Indiana picked to finish 7th in Big Ten in “official unofficial” media poll

Big Ten media days are this Thursday and Friday in Indianapolis and the annual “official unofficial” Big Ten preseason media poll was released this morning.

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 poll is organized by Brendan Quinn of The Athletic and Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch. The Big Ten does not conduct a full preseason media poll on its own.

You can view the complete Big Ten media poll results at this link.

Full predicted order of finish for the Big Ten (first place votes in parenthesis)

1. Michigan, 373 (13)
2. Purdue, 373 (12)
3. Illinois, 320 (3)
4. Ohio State, 316
5. Maryland, 269
6. Michigan State, 262
7. Indiana, 219
8. Rutgers, 208
9. Iowa, 150
10. Wisconsin, 149
11. Nebraska, 105
T-12. Northwestern, 81
T-12. Penn State, 81
14. Minnesota, 34

(Out of a possible 392 votes)

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: Couch, Fuller, Leistikow, Richey, Watkins
6th: Osterman, Warner, James
7th: Giambalvo, B. Jones, Quinn, Jardy, Charboneau, Schnable, Andres
8th: Bozich, D. Jones, Burkhardt, Landis, Basnett, Brockway, Neubert, Smith, Potrykus
9th: McFadden, Kratch, Greenberg
10th: Carino

Preseason Big Ten player, freshman of the year

Kofi Cockburn of Illinois was voted Big Ten preseason player of the year, but it was not unanimous. Jaden Ivey of Purdue received four votes, E.J. Liddell of Ohio State received four votes, Hunter Dickinson of Michigan received three votes, Trayce Jackson-Davis of Indiana received three votes and Trevion Williams of Purdue received two votes.

Michigan’s Caleb Houstan was voted Big Ten freshman of the year and received 20 votes. Max Christie of Michigan State received seven votes and Bryce McGowens of Nebraska received one vote.

Preseason All-Big Ten team

Kofi Cockburn, Illinois (27)
E.J. Liddell, Ohio State (26)
Hunter Dickinson, Michigan (25)
Jaden Ivey, Purdue (21)
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana (20)

Also receiving votes: Trevion Williams, Purdue (10), Eric Ayala, Maryland (4), Andre Curbelo, Illinois (2), DeVante’ Jones, Michigan (2), Geo Baker, Rutgers (1), Ron Harper Jr., Rutgers (1), Caleb Houstan, Michigan (1)

How Alex Bozich of Inside the Hall voted

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

Preseason player of the year: Kofi Cockburn, Illinois
Preseason freshman of the year: Caleb Houstan, Michigan
Preseason first team all-league: Cockburn, Hunter Dickinson, EJ Liddell, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jaden Ivey

Complete list of voters (two from each Big Ten beat)

Filed to: 2021-2022 Big Ten preview