Big Ten Weekly Men’s Basketball Central – November 3-10

Big Ten. Big News.

• The Big Ten will open its 121st season tonight, as 13 teams take the court, with the five remaining teams opening play on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• The Big Ten welcomes four new coaches for the 2025-26 season. Indiana’s Darian DeVries, Iowa’s Ben McCollum, Maryland’s Buzz Williams, and Minnesota’s Niko Medved will begin their first seasons with their respective schools. On the other side of the spectrum, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo will begin his 31st season with the Spartans, while Matt Painter and Dana Altman will begin their 20th and 16th seasons, at Purdue and Oregon, respectively.
• The Big Ten is well represented in the preseason AP and USA Today Coaches’ Polls with 12 teams earning recognition in one or both polls. Purdue leads the way, as the Boilermakers will open the season ranked No. 1 on both polls for the first time in program history. Michigan and UCLA are ranked Nos. 7 and 12 in both polls, while Illinois sits at No. 17 in the AP poll and No. 14 according to the coaches. Michigan State opened the season at No. 22 on the AP poll and No. 21 on the USA Today listing, while both polls include Wisconsin at No. 24. Indiana, Iowa, Oregon, Ohio State, USC, and Washington also received votes in one or both polls.
• Five Big Ten players, Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith, and UCLA’s Donovan Dent were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Preseason Player of the Year Watch, with Lendeborg and Smith also named to the AP Preseason All-America Team. The quintet was also among the 13 players named to the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year Watch List. Also on the preseason watch list are Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic and Andrej Stojakovic, Indiana’s Tucker DeVries, Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli, Oregon’s Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad, Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, and Wisconsin’s John Blackwell.
• The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame recently announced the preseason watch lists for its national player of the year awards at the five traditional court positions. Twenty-six student-athletes from 15 different Big Ten schools were named to the preseason watch lists at all five positions. A complete list of honors can be found on Page 2.
• For the eighth consecutive year, each Big Ten Conference member institution will compete in a 20-game conference schedule. The Big Ten Conference season will begin with three games on Tuesday, Dec. 2, with a total of 18 conference games being played between Dec. 2-13 before conference play breaks until 2026. Following the holiday break, Big Ten action will resume on Friday, Jan. 2 with three games. During the conference season, each member institution will play a 20-game league schedule, facing three schools both home and away, while meeting 14 teams once. Of the single-play opponents, member institutions will play seven at home and seven on the road.
• The 29th annual TIAA Big Ten Tournament will be played at the United Center in Chicago, March 10th – 15th, 2026. For the first time, all 18 Big Ten teams will compete for the tournament title. The tournament will open with a pair of games on Tuesday, March 10 and culminate with championship on Sunday March 15.
• For the second consecutive year, Purdue’s Braden Smith has been named the 2025-26 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, as chosen by a select media panel. The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and consensus First Team All-American, Smith averaged 15.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4.5 rebounds a season ago before being named the recipient of the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation’s top point guard by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In addition to setting a Big Ten record with 175 assists in conference play, Smith became the only player in NCAA history to amass at least 550 points, 300 assists, 150 rebounds, and 75 steals in a season.
• The media panel also selected a 10-member Preseason All-Big Ten Team. Eight of the Big Ten’s 18 teams are represented on the team, with Smith the lone unanimous selection. The Purdue guard is joined by teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn, Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendenborg, Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli, Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, Oregon duo Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad, UCLA’s Donovan Dent, and Wisconsin’s John Blackwell.
• Michigan State won its final seven conference games to close the 2024-25 Big Ten slate with a 17-3 record to win its 17th Big Ten title, including 11 under head coach Tom Izzo, tied for the most under any coach in Big Ten history. Michigan State’s 17 Big Ten wins are the most in program history and tied with three other teams for most in conference history.
• Michigan claimed its third Big Ten Tournament title with a 59-53 win over No. 5 seed Wisconsin in March at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Michigan trailed by as many as 11 points with 13:11 to play but closed the game on an 11-2 run over the final 3:55. The Wolverines’ Vladislav Goldin was named Jim and Kitty Delaney Most Outstanding Player and was joined by teammate Danny Wolf, Maryland’s Derik Queen and Wisconsin’s John Blackwell and John Tonje on the All-Tournament Team.