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As expected, the Indiana Hoosiers are the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten. A team as loaded as IU should consider anything less than a National Championship this season a complete and utter failure. I don't think people understand how perfect a player Kevin Ferrell is going to be for them with the pieces already in place. If he plays to his talent level Indiana is virtually unbeatable.
Now that that bit of unpleasantness is out of the way, here is your preseason All-Big Ten team:
CODY ZELLER, Indiana
Trey Burke, Michigan
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
Tim Frazier, Penn State
Zeller is worthy of the All-Caps hyperbole because he was a unanimous selection and he is also the preseason Player of the Year. Michigan was picked to finish second in the league with Ohio State third. They don't rank anyone past the top three, so we're all chasing IU.
On the women's side there is better news for our Boilermakers. The coaches have selected Purdue to finish third behind Penn State and Nebraska. The Media has Penn State and Nebraska at 1-2, followed by Ohio State. Purdue also has a player on the Preseason All-Big Ten team from the coaches:
Preseason Coaches Team*
Morgan Johnson, Sr., C, IOWA
Rachel Banham, So., G, MINN
Jordan Hooper, Jr., F, NEB
Tayler Hill, Sr., G, OSU
Alex Bentley, Sr., G, PSU
Maggie Lucas, Jr., G, PSU
Courtney Moses, Jr., G, PUR
Preseason Media Team
Jordan Hooper, Jr., F, NEB
Lindsey Moore, Sr., G, NEB
Tayler Hill, Sr., G, OSU
Alex Bentley, Sr., G, PSU
Maggie Lucas, Jr., G, PSU
Ohio State's Tayler Hill is the Player of the Year for both the Coaches and Media, while Penn State's Alex Bentley joins her from the Coaches' ballot.