Maryland men's basketball picked 13th in annual Big Ten preseason basketball media poll

Ahmed Ghafir
Oct 8
2 min read

Maryland men’s basketball will look to outperform its bearish outlook in year one of the Buzz Williams era after the annual unofficial Big Ten preseason media poll was released on Wednesday.

Maryland was selected to finish 13^th in the Big Ten, sandwiched in between USC and Nebraska with a 61-point difference between the Terps and Huskers in the standings. Purdue, the preseason pick to win the Big Ten, and Michigan were the only two teams to draw first place votes.

Maryland was picked to finish tenth in the 2024-25 preseason standings before finishing as the runner-up to Michigan State in a 27-win season for the program.

But for a team that will look to find its identity during a tough nonconference slate that features matchups against Virginia, Georgetown, Gonzaga and Marquette, Maryland will do so with virtually an entire new roster. Walk-on Lukas Sotell is the lone returnee alongside 15 new pieces from both the transfer portal and high school route with head coach Buzz Williams bringing the bulk of his staff from Texas A&M to Maryland. Maryland also didn’t place anyone on the preseason All-Big Ten teams, though guard Darius Adams drew three votes for preseason Big Ten Freshman of the Year with Penn State’s Kayden Mingo winning the award with six votes.

Adams will likely place a key piece in the backcourt rotation with Myles Rice, Isaiah Watts, Solomon Washington, Elijah Saunders and Pharrel Payne expected to round out the starting five with Texas A&M transfers George Turkson and Andre Mills expected to step in after redshirting in year one.

Buzz Williams will be joined by seniors Diggy Coit and Solomon Washington at Big Ten Media Day for the men on Thursday, Oct. 9.

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

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