Big Ten Basketball: Ranking of top 25 players entering 2023-24 season
By Joey Loose
16. Julian Reese – Maryland
Last year featured Reese playing brilliantly, leaping forward as a sophomore under new head coach Kevin Willard. He averaged 11.4 points and 7.2 rebounds, with significantly better interior shooting and rebounding figures. He showed potential as a long-range shooter off the bench as a freshman, though that part of his game disappeared last season.
Having a returning player like Reese is a big reason why Maryland enters the year with increased aspirations. Reese will do that damage almost exclusively in the paint but is developing into a significant weapon in the frontcourt. There’s certainly the possibility his game takes another step forward as a junior and they’ll need that kind of season to compete with the talent at Purdue in the Big Ten race.
15. Braden Smith – Purdue
Though the season ended in devastation, Purdue took that major step forward last season in large part due to the play of their young backcourt, with Smith having quite the freshman campaign. He’d average 9.7 points, 4.4 assists, and 4.2 rebounds for the Boilermakers while also hitting 37% of his 3-pointers.
He’s a terrific young point guard who did phenomenal work as a ball distributor and shot-maker. Already excellent and still an underclassman, Purdue is hoping for another step forward as a sophomore, perhaps on the offensive end. There are plenty of excellent pieces on this Purdue team and Smith might just develop into the ball distributor and leader that the Boilermakers need to make history this season.