The most overlooked player in the Big Ten might be a breakout star at Minnesota

Tyson’s red-hot start to the season shows he’s more than just a transfer — he’s a Big Ten star in the making.

Gophers forward Cade Tyson (10) with head coach Niko Medved during the 2025-26 opener against Gardner-Webb. Tyson finished with 30 points. | Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn, University of Minnesota

Nobody is perfect, but Andy Katz is 100% going to regret leaving Cade Tyson off his list of the top-20 players in the Big Ten in 2025-26.

Katz's list includes 20 players from 14 of the 18 Big Ten teams. He excluded players from Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers, and Nebraska. While every team snubbed has an argument to be made for its best player, Tyson is obviously the biggest snub.

How good is Tyson? If two exhibition games and Monday's regular-season opener against Gardner-Webb are an indication, Tyson is nothing short of awesome. He led Minnesota with 30 points on Monday night, following his 28-point and 26-point performances against North Dakota State and North Dakota, respectively.

In three games, Tyson is averaging 28 points while shooting 26-of-38 overall and 14-of-23 from three-point range. He's also 18-of-21 from the free-throw line. That's high-end scoring from a player who did very little at North Carolina last season after his awesome 2023-24 season at Belmont.

So who made Katz's top 20?

1. Braden Smith, Purdue
2. Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
3. Donovan Dent, UCLA
4. Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue
5. Nick Martinelli, Northwestern
6. Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
7. Jackson Shelstad, Oregon
8. Nate Bittle, Oregon
9. John Blackwell, Wisconsin
10. Bennett Stirtz, Iowa
11. Rodney Rice, USC
12. Tucker DeVries, Indiana
13. Chad Baker-Mazara, USC
14. Desmond Claude, Washington
15. Kylan Boswell, Illinois
16. Jeremy Fears, Michigan State
17. Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA
18. Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois
19. Pharrel Payne, Maryland
20. Coen Carr, Michigan State

Tyson barely saw the floor at North Carolina, averaging 2.9 points in just under eight minutes per game. But in his second season at Belmont in 2023-24, Tyson averaged 16.5 points while shooting 46.5% from three, good for second in the nation and tops in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Tyson and Minnesota face Alcorn State at 11 a.m. Saturday before facing Missouri next Wednesday, Nov. 12. It might take a while for Tyson to get noticed, but don't be surprised when he's among the Big Ten's leading scorers throughout the season.