{"id":221522,"date":"2025-10-13T12:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/221522\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T12:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:57:09","slug":"what-theyre-saying-preseason-publications-weigh-in-on-2025-26-big-ten-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/221522\/","title":{"rendered":"What They\u2019re Saying: Preseason publications weigh in on 2025-26 Big Ten outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The 2025-26 college basketball season is around the corner. Preseason magazines are hitting newsstands, KenPom\u2019s ratings have been released, and the official unofficial Big Ten poll hit the internet.<\/p>\n

With the season so close, we rounded up Big Ten projections from nine different sources to gauge the temperature of the Big Ten.<\/p>\n

Michigan was picked second in the media poll, and comes in second in this exercise, ranked as high as 1st in the conference (Torvik) or as low as 4th (KenPom).<\/p>\n

Our aggregate rankings include the following sources:<\/p>\n

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Most All-Big Ten lists centered around Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Yaxel Lendeborg, Donovan Dent and Bennett Stirtz as the First Team All-Conference projection.<\/p>\n

In the middle of the league, there\u2019s significant disagreement, with eight teams receiving a pick as high as 5th and as low as 9th. There\u2019s at least a six-pick range for Oregon, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Iowa, Indiana, USC, and Washington.<\/p>\n

Iowa and Washington both had the broadest range of outcomes among prognosticators. The Hawkeyes were picked as high as 4th (The Athletic) and as low as 13th (KenPom), while Washington\u2019s range was from 5th (The Athletic) to 14th (Torvik, HUMAN).<\/p>\n

Only five teams in the league were picked in the top ten from every source: Purdue, Michigan, Illinois, UCLA, and Michigan State.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a rundown of key takeaways from the preseason publications:<\/p>\n

Blue Ribbon<\/p>\n

Blue Ribbon predicts the order of finish in the Big Ten as follows: Purdue, Michigan, UCLA, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oregon, Iowa, Michigan State,\u00a0Indiana, Washington, Ohio State, USC, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Minnesota, Rutgers and Penn State.
\nPurdue\u2019s Braden Smith is the Blue Ribbon pick for Big Ten and national player of the year.
\nThe preseason Big Ten all-conference team selected by Blue Ribbon is Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Donovan Dent, Yaxel Lendeborg and Bennett Stirtz.
\nThe top three Big Ten backcourts are Purdue, UCLA and Wisconsin.
\nThe top three Big Ten frontcourts are Michigan, Purdue and Oregon.
\nYaxel Lendeborg is projected as a First Team All-American along with Smith, Tahaad Pettiford, Alex Condon, and JT Toppin.<\/p>\n

KenPom<\/p>\n

KenPom, like Torvik, rates USC higher than most human prognosticators. KenPom\u2019s metrics had USC ranked 6th, while they were only 12th in the Big Ten poll and 11th in overall ranking.
\nKenPom ranks Michigan lower, placing the Wolverines 4th in the league \u2014 behind UCLA and Illinois \u2014 compared to most other projections.
\nPomeroy did add a coaching component to the model<\/a>, which rates May favorably.<\/p>\n

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Lindy\u2019s<\/p>\n

Lindy\u2019s picked Purdue to win the Big Ten, followed by Michigan, UCLA, Oregon, Illinois, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Indiana, Washington, Maryland, USC, Nebraska, Northwestern, Minnesota, Rutgers and Penn State.
\nNine Big Ten teams are ranked in the Lindy\u2019s preseason 40, which is topped by No. 1 Houston: Purdue (No. 2), Michigan (No. 4), UCLA (No. 16), Oregon (No. 17), Illinois (No. 23), Michigan State (No. 25), Iowa (No. 31), Wisconsin (No. 33) and Ohio State (No. 38).
\nFour Big Ten players earned Lindy\u2019s preseason All-American honors. Purdue\u2019s Braden Smith and Michigan\u2019s Yaxel Lendeborg earned first team honors, UCLA\u2019s Donovan Dent is second team and Iowa\u2019s Bennett Stirtz is third team.
\nLendeborg is ranked No. 2 on Lindy\u2019s top 150 players list.<\/p>\n

Basket Under Review<\/p>\n

Basket Under Review (powered by the Three Man Weave) slots Michigan second, but in Tier 2 along with UCLA and Illinois.
\nYaxel Lendeborg is picked as Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, voted on the Big Ten First Team and All-Newcomer team.
\nThe All-Newcomers team features Lendeborg, Donovan Dent, Bennett Stirtz, Chad Baker-Mazara and Tucker DeVries.
\nThe B.U.R. All-Big Ten teams are:<\/p>\n

First Team: Smith, Dent, Stirtz, Lendeborg, Kaufman-Renn
\nSecond Team: Blackwell, Martinelli, DeVries, Ivisic, Bittle
\nThird Team: Thornton, Boswell, Baker-Mazara, Yates, Mast<\/p>\n

The Athletic<\/p>\n

Michigan is in a \u201ctitle contenders\u201d tier with Purdue. Moore writes<\/a>: \u201cA bet on talent and outside-the-box roster building. Last year, it was a question of whether May could play two 7-footers together, but the Wolf\/Goldin frontcourt became one of the best in college basketball. This season, May might try to prove he can play a frontcourt that goes 6-foot-9, 6-foot-9, 7-foot-3. May employs lots of switching defensively and could come up with a scheme that makes this work and keeps Mara in the paint.\u201d<\/p>\n

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