Big Ten Basketball 2024 Preseason Team: Purdue’s Braden Smith named Player of Year ahead of season

It’s never too early for basketball.

The Big Ten conference reminded the college basketball world of that Tuesday afternoon, as it announced the conference’s 2024-25 Preseason All-Big Ten Team and the Preseason Player of the Year with just a little over a month to go under opening day.

Purdue guard Braden Smith was named the Preseason Player of the Year by the media, marking the second consecutive season that the Boilermakers and Matt Painter had one of their players receive the nod.

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The upcoming 2024-25 college basketball season will mark the first year that UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington will compete as members of the Big Ten, as all four programs departed from the Pac-12 this past offseason.

Aside from Smith, headlining the 2024-25 Preseason All-Big Ten Team is Rutgers star freshman guard Dylan Harper, who was ranked the No. 3 player in the 2024 recruiting class by 247Sports Composite rankings. Indiana center Oumar Ballo and Penn State guard Ace Baldwin Jr. were also named to the list among others.

The Big Ten basketball preseason poll was not released on Tuesday. Big Ten Media Day is set for Thursday, Oct. 2 in Rosemont, Illinois. The Big Ten basketball tournament will take place in Indianapolis this year at Gainbridge Fieldhouse from Wednesday, March 12-Sunday, March 16.

Here’s a look at who made a spot on the All-Big Ten preseason team, including who was selected as the preseason Player of the Year:

2024 Big Ten basketball Preseason Player of the Year

Purdue guard Braden Smith was named Tuesday the Big Ten basketball preseason Player of the Year.

The 6-foot guard is coming off his best season in a Boilermaker uniform last year, one in which he helped Purdue reach the national championship game alongside Zac Edey. Smith averaged 12.0 points, 7.5 assists and 5.8 rebounds in 39 games last season. His 292 total assists last season was a Purdue and Big Ten record.

As noted by Purdue, Smith joined BYU’s Kyle Collinsworth as just the two players in NCAA history to finish with at least 450 points, 275 assists and 225 rebounds in a season last year.

2024 Big Ten basketball Preseason team selections

Here’s a look at the full 2024-25 Big Ten basketball preseason team:

• C — Oumar Ballo, Indiana

• F — Payton Sandfort, Iowa

• F — Dawson Garcia, Minnesota

• F — Great Osobor, Washington

• G — Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern

• G — Bruce Thornton, Ohio State

• G — Jackson Shelstad, Oregon

• G — Ace Baldwin Jr., Penn State

• G — Braden Smith, Purdue *

• G — Dylan Harper, Rutgers

* Denotes unanimous selection

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Big Ten Basketball: Full preseason All-Big Ten team, Smith named Player of Year