WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Associated Press (AP) voters have selected Braden Smith as a unanimous selection to its preseason All-American team, the organization announced Monday afternoon.
Smith earned all 57 possible votes from the AP media panel, one week after the Boilermakers were named preseason No. 1. Smith was joined on the squad by Texas Tech’s J.T. Toppin (52 votes), Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg (30), BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa (22) and Florida’s Alex Condon (16).
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 and becomes the second Boilermaker to be a unanimous preseason AP All-American in the last three seasons (Zach Edey, 2024).
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.