IU basketball picked to finish 10th in the Big Ten in “official unofficial” media poll

IU basketball's Lamar Wilkerson attempts a shot in a scrimmage.

Big Ten media day for men’s basketball takes place Thursday in Chicago and the annual “official unofficial” Big Ten preseason media poll was released this morning.

The poll surveyed 28 writers from around the conference to get their predicted order of finish for the league.

The panel is also asked to select a preseason player of the year, as well as all-league first and second teams, freshman of the year and transfer of the year.

The poll is organized by Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch and Zach Osterman of The Indianapolis Star. The Big Ten does not conduct a full preseason media poll for men’s basketball.

Here are the full results:

Predicted order of finish for the Big Ten (first-place votes in parentheses)

1. Purdue, 501 (25)
2. Michigan, 472 (3)
3. UCLA, 417
4. Illinois, 411
5. Oregon, 338
6. Michigan State, 360
7. Wisconsin, 328
8. Iowa, 278
9. Ohio State, 272
10. Indiana, 245
11. Washington, 239
12. USC, 227
13. Maryland, 210
14. Nebraska, 149
15. Northwestern, 119
16. Minnesota, 95
17. Rutgers, 54
18. Penn State, 43

(Out of a possible 504 points.)

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

4th: Solari, Greder
7th: Sauber, Fonseca
8th: Osterman, Helwagen
9th: Tachman, Couch
10th: Werner, Bozich, Stevens, Gerbo, Hansen, Baird, McCleary
11th: Richey, Leistikow, Moore, Jardy, Woods, Steppe
12th: Burkhardt, Carino
13th: Neubert, Allen
14th: Quinn
15th: Washut
16th: James

Preseason Big Ten player, freshman and transfer of the year

Purdue’s Braden Smith was voted Big Ten preseason player of the year, receiving a total of 23 of the available 28 votes.

Smith’s teammate, Trey Kaufman-Renn, received three votes and Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg and UCLA’s Donovan Dent received one vote each.

Kayden Mingo of Penn State was voted Big Ten preseason freshman of the year with six votes. Michigan’s Trey McKenney and Washington’s Hannes Steinbach received five votes each. Maryland’s Darius Adams, Purdue’s Omer Mayer and Michigan State’s Cam Ward received three votes each. USC’s Alijah Arenas, Ohio State’s Amare Bynum and Mihailo Petrovic of Illinois each received one vote.

Lendeborg was voted Big Ten preseason transfer of the year, receiving 11 votes. Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz received nine votes and Dent received eight votes.

Preseason All-Big Ten teams

Players received two points for a first-team vote and one point for a second-team vote.

First team

Braden Smith, Purdue (56)
Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue (55)
Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan (51)
Donovan Dent, UCLA (43)
Bennett Stirtz, Iowa (42)

Second team

Bruce Thornton, Ohio State (38)
Nick Martinelli, Northwestern (32)
Nate Bittle, Oregon (24)
John Blackwell, Wisconsin (24)
Jackson Shelstad, Oregon (14)

Others receiving votes: Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois (8); Andrej Stokaovic, Illinois (7); Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA; Tucker DeVries, Indiana (6); Coen Carr, Michigan State; Oscar Cluff, Purdue; Rienk Mast, Nebraska; Quimari Peterson, Washington (2); Desmond Claude, Washington; Morez Johnson, Michigan; Jaxon Kohler, Michigan State; Fletcher Loyer, Purdue; Pharrel Payne, Minnesota; Devin Royal, Ohio State; Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana; Wesley Yates III, Washington (1).

How Alex Bozich of Inside the Hall voted

1. Purdue
2. Michigan
3. UCLA
4. Wisconsin
5. Oregon
6. Michigan State
7. Illinois
8. Washington
9. Iowa
10. Indiana
11. USC
12. Maryland
13. Ohio State
14. Northwestern
15. Nebraska
16. Minnesota
17. Penn State
18. Rutgers

All Big Ten first team:

Braden Smith, Purdue; Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue; Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan; Bennett Stirtz, Iowa; Donovan Dent, UCLA

All Big Ten second team:

Nick Martinelli, Northwestern; John Blackwell, Wisconsin; Jackson Shelstad, Oregon; Bruce Thornton, Ohio State; Nate Bittle, Oregon

Player of the year: Braden Smith, Purdue
Freshman of the year: Kayden Mingo, Penn State
Transfer of the year: Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan

Voting panel

There were no voters from publications covering Northwestern or USC. Oregon, Penn State, UCLA and Washington had one vote from a beat writer.

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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