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Iowa men’s basketball picked to finish in upper half of Big Ten standings
Ben McCollum’s first Hawkeyes team is slotted ahead of Indiana, among others. Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz is a preseason first-team All-Big Ten choice.
Oct. 8, 2025 11:45 am
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Considering Iowa has just one scholarship player returning from its men’s basketball team of last season, maybe the following is a surprise.
The Hawkeyes were picked eighth in the 18-team Big Ten in a preseason poll of 28 media members conducted by the Indianapolis Star and Columbus Dispatch.
Ben McCollum’s first Iowa team features senior guard Bennett Stirtz, who was voted on to the preseason five-player All-Big Ten first team.
Iowa’s first game is Nov. 4 in Iowa City against Robert Morris.
The media’s preseason Big Ten standings (first-place votes in parenthesis)
- Purdue, 501 (25)
- Michigan, 472 (3)
- UCLA, 417
- Illinois, 411
- Oregon, 338
- Michigan State, 360
- Wisconsin, 328
- Iowa, 278
- Ohio State, 272
- Indiana, 245
- Washington, 239
- USC, 227
- Maryland, 210
- Nebraska, 149
- Northwestern, 119
- Minnesota, 95
- Rutgers, 54
- Penn State, 43
The preseason all-conference teams and their vote totals:
First Team
Braden Smith, Purdue (56)
Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue (55)
Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan (51)
Donovan Dent, UCLA (43)
Bennett Stirtz, Iowa (42)
Second Team
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State (38)
Nick Martinelli, Northwestern (32)
Nate Bittle, Oregon (24)
John Blackwell, Wisconsin (24)
Jackson Shelstad, Oregon (14)
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