Purdue, Zach Edey take top spot in annual preseason Big Ten basketball media poll
The Big Ten men's championship team and most valuable player from a season ago have been voted as the favorites to do it again this season.
In the seventh annual unofficial official media poll conducted jointly by The Columbus Dispatch and The Athletic, Purdue received 24 of 28 first-place votes and sit atop the preseason poll after going 15-5 in league play last season and winning the conference outright by three games. And a primary reason why the Boilermakers were so dominant within the league was the play of national player of the year Zach Edey, who returns for his fourth season.
Edey received all but one vote for Big Ten preseason player of the year from the panel, which is composed of two beat writers from each team in the league. After averaging 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks while shooting 60.7% from the floor, Edey opted to return for his fourth season of college basketball after also being named Big Ten player of the year last season.
The 7-4 center was the only unanimous first-team all-Big Ten preseason selection as well.
Michigan State grabbed the other four first-place votes to finish second in the poll with 368 points, 20 fewer than Purdue. Maryland (304) and Illinois (301) are next, with Wisconsin (276) rounding out the top five. The Spartans return eight key contributors from a team that went 11-8 in league play last season, earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and fell in overtime to Kansas State in the Sweet 16. It was the deepest tournament run for the Big Ten. Tyson Walker received the lone non-Edey vote for player of the year and was also named first-team all-league.
No team had a wider swing of projected outcomes than Ohio State, which went 5-15 in Big Ten play last season to finish second-to-last in the standings. The Buckeyes received 228 points in the voting, good for seventh place, but were picked to finish as high as third and as low as 13th.
Indiana, which was picked to win last year's poll, received 244 votes to finish sixth in this year's predictions.
Indiana’s Mackenzie Mgbako, a five-star power forward prospect in the 247Sports.com rankings, was voted freshman of the year. He received 19 votes, ahead of Maryland’s DeShawn Harris-Smith, who got five.
Penn State’s Ace Baldwin was voted preseason transfer of the year after following coach Mike Rhoades from VCU. Baldwin averaged 12.7 points, 5.8 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 steals in his third season for the Rams.
Edey and Walker are joined on the first team by Maryland’s Jahmir Young and Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr., both of whom came up one first-team vote short of being unanimous picks, and Northwestern’s Boo Buie.
Rutgers’ Clifford Omoruyi received the most points among second-team selections. He is joined by Michigan State’s A.J. Hoggard, Baldwin, Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga and Illinois’ Coleman Hawkins.
Ohio State sophomore guard Bruce Thornton came one point shy of tying Hawkins for the final all-conference spot.
The Buckeyes had several players receive consideration for preseason awards. Jamison Battle received four votes for transfer of the year, Scotty Middleton received one vote for freshman of the year, Zed Key received four points in balloting for all-conference and Battle received two.
Here are the full results of the voting.
Results:
Purdue, 388 (24)
Michigan State, 368 (4)
Maryland, 304
Illinois, 301
Wisconsin, 276
Indiana, 244
Ohio State, 228
Northwestern, 195
Iowa, 164
Rutgers, 147
Michigan, 131
Nebraska, 90
Penn State, 71
Minnesota, 33
Player of the year
Zach Edey, Purdue (27)Also receiving votes: Tyson Walker, Michigan State (1)
Freshman of the year
Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana (19)Also receiving votes: DeShawn Harris-Smith, Maryland (5); Xavier Booker, Michigan State (2); Myles Colvin, Purdue, and Scotty Middleton, Ohio State (1)
Transfer of the year
Ace Baldwin, Penn State (14)Also receiving votes: Olivier Nkamhoua, Michigan (6); Jamison Battle, Ohio State (4); Kel'el Ware, Indiana, and AJ Storr, Wisconsin (2)
First team
Zach Edey, Purdue 56Jahmir Young, Maryland 55Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois 55Tyson Walker, Michigan State 46Boo Buie, Northwestern 45
Second team
Clifford Omoruyi, Rutgers 36A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State 26Ace Baldwin, Penn State 11Keisei Tominaga, Nebraska 11Coleman Hawkins, Illinois 8
Also receiving votes
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State 7; Julian Reese, Maryland 6; Steven Crowl, Wisconsin, Dawson Garcia, Minnesota, Braden Smith, Purdue, 5; Chucky Hepburn, Wisconsin, Xavier Johnson, Indiana, Zed Key, Ohio State, Mackenzie Mgbako, Indiana, Payton Sandfort, Iowa, 4; Jaden Akins, Michigan State, Connor Essegian, Wisconsin, Olivier Nkamhoua, Michigan, Tony Perkins, Iowa, 3; Jamison Battle, Ohio State, Fletcher Loyer, Purdue, AJ Storr, Wisconsin, Tyler Wahl, Wisconsin, 2; Malik Hall, Michigan State, Ben Krikke, Iowa, Donta Scott, Maryland, Kel’el Ware, Indiana 1
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Zach Edey, Purdue take top spot in preseason Big Ten basketball poll
