Expectations continue to grow for the 2014-2015 UW men’s basketball team, which begins the season ranked No. 4 in the nation.
The first installment of this season’s USA Today Coaches poll came out Thursday and ranked the Badgers No. 4 to start the season, with Kentucky, Arizona and Duke topping the Badgers in the poll. The Badgers will face off with the Duke Blue Devils on Dec. 3 at the Kohl Center.
Also Thursday, the Big Ten announced that a media panel picked the Badgers as the unanimous favorite to win the conference.
Along with the first-ever preseason number-one Big Ten ranking under UW head coach Bo Ryan, Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky was named the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year by the media. Kamisky and fellow forward Sam Dekker were also selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team.
After a 30-8 season in 2013-2014, which included a trip to the Final Four for the first time since 2000, this season’s men’s basketball team returns four of their five starters from last year. Starters Josh Gasser, Traevon Jackson, Kaminsky and Dekker will all return this season, while Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year, Nigel Hayes, also returns.
Michigan State and Ohio State were selected to finish second and third respectively this season in the Big Ten to round out the preseason top three.
The Preseason All-Big Ten team also included Yogi Ferrell from Indiana, Michigan’s Caris LaVert and Nebraska’s Terran Petteway.
