WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The top college preview magazine in the country has named Braden Smith its preseason National Player of the Year, while Trey Kaufman-Renn was named a second-team All-America announced today by Blue Ribbon Magazine.
The magazine, compiled by several authors, is 411 pages that features lengthy write-ups on every team, preseason All-America teams and a preseason top-25 listing.
The Boilermakers are ranked second in the top 25 behind Florida and followed by Houston, Duke and Connecticut in the top five. Among Big Ten teams, Michigan is ninth, UCLA is ranked 12th, and Illinois and Wisconsin are ranked 20th and 21st, respectively.
Purdue is scheduled to play ranked teams Kentucky (8th; exhibition game), Michigan (9th), Alabama (11th), UCLA (12th), Auburn (13th), Texas Tech (14th; possible game), Iowa State (17th), Illinois (20th) and Wisconsin (21st).
In addition, Purdue’s backcourt was named the top backcourt in the Big Ten, while the frontcourt was named the second best in the Big Ten behind Michigan’s frontcourt.
Smith, a senior guard from Westfield, Indiana, is the lone returning first-team All-American in the country after averaging 15.8 points, 8.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds a year ago. He won the Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard last season and has 1,375 points, 758 assists and 535 rebounds in his three seasons at Purdue. He is the only player in Big Ten history, and one of 16 players in NCAA history, to have even 1,300 career points, 700 assists and 500 rebounds, and he has a full season to play.
Smith needs just 125 points and 242 assists to become the first player in NCAA history with 1,500 points, 1,000 assists and 500 rebounds.
Smith was last season’s Big Ten Player of the Year.
Meanwhile, Kaufman-Renn, a senior forward from Sellersburg, Indiana, was named to Blue Ribbon Yearbook’s second team after averaging 20.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists a year while shooting just under 60 percent the field. Kaufman-Renn, a first-team All-Big Ten honoree a year ago, is the only returning high-major player nationally from last season to average at least 20 points, six rebounds and two assists per game.
Kaufman-Renn has scored in double-figures in eight straight games and finished last year with 723 points, the 10th-most points scored by a Purdue player in school history. He had 12, 20-point games in the last 15 contests last season.
Purdue opens its exhibition season on Oct. 24, when it travels to Rupp Arena to face Kentucky. The regular-season opener is Nov. 4, when Evansville visits Mackey Arena.
The Boilermakers are ranked in the top three of almost every early top-25 poll ranking released so far.