Some facts speak more loudly than any explanation ever could. Try this one on for size:
Amazing: @BadgerMBB is the first Big Ten regular season champion Ever… to have NO 1st OR 2nd team All-BigTen players (a recognition that started in 1948). Ever!
Talk about definition of a team: whole is greater than the sum of the parts— Mike Hall (@BTNMikeHall) March 9, 2020
The Wisconsin Badgers didn’t place a single player on the All-Big Ten First or Second Team in 2020. Yet, they won the Big Ten championship. In 73 seasons of All-Big Ten team voting, this had never, EVER happened… until now. It is quite breathtaking to absorb such a monumental feat.
All of this naturally underscores why Greg Gard so richly deserved the Big Ten Coach of the Year honors he received from both the media and the coaches in the conference. Gard spoke about his award in an interview with Big Ten Network:
Learn how @BadgerMBB's @GregGard, @B1GMBBall's Coach of the Year for both the media and coaches votes, plans to celebrate the title with Howard Moore in his chat with @BTNMikeHall. pic.twitter.com/LQlHq5vCFH
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 9, 2020
In typical Greg Gard fashion, his award was truly a team award forged by those around him.
Following the win over Indiana on Saturday which clinched the Big Ten title, Gard took his three main assistant coaches — Joe Krabbenhoft, Dean Oliver and Alando Tucker — to the press conference so they could be recognized for what they had done.
“I can’t be more proud of these three guys,” Gard said on Saturday. “They have been to hell and back the last nine months.”
Here are the All-Big Ten First and Second Teams for 2020:
FIRST TEAM
PG Cassius Winston, Sr., Michigan State*
F Daniel Oturo, So., Minnesota
F Jalen Smith, So., Maryland
F Lamar Stevens, Sr., Penn State
C Luka Garza, Jr., Iowa*
*unanimous selection
SECOND TEAM
PG Zavier Simpson, Sr., Michigan
G Anthony Cowan, Sr., Maryland
G Ayo Dosunmu, So., Illinois
F Xavier Tillman, Jr., Michigan State
F Kaleb Wesson, Jr., Ohio State
Luka Garza of Iowa was named the Big Ten Player of the Year.
Kofi Cockburn of Illinois was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
This Wisconsin season was supremely mind-blowing in so many different ways. The Badgers’ ability to win the Big Ten without a first- or second-team all-conference player — marking a first in 73 seasons of Big Ten basketball — represents an appropriately remarkable end to a thoroughly remarkable Big Ten regular season.