Story by
Purdue again the favorite, Ohio State ninth in annual preseason Big Ten men's basketball poll
- Story by
- Purdue again the favorite, Ohio State ninth in annual preseason Big Ten men's basketball poll
Purdue is once again projected to be the class of the Big Ten while Ohio State is picked as a middle-of-the-pack team in the ninth annual unofficial official Big Ten men's basketball preseason poll.
The poll, conducted jointly by The Dispatch and The Indianapolis Star and featuring 28 beat writers from across the conference, saw the Boilermakers capture 25 first-place votes to take the top spot for a second straight year . Michigan, which finished second, received the other three first-place votes.
Advertisement
After going 24-12 overall and earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Purdue coach Matt Painter retained two players who earned all-America honors last season and both feature prominently in the preseason poll. Senior guard Braden Smith, a consensus first-team all-America pick, was voted the league's player of the year and was a unanimous first-team all-Big Ten preseason pick. His teammate, junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, joined him on the first team and received the second-most votes after being an honorable mention All-American last season.
After Purdue and Michigan, UCLA, Illinois and Oregon round out the preseason top five.
Ohio State was picked to finish ninth, only six points behind eighth-place Iowa. The Buckeyes received a vote for as low as a 14th-place finish and two votes as high as fifth place.
They will be led by senior guard Bruce Thornton, who was voted second-team all-league after earning second-team all-Big Ten honors after his junior season. He was the top vote-getter to not make the first team in this year's preseason poll.
Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton loses control of the ball while running into Purdue guard Braden Smith on Jan. 21.
Two other Buckeyes received voting consideration. Junior forward Devin Royal received one second-team all-league vote and forward Amare Bynum landed one Freshman of the Year vote.
Advertisement
Smith and Kaufman-Renn are joined on the first team by Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg, UCLA's Donovan Dent and Iowa's Bennett Stirtz. All three are new to the league this year after transferring in from UAB, New Mexico and Drake, respectively.
Lendeborg was voted transfer of the year, earning 11 votes and finishing just ahead of Stirtz (nine) and Dent (eight).
Here are the full voting results:
Big Ten standings (first-place votes in parenthesis)
-
Purdue, 501 (25)
-
Michigan, 472 (3)
-
UCLA, 417
-
Illinois, 411
-
Oregon, 385
-
Michigan State, 360
-
Wisconsin, 328
-
Iowa, 278
-
Ohio State, 272
-
Indiana, 245
-
Washington, 239
-
USC, 227
-
Maryland, 210
-
Nebraska, 149
-
Northwestern, 119
-
Minnesota, 95
-
Rutgers, 54
-
Penn State, 43
Purdue coach Matt Painter
Player of the Year
Braden Smith, Purdue (23). Also receiving votes: Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue (3)
Freshman of the Year
Kayden Mingo (6). Also receiving votes: Trey McKenney, Michigan, and Hannes Steinbach, Washington, (5); Darius Adams, Maryland, Omer Mayer, Purdue, Cam Ward, Michigan State, (3); Alijah Arenas, USC, Amare Bynum, Ohio State, Mihailo Petrovic, Illinois (1).
Advertisement
Transfer of the Year
Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan (11). Also receiving votes: Bennett Stirtz (9); Donovan Dent (8).
Yaxel Lendeborg
First Team
Braden Smith, Purdue (56)
Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue (55)
Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan (51)
Donovan Dent, UCLA (43)
Bennett Stirtz, Iowa (42)
Second Team
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State (38)
Nick Martinelli, Northwestern (32)
Nate Bittle, Oregon (24)
John Blackwell, Wisconsin (24)
Jackson Shelstad, Oregon (14)
Also receiving votes: Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois (8); Andrej Stokaovic, Illinois (7); Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA, Tucker DeVries, Indiana (6); Coen Carr, Michigan State, Oscar Cluff, Purdue, Rienk Mast, Nebraska, Quimari Peterson, Washington, (2); Desmond Claude, Washington, Morez Johnson, Michigan, Jaxon Kohler, Michigan State, Fletcher Loyer, Purdue, Pharrel Payne, Maryland, Devin Royal, Ohio State, Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana, Wesley Yates III, Washington (1).
Advertisement
Note: Players received two points for a first-team vote and one point for a second-team vote.
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @ cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @ AdamJardy .
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Purdue, Braden Smith class of Big Ten in preseason poll; Ohio State ninth
