In the college basketball world, preseason polls are as synonymous with the month of October as pumpkin patches, spiked apple cider and a rise in Spirit Halloween locations.
Connor Lemons with Land Grant Holy Land — Ohio State’s SB Nation site — conducted a preseason poll, which featured writers from 14 SB Nation College sites, one 247Sports site, and one FanSided site. The only teams without a representative were UCLA and Oregon.
You can check out the poll at this link, and before the season starts,
I wanted to explain the thought process behind my ballot.
Here’s my ballot in text form, for those who don’t have X:
PREDICTED STANDINGS:
1ST: Purdue
2ND: Michigan
3RD: Michigan State
4TH: Illinois
5TH: Iowa
6TH: UCLA
7TH: Wisconsin
8TH: Oregon
9TH: Maryland
10TH: Ohio State
11TH: USC
12TH: Indiana
13TH: Nebraska
14TH: Washington
15TH: Minnesota
16TH: Northwestern
17TH: Rutgers
18TH: Penn State
BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Braden Smith (Purdue)
BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Trey McKenney (Michigan)
BIG TEN TRANSFER OF THE YEAR: Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan)
SLEEPER BIG TEN TEAM: Iowa
ALL BIG TEN 1ST-TEAM: Braden Smith, Trey Kaufmann-Renn, Yaxel Lendeborg, Bennett Stirtz, Coen Carr
ALL BIG TEN 2ND-TEAM: LJ Cason, Bruce Thornton, Donovan Dent, Nick Martinelli, Jackson Shelstad
Walking through my logic
Standings
I got Purdue as the clear favorite in the Big Ten this year. Matt Painter is a damn good coach, and the Boilermakers return Braden Smith, Trey Kaufmann-Renn, and Fletcher Loyer. Barring injury, I don’t see how a team with that core finishes outside of the top three in the conference.
I don’t think the Wolverines are far behind, however. The defense got a lot better with their transfer class, there are key role players returning in Roddy Gayle Jr., Nimari Burnett and Will Tschetter, and I do think L.J. Cason makes a sophomore leap like Kobe Bufkin did (more on that later).
To round out the top-five, I like MSU’s depth, I like Illinois’ combination of returning players and transfers, and I really like Iowa’s new coach and the stud transfer he brought with him.
As was the case last season, this is a deep conference, and I could see anyone in the top 14 to beat anyone else in the conference on any given night
Big Ten Player of the Year
This is my most boring pick on the ballot, but Braden Smith is probably the best point guard in the sport. The performance he had in Ann Arbor last season — 24 points, six rebounds, seven assists, a 146 (!) offensive rating — was one of the best I’ve seen in person in my five years covering Michigan hoops. He dictates the pace of play in a way that’s breathtaking to behold. Barring injury, I see him winning this in a landslide.
Big Ten Freshman of the Year
There are a lot of great freshmen in the Big Ten, but I think the highs that Trey McKenney will bring will be hard to ignore. He was an absolute bucket in high school, and I think him dropping 18 pounds over the summer will help him adjust to the faster pace of play in college basketball.
At the open practice we saw — granted, a small sample size of maybe 30 minutes of 5-on-5 play, but it’s all we have to go off until the exhibition game on Friday — McKenney appeared to be one of Michigan’s best shot-creators. I see him carving out more playing time as the season goes on and growing into Michigan’s second or third option offensively.
Big Ten Transfer of the Year
I take back what I said in the Smith section — this may actually be my most boring pick on the board. Lendeborg is a hell of a defender, can run an offense like a guard, and has NBA player written all over him. I fully expect him to be the leading scorer on a Michigan team that has all the pieces to be one of the best in the Big Ten.
Sleeper Big Ten Team
I’ve had a soft spot for Ben McCollum for a while now, considering he was dominating the DII level when I was a student journalist covering Grand Valley State for the Grand Valley Lanthorn. This feature about him in The Athletic by C.J. Moore ($) a few years ago shines a light on how he just sees the game differently, and when you combine that with him taking Bennett Stirtz with him — a dynamite guard who is top-500 in pretty much every metric on KenPom — I think Iowa is a team that can beat anyone on any given night in the Big Ten. This feels like a Curt Cignetti-type situation for me; don’t be surprised if McCollum does what Fran McCaffery never did and takes Iowa to the Sweet Sixteen as soon as this season.
All-Big Ten 1st-Team
I already went in-depth on Smith, Lendeborg and Stirtz, and I think Trey Kaufmann-Renn is a lock to make this team for the second season in a row; he and Smith make up the most lethal pick-and-roll duo in the league and TKR has steadily improved season by season. My wild card pick here is Coen Carr — we know he’s an incredible athlete who would be a shoe-in for Dunker of the Year if the Big Ten gave out that award. I think if he puts together a jump shot, he turns into a borderline lottery pick for the Spartans.
All-Big Ten 2nd-Team
This is where I want to focus on Cason, who learned a lot from not making Team USA this summer. We saw flashes of him as a scorer last season, and we know Michigan wants to use him as a point guard more in 2025-26. I think he’s a good candidate for a sophomore leap, a la Bufkin, with him being adjusted to the speed of college basketball. I also voted for another great transfer in UCLA’s Donovan Dent, a solid scorer in Bruce Thornton, a model of consistency who tested the NBA Draft waters in Nick Martinelli, and a criminally underrated point guard/certified bucket in Jackson Shelstad.
Where do you disagree with my ballot? Let me know in the comments.
