Indiana picked to finish 8th in Big Ten in official unofficial media poll

The 2020-2021 college basketball season tips off next week and the annual “official unofficial” Big Ten preseason media poll was released this morning.

Organized by Brendan Quinn of The Athletic and Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch, the unofficial poll surveys 28 writers from around the league (two from each Big Ten beat) to get their full predicted order of finish for the league, preseason all-league team, preseason player of the year and preseason freshman of the year. The Big Ten does not conduct a full preseason media poll on its own.

Here is the full predicted order of finish for the Big Ten from the panel of voters (first place votes in parenthesis):

1. Illinois – 376 (16)
2. Iowa 350 – (6)
3. Wisconsin 347 – (6)
4. Michigan State – 323
5. Rutgers – 249
6. Michigan – 241
7. Ohio State – 229
8. Indiana – 212
9. Purdue – 179
10. Maryland – 141
11. Minnesota – 121
12. Penn State – 72
13. Nebraska – 54
14. Northwestern – 47

(Out of a possible 392 votes)

The highest projected finish for Indiana came from Andy Kostka of The Washington Times, who picked the Hoosiers fifth. Seven panelists picked Indiana to finish ninth.

A complete list of ballots is available here.

Full voting distribution for Indiana (a full listing of the media panel that participated in the poll is available at the bottom of this post):

5th: One vote (Kostka)
6th: Six votes (Giambalvo, Osterman, Jardy, Couch, Leistikow, Werner)
7th: Eight votes (Kratch, Bozich, Snyder, Richey, Basnett, Greenstein, Ryan, Potrykus)
8th: Six votes (Carino, Charboneau, Jones, Polzin, Carmin, Neubert)
9th: Seven votes (Burkhardt, Quinn, Landis, Fuller, Emmert, McKewon, James)

Iowa’s Luka Garza was voted Big Ten preseason player of the year, but it was not unanimous. Ayo Dosunmu of Illinois received four votes for Big Ten preseason player of the year. Adam Miller of Illinois was voted Big Ten preseason freshman of the year by the panel.

Preseason All-Big Ten team

Garza, Iowa (28 – unanimous)
Dosunmu, Illinois (28 – unanimous)
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana (24)
Kofi Cockburn, Illinois (11)
Nate Reuvers, Wisconsin (11)
Franz Wagner, Michigan (11)

Also receiving votes: Marcus Carr, Minnesota (7); Aaron Henry, Michigan State (7); Geo Baker, Rutgers (6); Joey Hauser, Michigan State (2); Joshua Langford, Michigan State (1); Micah Potter, Wisconsin (1); D’Mitrik Trice, Wisconsin (1); Rocket Watts, Michigan State (1); Joe Wieskamp, Iowa (1).

Also receiving votes for Big Ten freshman of the year: Khristian Lander, Indiana (10), Hunter Dickinson, Michigan (4), Zeb Jackson, Michigan (1), Ethan Morton, Purdue (1).

Here is how I voted:

1. Wisconsin
2. Illinois
3. Iowa
4. Michigan State
5. Michigan
6. Rutgers
7. Indiana
8. Ohio State
9. Purdue
10. Minnesota
11. Maryland
12. Penn State
13. Nebraska
14. Northwestern

Big Ten preseason player of the year: Luka Garza, Iowa

This was an easy call. Garza was a national player of the year contender last season and is likely to be an even bigger force as a senior. As good as Dosnumu is, the statistical dominance of Garza is unmatched in the Big Ten.

Big Ten preseason freshman of the year: Hunter Dickinson, Michigan

Opportunity is the key for Dickinson, who should slide right into the role vacated by Jon Teske. I’m not sure the opportunity will be the same for Adam Miller at Illinois or Khristian Lander at Indiana, so I went with Dickinson. Three other voters joined me.

Preseason first team All-Big Ten: Garza, Ayo Dosunmu, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Franz Wagner, Kofi Cockburn

These are the five players I selected in my top five in our offseason exercise with UMHoops where we ranked the Big Ten’s top 25 players.

Here is the complete list of voters (two from each Big Ten beat):

Filed to: 2020-2021 Big Ten preview