Purdue tabbed as Big Ten co-favorite in preseason media poll

In this year's annual Unofficial Official preseason Big Ten media poll — a tradition masterminded by the Columbus Dispatch's Adam Jardy and The Athletic's Brendan Quinn — Purdue has been tabbed as the conference's co-favorite heading into the 2021-2022 season.

Michigan received one more first-place vote, 13 of them to the Boilermakers' 12, but the two schools wound up with the same number of points under the poll's scoring system.

Purdue returns virtually Its whole team from last season's freshman-heavy squad that went 18-10 and placed fourth in the Big Ten as one of the least experienced teams in college basketball.

The Wolverines won the Big Ten last season and return numerous key contributors and welcome a star-studded freshman class, highlighted by Caleb Houstan, who was voted the Big Ten's preseason freshman of the year by the Big Ten writers.

The final results of the media poll:

1. Michigan

2. Purdue

3. Illinois

4. Ohio State

5. Maryland

6. Michigan State

7. Indiana

8. Rutgers

9. Iowa

10. Wisconsin

11. Nebraska

T-12 Northwestern

T-12 Penn State

14. Minnesota

Individually, Illinois center Kofi Cockburn was named preseason Player-of-the-Year with 11 votes.

Purdue's Jaden Ivey, just a sophomore, was the second-place finisher with five first-place votes. Ohio State's E.J. Liddell, Michigan's Hunter Dickinson, Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis and Purdue's Trevion Williams also received Player-of-the-Year votes.

The media's preseason All-Big Ten team only includes five players, whereas the Big Ten's official preseason all-conference team is generally 10.

The media's five-man team consisted of Cockburn, Liddell, Dickinson, Ivey and Jackson-Davis.

Big Ten media day in Indianapolis is Thursday and Friday, at which time the conference will announce Its preseason poll results and All-Big Ten team.