After making its first Final Four appearance in 21 years last season, the Illinois Fighting Illini were voted the favorite to win the Big Ten in this year’s SB Nation preseason men’s basketball media poll.
Brad Underwood’s squad finished tied for second in the Big Ten last year with a conference record of 15-5, tying them with Nebraska and Michigan State. All of those teams were behind eventual national champion Michigan, which went 19-1 in the Big Ten last year. The Illini went on to win their first four NCAA Tournament games by
double digits before falling to UConn in the Final Four.
Illinois brings back incumbent starters Andrej Stojakovic and David Mirkovic, and will team them up with former Providence guard Stefan Vaaks (15.8 PPG last season) and five-star freshman Quentin Coleman (No. 18 in 247Sports composite). Illinois earned eight first-place votes.
Michigan State was picked to finish second in the conference and was the only team other than Illinois to receive any first-place votes. The Spartans will be led by senior point guard Jeremy Fears, who had a breakout junior season (15.2 PPG, 9.4 assists per game) that led to him earning First Team All-Big Ten honors last year.
Fears was also voted as the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year by SB Nation’s writers. He earned six out of a possible 11 votes for the award, and was the only unanimous First Team All-Big Ten honoree in this year’s poll.
Despite quite a bit of turnover, including at head coach, the reigning National Champion Michigan Wolverines were picked to finish third in the Big Ten, just behind their rivals from East Lansing. With Dusty May off to the NBA, it’s now former Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton running the show. Boynton does have a few holdovers from last year’s national championship team, with guards Elliot Cadeau, Trey McKenney, and
(apparently) Roddy Gayle Jr. all returning. That should give Boynton one of the better backcourts in the country this year as the Wolverines attempt to defend their Big Ten and national titles.
After the top three, the results were much more scattered – USC, Ohio State, UCLA, Purdue, Nebraska, and Iowa all received at least one vote to finish in the top-four. Ultimately, it was UCLA that rounded out the top-four, getting 154 total points and finishing just ahead of the fifth-place Purdue Boilermakers, which received 150 points.
For the second straight season, Penn State was picked to finish last in the league. The Nittany Lions have a combined Big Ten record of 9-31 over the last two years, and were a near-unanimous pick to finish last, earning eight of the possible 11 last-place votes.
Ohio State was picked to finish eighth in the Big Ten in this year’s poll, which, like Penn State, is a repeat of their projection in last year’s poll. With Bruce Thornton off to the NBA, this season will be a true test of head coach Jake Diebler’s ability to navigate the season without having one of the nation’s premier players orchestrating the offense. Returners John Mobley Jr. and Amare Bynum will pair up with five-star freshman and
McDonald’s All-American Anthony Thompson to create a core that should be more than good enough to get the Buckeyes back into the big dance.
Unlike last year where there was a clear-cut winner in the “Sleeper Team” category, this year’s results were a mixed bag, with three teams tying for this completely subjective (but still fun to ponder) award. USC, Maryland, and Indiana tied for the most votes in this category, which asks writers to choose a team that they think will finish higher than the general public or national media is expecting them to.
All three of these teams missed the NCAA Tournament last season, but there are multiple SB Nation writers who believe that the Trojans, Terrapins, and Hoosiers will bounce back this season. USC was picked to finish seventh in the league but was picked to finish as high as second by one voter. Indiana was picked to finish 10th overall
but did receive one 5th-place vote. Maryland, which finished last season 4-16 in the Big Ten, was picked to finish 12th this year, but was picked to finish sixth on one ballot and seventh on another.
As stated above, Fears was voted First Team All-Big Ten and was the only unanimous selection. He is joined on the First Team by Cadeau, Pryce Sandfort (Nebraska), Stojakovic, and Mirkovic.
Maryland’s Pharrel Payne, who averaged 17.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last season in 10 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury, was voted to the All-Big Ten Second Team. He is joined by McKenney, John Mobley Jr. (Ohio State), Rodney Rice (USC), and Tomislav Ivisic (Illinois).
Ohio State’s Anthony Thompson, the No. 9 player in the 2026 recruiting class according to the 247Sports composite rankings, was voted preseason Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The only other freshman to receive multiple votes was UCLA’s Nikola Kusturica, who joined the Bruins program late in the recruiting cycle in mid-July.
Indiana’s Markus Burton (formerly Notre Dame) and UCLA Jaylen Petty (formerly Texas Tech) tied in voting for Big Ten Transfer of the Year. The vote was spread among several different players, with Burton and Petty each receiving three votes.
The SB Nation Big Ten preseason media poll featured writers from nine SB Nation College sites, one 247Sports site, and one team site that falls under the FanSided umbrella. Voting took place from September 29 to October 13.
Full results of the preseason poll are below, as well as links to the 11 team sites that participated in this year’s poll.
As always, thanks to all who took the time to contribute to this fun pre-season project.
Projected Big Ten Standings
(First-place votes in parentheses)
- Illinois, 195 (8)
- Michigan State, 183 (3)
- Michigan, 168
- UCLA, 154
- Purdue, 150
- Nebraska, 134
- USC, 130
- Ohio State, 123
- Iowa, 112
- Indiana, 109
- Wisconsin, 101
- Maryland, 84
- Oregon, 61
- Minnesota, 57
- Washington, 45
- Northwestern, 36
- Rutgers, 34
- Penn State, 15
Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year
Jeremy Fears, Michigan State (6)
Also receiving votes: Andrej Stojakovic, Illinois (3); David Mirkovic, Illinois (2)
Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Anthony Thompson, Ohio State (6)
Also receiving votes: Nikola Kusturica, UCLA (3); Jasiah Jervis, Michigan State (1);
Tajh Ariza, Oregon (1)
Big Ten Transfer of the Year
Markus Burton, Indiana & Jaylen Petty, UCLA (3) – TIE
Also receiving votes: Stefan Vaaks, Illinois (2); Aiden Sherrell, Indiana (1); KJ Lewis, USC (1); JP Estrella, Michigan (1)
“Sleeper” Big Ten Team
Indiana Hoosiers, Maryland Terrapins, & USC Trojans (2) – TIE
Also receiving votes: Iowa, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota, UCLA
First Team All-Big Ten
(Bold = unanimous selection)
Jeremy Fears, Michigan State
Elliot Cadeau, Michigan
Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska
Andrej Stojakovic, Illinois
David Mirkovic, Illinois
Second Team All-Big Ten
Trey McKenney, Michigan
John Mobley Jr., Ohio State
Rodney Rice, USC
Pharrel Payne, Maryland
Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois
Also receiving votes/Honorable Mention
Nikola Kusturica (UCLA), Stefan Vaaks (Illinois), Nolan Winter (Wisconsin), Aiden Sherrell (Indiana), Markus Burton (Indiana), Coen Carr (Michigan State), CJ Cox (Purdue), Jacob Cofie (USC), Anthony Thompson (Ohio State), Jaylen Petty (UCLA), Trent Perry (UCLA), JP Estrella (Michigan), Tariq Francis (Rutgers), Cam Ward (Michigan State), Amare Bynum (Ohio State), Caden Pierce (Purdue), Tajh Ariza (Oregon), Nick Martinelli (Los Angeles Clippers), Samet Yigitoglu (Indiana), Cooper Koch (Iowa), Jake West (Northwestern)
Participants:
Adam Sutro, Inside NU
Nolan Rogalski, Testudo Times
Connor Lemons, Land-Grant Holy Land
Max Vrooman, UW Dawg Pound
Connor Morrissette, Bruin247
Oren Basse, The Only Colors
Kellen Voss, Maize N Brew
Rees Woodcock, Writing Illini
Jarek Shearer, Corn Nation
Harrison Starr, Black Heart Gold Pants
Adam Holland, Addicted to Quack