Earlier this month, I organized the SB Nation Big Ten men’s basketball preseason poll for the 2025-26 season. 14 SB Nation College sites participated, plus one site each that fell under the 247Sports and FanSided umbrellas, which were pinch-hitting in spots where we did not have a representative. All in all, 16 of the 18 Big Ten teams were represented.
The poll included first and second team All-Big Ten, conference player of the year, freshman of the year, transfer of the year, predicted standings,
and “sleeper” team. You can check out the entire poll here.
Here are my responses to the poll, followed by a brief explanation for each.
Projected Big Ten Standings:
- Michigan
- Purdue
- UCLA
- Illinois
- Oregon
- Michigan State
- Wisconsin
- Ohio State
- Nebraska
- Washington
- Maryland
- Indiana
- Iowa
- UCS
- Northwestern
- Minnesota
- Penn State
- Rutgers
Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year: Donovan Dent (UCLA)
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Kayden Mingo (Penn State)
Big Ten Transfer of the Year: Donovan Dent (UCLA)
“Sleeper” Team: Washington Huskies
All-Big Ten First Team
Braden Smith (Purdue)
Donovan Dent (UCLA)
Bruce Thornton (Ohio State)
Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan)
Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue)
All-Big Ten Second Team
John Blackwell (Wisconsin)
Bennett Stirtz (Iowa)
Jackson Shelstad (Iowa)
Nick Martinelli (Northwestern)
Nate Bittle (Oregon)
Breaking down my selections:
Big Ten Standings:
Obviously, the hot take here is not picking the preseason No. 1 team in the country to win its own conference. In my defense, this poll was published before the first AP Poll of the year, so that did not influence anybody who participated in this poll.
Dusty May has once again used the transfer portal to create a team that will have a serious size advantage over everyone they play but also will have some offensive flexibility because of how versatile Lendeborg will be. I think Michigan could have the best defense in the country and will make things hard for everyone they play, including
Purdue.
I had Ohio State eighth, which is exactly where they ended up in the results once all of the votes were counted. As long as the Big Ten doesn’t turn out to be a dumpster this year (nobody is expecting that), finishing in the top-eight should get the Buckeyes back in the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes have one of the better starting lineups in the Big Ten, but the bench has a ton of question marks, and I cannot give Jake Diebler the benefit of the doubt until he gives me a reason to do so. Eighth seems fair.
I gave Nebraska and Washington more credit than most did, picking them to finish 9th and 10th while the general consensus had them finishing 13th and 14th. Both of those teams should be much improved from a year ago.
Big Ten Player of the Year:
If you haven’t watched UCLA’s Donovan Dent play basketball yet, get ready because you’re in for a treat. He plays like he’s been shot out of a cannon, is nearly impossible to get in front of, and shot the three-ball at nearly 41% last season. He’s going to take a UCLA offense that finished 346th in adjusted tempo last season and speed it up by quite a bit. Braden Smith was the easy (and justifiable) choice here, considering he won the award last season, but I think Dent will have a massive season and it’s possible we get a little voter fatigue with Smith having already won it..
Big Ten Freshman of the Year:
Kayden Mingo is the highest-rated recruit in the Big Ten that will actually have a guaranteed starting role, and on a really bad Penn State team, he’s bound to put up some big numbers. There won’t be many reasons to watch the Nittany Lions this year, but Mingo will be one of them.
Big Ten Transfer of the Year:
If I picked Dent for B1G player of the Year, I’m kind of forced to also pick him as the best transfer, right? I also considered Lendeborg for both awards, but I ultimately went with Dent. There is not a bad choice here as long as you go with one of those two or Bennett Stirtz.
“Sleeper” Team:
I intentionally did not clarify what this meant for people, as I wanted them to decide on their own if “sleeper” meant a sneaky team to win the conference, a team that might sneak up on you and be better than expected, or anything else. I went with the second definition – I think the Huskies will be much improved from last year and could potentially make the NCAA Tournament. They added Desmond Claude and Wesley (boomerang) Yates from USC, as well as former Rutgers center Lathan Somerville. They are 100% going to sneak up on people and win some games that will catch people off guard.
All-Big Ten First Team:
Smith, TKR, Lendeborg, and Dent all felt like no-brainers to me. The only debate I had for First Team was Thornton or Wisconsin’s John Blackwell, and as the person who counted the votes I can verify that was probably the biggest variable on all of the ballots. When you line up the stats, Thornton has just been better, and I think he will continue to improve this year as well.
All-Big Ten Second Team:
I was pretty close to being in step with the results of the poll here too, but I had to have the Oregon combo of Shelstad and Bittle here. Both deserve it, and it came at the expensive of Tomislav Ivisic, who probably skipped my mind a bit because of the illness and injuries he dealt with last season. It’s tough to have the Big Ten’s leading scorer (Martinelli) on Second Team, but Northwestern is not going to be good, and (even if it’s not fair) he will be overlooked because of it.
If you think I’m a dolt for these choices, you aren’t the first one! Feel free to leave your
thoughts in the comments.
