SB Nation • 13 min read

Purdue favorites, Ohio State picked eighth in SB Nation preseason Big Ten media poll

The Purdue Boilermakers, which have finished in the top-four of the Big Ten each of the past five seasons and returns three key starters from a season ago, were voted the runaway favorite to win the conference

this year in SB Nation’s pre-season men’s basketball media poll.

The Boilermakers finished in a three-way tie for fourth last season, but return 49.7 points per game of production from the trio of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn. That continuity and recent run of program success was enough to win over the voters, as Purdue earned 13 of 16 first-place votes.

Smith, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, was picked to repeat as the conference’s best, earning 12 of 15 possible first-place POY votes. He was one of two players who were unanimous selections for First Team-All Big Ten, along with his teammate, Kaufman-Renn.

The Michigan Wolverines, entering the second season of the Dusty May’s tenure, were the only team not named Purdue to earn any first-place votes in the poll. After making the Sweet Sixteen in May’s first season, Michigan went big in the transfer portal, adding several high-profile talents, including former UAB former Yaxel Lendeborg, who was voted First Team All-Big Ten and tied with Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz for Transfer of the Year.

There was a pretty clear cut top-four in the poll, with 13 of the 16 voters including at least three of Purdue, Michigan, UCLA, and Illinois in their top four. The final poll submitted Sunday night broke a tie between Illinois and UCLA, pushing the Fighting Illinois two points ahead of the Bruins for third-place. Penn State was picked to finish last in the league, receiving just 29 points in the poll, three points behind Rutgers. 13 of the 16 voters picked either the Nittany Lions or Scarlet Knights to finish last. Three voters picked Minnesota to finish last.

Of the four teams entering the season with new head coaches, Ben McCollum’s Iowa Hawkeyes were picked to finish the highest, with the voters pegging them as the ninth-best team in the conference. Darian DeVries’ Indiana Hoosiers were No. 10, followed by Buzz Williams’ Maryland Terrapins at No. 11 and Niko Medved’s Minnesota Golden Gophers at No. 16.

Ohio State was picked eighth in the Big Ten after finishing in 10th-place last season in Jake Diebler’s first season. With Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal, and John Mobley back, Ohio State is one of just two Big Ten teams – along with Purdue – that will return at least three double-digit scorers from last season. It’s also one of just three Big Ten teams – Purdue and UCLA being the other two – to return three of its top four scorers from a season ago.

Despite being picked to finish 13th in the league in their second season in the Big Ten, the Washington Huskies were voted as the “sleeper” team in the conference. Danny Sprinkle’s team received 3 of a possible 15 votes. The other three teams that received multiple votes in this category were Iowa, Maryland, and Oregon.

Purdue’s Smith and Kaufman-Renn were both unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selections, and are joined by Lendeborg, Thornton, and Wisconsin’s John Blackwell.

Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli, who was the Big Ten’s leading scorer last season at 20.5 points per game, was voted Second Team All-Big Ten. Joining him are Stirtz, UCLA’s Donovan Dent, Oregon’s Nate Bittle, and Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic.

Penn State’s Kayden Mingo, the No. 37 player in the 2025 recruiting class according to 247Sports, was voted Preseason Freshman of the Year. The only other freshmen to receive multiple votes were Washington’s Hannes Steinbach and Michigan’s Trey McKenney. Purdue sophomore guard C.J. Cox also received one vote for Freshman of the Year — a bold choice.

The SB Nation preseason media poll featured writers from 14 SB Nation College sites, one 247Sports site, and one team site that falls under the FanSided umbrella. Oregon and UCLA were the two Big Ten teams that did not have a representative submit a response to the poll.

Full results of the preseason poll are below, as well as links to the 16 team sites/blogs that participated in this year’s poll.

Projected Big Ten Standings (first-place votes in parentheses):

Purdue, 285 (13)
Michigan, 267 (3)
Illinois, 238
UCLA, 236
Michigan State, 218
Wisconsin, 202
Oregon, 201
Ohio State, 156
Iowa, 153
Indiana, 143
Maryland, 131
USC, 119
Washington, 115
Nebraska, 94
Northwestern, 63
Minnesota, 54
Rutgers, 32
Penn State, 29

Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year

Braden Smith, Purdue (12).

Also receiving votes: Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue (2); Donovan Dent, UCLA (1)

Big Ten Freshman of the Year

Kayden Mingo, Penn State (3).

Also receiving votes: Hannes Steinbach, Washington, Trey McKenney, Michigan (2); Darius Adams, Maryland, Daniel Jacobsen, Purdue, Omer Mayer, Purdue, Cam Ward, Michigan State, Winters Grady, Michigan, Cooper Koch, Iowa, C.J. Cox, Purdue (1).

Big Ten Transfer of the Year

Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan & Bennett Stirtz, Iowa (4) – TIE

Also receiving votes: Donovan Dent, UCLA (3); Andrej Stojakovic, Illinois (2); Oscar Cluff, Purdue (1)

“Sleeper” Big Ten Team

Washington Huskies (3)

Also receiving votes: Iowa, Oregon, Maryland (2); Northwestern, Wisconsin, Illinois, UCLA, Ohio State, USC

First-team All-Big Ten

(Bold=unanimous selection)

Braden Smith, Purdue

John Blackwell, Wisconsin

Bruce Thornton, Ohio State

Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan

Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue

Second-team All-Big Ten

Donovan Dent, UCLA

Bennett Stirtz, Iowa

Nick Martinelli, Northwestern

Nate Bittle, Oregon

Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois

Also receiving votes: Jackson Shelstad (Oregon), Andrej Stojakovic (Illinois), Chad Baker-Mazara (USC), Tyler Bilodeau (UCLA), Coen Carr (Michigan State), Elliot Cadeau (Michigan), Tucker DeVries (Indiana), Pharrel Payne (Maryland), Skyy Clark (UCLA), Wesley Yates III (Washington), Rodney Rice (USC), Rienk Mast (Nebraska), L.J. Cason (Michigan), Kylan Boswell (Illinois), Mihailo Petrovic (Illinois), Connor Essegian (Nebraska), Fletcher Loyer (Purdue), Kaleb Glenn (Michigan State)