It's Badgers and everyone else in Big Ten men's basketball race

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Predictions of the contenders in the Big Ten Conference men's basketball race are mostly muddled.

Except for Wisconsin.

The Badgers are unanimous pick to win the league in a series of recently released rankings, plus a pair of media polls announced this week.

Michigan State and Ohio State were expected to follow Wisconsin in some rankings, as the now 14-team league welcomed newest members Rutgers and Maryland at Thursday's media day. But there was little consensus after the Badgers.

"I think the bottom has moved up," said Tom Izzo, entering his 20th season as Michigan State's head coach. "The top — other than Wisconsin — has maybe moved back a little bit, but I think there's an eight-, nine-, 10-team race. … [and] muddled up is a good word."

Returning Wisconsin senior forward Frank Kaminsky was named preseason player of the year and a unanimous preseason all-Big Ten first-team pick. He was a first-team selection in 2013-14 after averaging 13.9 points per game.

Badgers junior forward Sam Dekker also landed first-team honors after averaging 12.4 points and 6.1 rebounds a year ago. Sophomore forward Nigel Hayes also returns after winning Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year honors while averaging 7.7 points off the bench.

Wisconsin's only key personnel loss was starting point guard Ben Brust, holder of the school record for three-pointers (235).

"He stretched the defenses; he was a great rebounder for his size [6-1]," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said.

Joining Kaminsky and Dekker on the first team were Indiana junior guard Yogi Ferrell, Michigan junior guard Caris LeVert and Nebraska junior forward Terran Petteway, who was a 2013-14 Big Ten first-team pick. Ferrell and LeVert landed on last year's second team.

Last year's eye-opening run to the National Invitational Tournament title by Minnesota and improvement by other teams might represent a rise among some perennially lower-tier programs.

"All of a sudden Minnesota wins the NIT, you look at the job Northwestern's done," Izzo said. "And Nebraska, they've come out of nowhere … and now they're going to be contenders."

"Nobody knows how to handle it," Pitino said. "Do you brag about it? Do you talk about it? … That carryover, I hope, is there, because I know those guys are pretty focused to get in the NCAA tournament."

Gophers returnees include several Big Ten statistical leaders. Senior guard DeAndre Mathieu is the top assist returnee (4.21 per game). Senior guard Andre Hollins is second in free-throw percentage (.841) and is the league's No. 3 active scorer with 1,309 points.

"We've [also] got two veteran bigs with Mo [Walker] and Elliott [Eliason]," Pitino said. "Whoever starts, I don't know, but we need to go inside to them early because they're very capable. The difference this year is our newcomers fit the way that we want to play a lot more so than maybe last year, and I think that will help with our defense."

The Gophers went 25-13 overall — including five losses in overtime or by four points or fewer — and 8-10 in Big Ten play in Pitino's first season at Minnesota.

But efforts to join the Big Ten's elite remain a work in progress. The Gophers are projected to finish in the middle of the pack.

"I kind of like this team," Izzo said. "I think it's a team with the same kind of passion we had last year, the same kind of camaraderie, but a little better leadership."

Ohio State returnees include senior forward Sam Thompson and senior center Amir Williams from a team that made its 26th NCAA tournament appearance.