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UCLA picked to finish 3rd in Big Ten men’s hoops poll

by: Tracy McDannald10/09/25Tracy_McDannald
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Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

UCLA is projected to find slightly more success than it did last year.

The Bruins were picked to finish third in the Big Ten men’s basketball preseason media poll announced Thursday at the conference’s media day in Rosemont, Ill.

Purdue, led by reigning player of the year Braden Smith, picked up 25 of 28 first-place votes to top the poll. Michigan picked up the remaining three votes.

Last season, UCLA won the three-way tiebreaker for fourth place after winning 13 league contests as part of a 23-11 overall record.

UCLA outlook

This year, head coach Mick Cronin is leaning on preseason all-league point guard and New Mexico transfer Donovan Dent to lead a team that returns three starters.

Guard Skyy Clark, wing Eric Dailey Jr. and forward Tyler Bilodeau will all shift into slightly different roles. Dent’s presence is expected to move Clark off the ball a bit more after sharing duties with now-departed point guard Dylan Andrews.

Dailey is expected to play more small forward and Bilodeau should see more minutes at his natural power forward after both started in an undersized frontcourt.

Also projected to see more minutes is sophomore guard Trent Perry, who will be called upon to make up for the transfer of scoring dynamo Sebastian Mack.

Another expected to challenge for major minutes is fifth-year senior transfer guard Jamar Brown, a prolific 3-point shooter who spent the past two seasons at Missouri-Kansas City.

Among the questions for the Bruins is the center position after both Aday Mara, now at Michigan, and William Kyle III transferred out. Cronin brought in Michigan State transfer Xavier Booker, an underachieving ex-five-star big man more known for his 3-point touch, but expected to play more inside. Defensively, UCLA shored up the frontcourt with shot-blocking San Diego transfer Steven Jamerson II, who is limited offensively.

Rest of the Big Ten poll

The top half of the Big Ten poll was rounded out by Illinois, Oregon, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State. The 10th through 18th slots were occupied by Indiana, Washington, USC, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Minnesota, Rutgers and Penn State.

Last season, the Spartans won the regular-season league title by three games. The Wolverines won the Big Ten tournament championship.

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