Huskers Picked #14 in Big Ten Preseason MBB Media Poll

[Alum-Ni]

https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/college/basketball/2025/10/08/purdue-braden-smith-class-of-big-ten-in-preseason-poll-ohio-state-ninth/86573505007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z117555p119550c119550e000800v117555b0055xxd005565&gca-ft=32&gca-ds=sophi&sltsgmt=0154_B

Like football, the Big Ten media conduct a preseason poll for men's basketball. The results

Big Ten Preseason Media MBB Poll
1. Purdue (25) - 501 pts
2. Michigan (3) - 472
3. UCLA - 417
4. Illinois - 411
5. Oregon - 368
6. Michigan State - 360
7. Wisconsin - 328
8. Cockeye - 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

Preseason Player of the Year
Braden Smith, Purdue (23)
Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue (3)

Freshman of the Year
Kayden Mingo, Penn State (6)
Trey McKenney, Michigan (5)
Hannes Steinbach, Washington (5)
Darius Adams, Maryland (3)
Omer Mayer, Purdue (3)
Cam Ward, Michigan State (3)
Alijah Arenas, USC (1),
Amare Bynum, Ohio State (1)
Mihailo Petrovic, Illinois (1)

Transfer of the Year
Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan (11)
Bennett Stirtz, Cockeye (9)
Donovan Dent, UCLA (8)

Preseason All Big Ten - First Team
Braden Smith, Purdue (56)
Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue (55)
Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan (51)
Donovan Dent, UCLA (43)
Bennett Stirtz, Cockeye (42)

Preseason All Big Ten - Second Team
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State (38)
Nick Martinelli, Northwestern (32)
Nate Bittle, Oregon (24)
John Blackwell, Wisconsin (24)
Jackson Shelstad, Oregon (14)

Preseason All-Big Ten (Also Receiving Votes)
Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois (8)
Andrej Stokaovic, Illinois (7)
Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA (6)
Tucker DeVries, Indiana (6)
Rienk Mast, Nebraska (2)
Coen Carr, Michigan State (2)
Oscar Cluff, Purdue (2)
Quimari Peterson, Washington (2)
Desmond Claude, Washington (1)
Morez Johnson, Michigan (1)
Jaxon Kohler, Michigan State (1)
Fletcher Loyer, Purdue (1)
Pharrel Payne, Maryland (1)
Devin Royal, Ohio State (1)
Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana (1)
Wesley Yates III, Washington (1)

 

[Jim14510]

Oh...14th in the B1G. I missed that at first glance.

 

[Frogsker30]

They don’t know ball

 

[Pepe Silvia]

This poll is clearly racist

 

[BushAK]

Looks like 14 Big Ten teams are making the dance

 

[iruletheskool]

Time to shock the world

 

[maoskers11]

What’s the reasoning behind the higher expectations this year? I understand the depth appears to be there this year, but do we have a 1-2 punch like Gary-Williams? Am I missing something?

 

[cwessel76]

This poll is clearly racist

^We need more guys like this

 

[Baron Winnebago]

What’s the reasoning behind the higher expectations this year? I understand the depth appears to be there this year, but do we have a 1-2 punch like Gary-Williams? Am I missing something?

I'll take a stab at it both for and against.

For:
1. We're at Full Mast again and Rienk was an all conference level player last time he played. Obviously he creates a ton of match up problems for defenses given his ability to stretch the floor and facilitate.
2. Size and length. Of the likely rotation, 6 (Mast, Berke, Frager, Sandfort, Blue, and Oogie) are 6'6" or taller. Garcia, Curtis, and Rhymes who are outside looking in, probably, are also 6'6" or taller. What they may lack in aggressive on ball defenders they'll make up for with length to get into passing lanes and contest.
3. Shooting. This should be the best shooting Nebraska team in a long while.
4. Experience. This team is old again and they've played a lot of ball.

Against
1. Defense. Length is mentioned above, but who are the above average to good on ball defenders? Who is going to protect the rim? Not clear at all and could well be that the rims at PBA get record amounts of work.
2. Shot creation. Seriously, who on this team can create their own shot off the bounce? End of the shot clock, who is going to be the guy? I have no idea.
3. Athleticism. We watched TAMU blow us off the floor in the Dance two years ago because they had high level athletes and I honestly can't think of a single guy on this roster who is a plus athleticism guy

 

[cwessel76]

I'll take a stab at it both for and against.

For:
1. We're at Full Mast again and Rienk was an all conference level player last time he played. Obviously he creates a ton of match up problems for defenses given his ability to stretch the floor and facilitate.
2. Size and length. Of the likely rotation, 6 (Mast, Berke, Frager, Sandfort, Blue, and Oogie) are 6'6" or taller. Garcia, Curtis, and Rhymes who are outside looking in, probably, are also 6'6" or taller. What they may lack in aggressive on ball defenders they'll make up for with length to get into passing lanes and contest.
3. Shooting. This should be the best shooting Nebraska team in a long while.
4. Experience. This team is old again and they've played a lot of ball.

Against
1. Defense. Length is mentioned above, but who are the above average to good on ball defenders? Who is going to protect the rim? Not clear at all and could well be that the rims at PBA get record amounts of work.
2. Shot creation. Seriously, who on this team can create their own shot off the bounce? End of the shot clock, who is going to be the guy? I have no idea.
3. Athleticism. We watched TAMU blow us off the floor in the Dance two years ago because they had high level athletes and I honestly can't think of a single guy on this roster who is a plus athleticism guy

I was at our game against TAMU and we looked like we were playing with peanut butter on the soles of our shoes.

 

[V-Doub]

Oh no…

 

[Scarlet ObsessioN]

They’ve missed on the Skers for a couple years now. Give me a top 10 finish.