recruitment.
“I’ve always liked his character, from the first time he visited this campus. If you just look at his eyes. He came on a visit and tried to impress me. A lot of young men aren’t doing that these days. Jordan wanted us. And we liked what he did,” said Ryan.
We’re in an age where we see most college basketball players spend a lot of their free time on Twitter. But Jordan, he doesn’t do too much of that because he’s focused on developing into a better player and more importantly a better teammate.
“The Twitter thing, you would probably have to ask Brett Valentyn about that, that is more his thing. I don’t really pay much attention to that stuff. It is cool, but I am just happy to have the win. I am going to have a good time with my teammates, get something to eat, and then have a good time,” said Taylor.
Taylor has all the tools to be one of the best point guards in the nation. This past Saturday, each one of those tools were on display when he put forth a dominant performance against the Buckeyes.
His 27 points and seven assists made him only the second player in the last 14 years (since 1996-97) to post those kind of numbers against the AP’s #1 team. The other guy to do so was a fairly good guard who also played his college ball in the state of Wisconsin. His name is Dywane Wade.
Taylor’s Big Ten Player of the Week award makes it two in a row for the Badgers as teammate Jon Leuer picked the award up the previous week.
What do you think of Jordan Taylor’s play? Is he one of the best point guards in the nation or does he benefit from the Badgers swing offense? Let me know by commenting below!
Nick Grays is a senior editor at the Sports Bank where he covers the Wisconsin Badgers, Green Bay Packers, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Brewers. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here or visit his blog Nick Knows Best.