Wisconsin Badgers picked seventh in annual Big Ten preseason basketball media poll

MADISON — Wisconsin men’s basketball is approaching the 2025-26 season with higher preseason expectations than a year ago.

The Badgers were picked to finish seventh in the annual Big Ten unofficial preseason poll conducted by the Indianapolis Star and Columbus Dispatch. It is the ninth year of the poll, which the Star and Dispatch organizes while the Big Ten does not organize its own preseason poll.

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The highest that any of the 28 voters across the conference picked Wisconsin was fourth. Only three of the 28 ballots had Wisconsin picked below 10th in the conference.

Wisconsin’s preseason rank is significantly higher than last year’s poll, which had UW tied for 12th with Nebraska. Greg Gard’s group vastly outperformed those expectations, going 13-7 in conference play and earning a spot in the Big Ten tournament title game.

The panel of media members from across the conference included Wisconsin guard John Blackwell on its preseason all-Big Ten second team. No other UW player received any votes for the first or second teams.

Blackwell, who also received preseason all-Big Ten recognition from the media panel organized by the conference, is coming off a season in which he averaged 15.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 31 minutes per game. The only Badger with more scoring was John Tonje, who averaged 19.6 points per game and now is in the NBA.

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The Wisconsin team that writers picked to finish seventh in 2025-26 will look much different from last year’s group. The Badgers have nine newcomers — five incoming transfers and four freshmen — and are replacing several key players such as Tonje, Steven Crowl, Max Klesmit and Kamari McGee. Key returning players include Blackwell, Nolan Winter and Jack Janicki.

The Oct. 8 release of the Big Ten preseason media poll comes a day before the conference’s men’s basketball teams speak at Big Ten basketball media days on Oct. 9. The Badgers’ season will officially begin on Nov. 3 against Campbell after exhibitions against Oklahoma on Oct. 24 and UW-Platteville on Oct. 29.

Big Ten 2025-26 unofficial media preseason poll

1. Purdue, 501 (25 first-place votes)

2. Michigan, 472 (3 first-place votes)

Big Ten preseason player of the year: Braden Smith, Purdue

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Big Ten preseason freshman of the year: Kayden Mingo, Penn State

Big Ten preseason transfer of the year: Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan

Preseason all-Big Ten first team

• Braden Smith, Purdue (unanimous)

• Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue

• Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan

Preseason all-Big Ten second team

• Bruce Thornton, Ohio State

• Nick Martinelli, Northwestern

• John Blackwell, Wisconsin

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers picked seventh in Big Ten preseason media poll