Preseason All-Big Ten Team, Player of the Year revealed

College basketball season is less than a month away. On Tuesday, the Big Ten released its preseason all-conference team, along with the preseason Player of the Year.

In no surprise, Purdue’s Braden Smith took home the latter honor. Smith averaged 15.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game last season, while shooting 42.8% from the field and 38.1% from beyond the arc.

After rumor transfers circulated about Smith this offseason, the All-American guard opted to return to Purdue. However, there are several other transfers who reeled in preseason honors. Look below to see the complete preseason All-Big Ten team.

G Bennett Stirtz, Iowa
F Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
F Nick Martinelli, Northwestern
G Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
F Nate Bittle, Oregon
G Jackson Shelstad, Oregon
F Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue
G Braden Smith, Purdue
G Donovan Dent, UCLA
G John Blackwell, Wisconsin

Yaxel Lendeborg was the No. 1 transfer in On3’s 2025 Transfer Portal Player Rankings. Lendeborg spent two seasons at UAB, where he averaged 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.7 assists per game last season.

Moreover, Lendeborg was efficient, shooting 52.2% from the field and 35.7% from beyond the arc. For his efforts, he was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Year and an All-AAC First-Team selection for the second consecutive season.

Lendeborg’s 420 rebounds last season are the most in UAB and AAC history. He isn’t the only transfer who will receive plenty of attention this winter. UCLA’s Donovan Dent earned Mountain West Player of the Year honors at New Mexico last season.

He 20.4 points, 6.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game, while knocking down over 40% of his 3-point attempts. Dent chose to transfer to UCLA this offseason over numerous blue-chip programs, including Duke, Gonzaga and Kentucky.

Michigan State didn’t have any players named on the preseason All-Big Ten team despite winning the regular-season conference title last season. In fairness, MSU numerous key players such as Jase Richardson and Tre Holloway to either the NBA Draft or transfer portal, respectively.

Maryland is starting from scratch as well this year. After reaching the Sweet Sixteen last year, the Terrapins lost head coach Kevin Willard to Villanova. Maryland hired former Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams to replace him, but could experience growing pains in Williams’ first year at the helm.

With several teams expected to be in the preseason AP Top 25, Big Ten fans have an entertaining season ahead. Of course, those teams are only as good as their best players.