Big Ten Banter: Yeah, Braden Smith is a Top-10 Point Guard in College Basketball

Braden Smith was snubbed from the Bob Cousy Award list this week, an honor presented to the best point guard in college basketball. The Purdue sophomore showed exactly why he belongs in the top-10 in Wednesday night's win over Northwestern.

The basketball geniuses who vote for the Bob Cousy Award probably woke up Thursday morning, saw the stat line Purdue’s Braden Smith produced in Wednesday’s 105-96 overtime win over Northwestern and immediately crawled back into bed. The blinds are shut and curtains drawn in their bedrooms, hoping they don’t have to face the world.

Smith was not included as a finalist for the prestigious college basketball honor, which recognizes the top point guard in the country. Apparently, there are 10 players at the position better than the Purdue sophomore.

That wasn’t the case Wednesday night. Smith finished the night with a career-high 16 assists to go along with 11 points. He did that in 41 minutes of action while only having two turnovers to his name.

More than one-third of Smith’s assists came in crunch time. He recorded six dimes in the final 2:30 of the second half and overtime. He found Zach Edey four times in the post for easy buckets. He hit Fletcher Loyer for a wide-open three pointer, giving the Boilermakers a 96-90 advantage with less than a minute to play.

AST: 16
TO: 2

Braden Smith tied for the most assists in a @bigten game in the last 15 years tonight. 😲

Watch all 1️⃣6️⃣ dimes. ⤵️@3bradensmith x @BoilerBall pic.twitter.com/NZIMggftq1

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 1, 2024

Most of us would argue that Smith was on a mission, that he wanted to prove to the Bob Cousy Award voters that he belonged in the conversation. In reality, the point guard had an entirely different motive.

“Yeah, I mean that’s over. I’d rather win,” Smith said when asked about the snub. “It’s better memories. Especially coming back with these guys and knowing all the work we’ve put in and what we’ve been through last year. That’s more important to me than just some award.”

Smith is the ultimate team player, putting winning above everything else. Individual accolades aren’t his primary focus. That’s a good thing. But it doesn’t mean we can’t have a conversation about the egregious error made by those selecting the finalists for the Bob Cousy Award.

This season, Smith is averaging 12.1 points, 7.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game. He’s shooting better than 46% from the floor, 42% from 3-point range and 76% from the free throw line.

What makes Smith’s omission even more head-scratching? Purdue sits at 20-2 on the season and is ranked No. 2 in the country. The Boilers have the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country.

Maybe these “experts” aren’t watching enough Big Ten basketball — the product of a down year for the conference. Northwestern’s Boo Buie was the only player from the conference to make the 10-player list.

Meanwhile, the Big 12 had three players on the list and the Big East and SEC each had two. The complete list of candidates includes:

• Isaiah Steve, Colorado State
• Jamal Shead, Houston
• DaJuan Harris Jr., Kansas
• Tyler Kolek, Marquette
• Jahvon Quinerly, Memphis
• Boo Buie, Northwestern
• Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
• Max Abmas, Texas
• Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
• Tristen Newton, UConn

For what it’s worth, Smith and the Boilermakers own a 3-1 record this season against the players on this list (Buie, Zeigler and Kolek).

Or maybe Smith is being overshadowed by the success of his teammate, Zach Edey. The 7-foot-4 star continues to be the talk of college basketball, well on his way to securing back-to-back National Player of the Year honors while averaging 23.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

If these “voters” were basketball savvy, they’d be able to see that Smith’s contributions to the team are just as significant as Edey’s.

As a writer, my job is to come up with the words to best describe the circumstances. In this situation, though, I’m going to shut my mouth (or stop typing) and defer to Purdue coach Matt Painter. He summed up Smith’s snub perfectly.

“You know, Bob Knight said basketball is watched by millions and understood by few,” he said after Smith’s performance Wednesday. “So, if you think that he’s the 11th-best point guard in the country, I hope you get a job in the Big Ten. At least we’ll get two wins.”

Here’s the thing: These lists are hard to assemble. There are 363 college basketball teams at the NCAA Division I level. Hundreds of great players take the floor every night. A few deserving players are going to miss the cut.

In Smith’s case, though, this feels like a gross miscalculation. Maybe he wouldn’t win this year’s award — that honor likely goes to Buie, Smith’s counterpart on Wednesday night. But Painter is correct, there aren’t 10 better point guards in the country than the one in West Lafayette.

After watching Smith’s performance on Wednesday night, it’s hard to find the right words, the right thoughts to try and explain how he was left off the Bob Cousy Award list. So, I’ll defer to Painter one final time.

“It’s like the Indiana high school sectional,” he said, “I think they just drew it out of a hat.”

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