Indiana picked to win the Big Ten by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook

  • 09/06/2024 7:58 am in

The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, an annual publication previewing the college basketball season since the early 1980s, was released this week in a digital format.

Printed copies will be available later this month.

After being picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten last season, Blue Ribbon projects the Hoosiers to win the Big Ten this season. Blue Ribbon also ranked Indiana No. 14 in its preseason top 25.

The other Big Ten programs in the Blue Ribbon preseason top 25: Illinois (No. 17) and Purdue (No. 22).

Here are some notes on Indiana, the Big Ten at large and more from the Blue Ribbon Yearbook:

• Blue Ribbon predicts the order of finish in the Big Ten as follows: Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan State, Oregon, USC, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Maryland, Northwestern, Rutgers, Iowa, Penn State and Minnesota

• Purdue’s Braden Smith is the Blue Ribbon pick for Big Ten player of the year.

• Indiana’s Oumar Ballo, a transfer from Arizona, is the Blue Ribbon pick for Big Ten newcomer of the year.

• The preseason Big Ten all-conference team selected by Blue Ribbon is Smith, Ballo, Minnesota’s Dawson Garcia, Washington’s Great Osobor and Iowa’s Payton Sandfort.

• The top three Big Ten backcourts are Purdue, Illinois and UCLA.

• The top three Big Ten frontcourts are Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan.

• Alabama’s Mark Sears is Blue Ribbon’s pick for national player of the year and Duke’s Cooper Flagg is the pick for newcomer of the year.

• Here are the Blue Ribbon preseason All-American teams:

First team: Sears, Arizona’s Caleb Love, North Carolina’s RJ Davis, UConn’s Alex Karaban and Hunter Dickinson of Kansas.

Second team: Auburn’s Johni Broome, Flagg, Wade Taylor IV of Texas A&M, Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler and Smith.

Third team: Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, Gonzaga’s Graham Ike, Robbie Avila of Saint Louis, Houston’s J’Wan Roberts and Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey.

Fourth team: Ballo, Osobor, UAB’s Yaxel Lendeborg, Hunter Sallis of Wake Forest and Houston’s LJ Cryer.

The Blue Ribbon college basketball yearbook is available to purchase here.

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