The 2024-25 college basketball season is just over a month away, and that means preseason predictions and accolades are starting to trickle out before the Nov. 4 start date. Purdue was tabbed to win the Big Ten and received 20 first-place votes in the annual media poll conducted by The Columbus Dispatch and Indianapolis Star.
Purdue was one of seven Big Ten programs to receive a first-place vote in the poll, with Indiana, UCLA, Illinois, Michigan State, and Ohio State all receiving at least one first-place vote from the panel of 33 beat writers who cover teams in the conference.
Indiana was tabbed to finish second in the preseason poll, followed by UCLA, Illinois and Michigan State to round out the top five. The Hoisers missed out on the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the Mike Woodson era, and reloaded in the transfer portal by adding Oumar Ballo (Arizona), Myles Rice (Washington State), Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford) and Luke Goode (Illinois) to bolster their roster.
The Big Ten will look significantly different with Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington joining the conference from the Pac-12 to swell league membership to 18. Because of conference realignment and expansion, the Big Ten Tournament will look different, with the bottom three in from the regular-season standings left out of the 15-team bracket.
Here is the full poll, followed by overrated/underrated observations from the predicted order of finish.
Big Ten Preseason Media Poll
Overrated: Purdue
Predicted finish: 1
The Big Ten is wide open, so Purdue is the natural target for the first overrated team because of where they were picked. The Boilermakers won the Big Ten regular-season…
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