WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – CBS Sports has selected Braden Smith as its preseason National Player of the Year, while Trey Kaufman-Renn joined him on the preseason All-American first team, the organization announced Tuesday.
One day after being a unanimous selection to the Associated Press preseason All-America Team, Smith racked up another honor by CBS Sports. Kaufman-Renn, who earned votes on the AP team, was also selected to the first team, giving the Boilermakers two of the five spots on the first team.
No program has had two first-team All-Americans since Duke’s R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson were selected following the 2018-19 season.
The duo was joined by Texas Tech’s J.T. Toppin, UCLA’s Donovan Dent and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson.
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.
Meanwhile, Kaufman-Renn, a senior forward from Sellersburg, Indiana, was voted to the 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.