Dick Vitale Names Preseason 'All-Rolls-Royce Team' — Which Boilers Made the Cut?
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Purdue has two of the best players in college basketball heading into the 2025-26 season. It's not just the folks in West Lafayette who recognize it, either. ESPN broadcaster and longtime college hoops icon Dick Vitale is also really high on guard Braden Smith and forward Trey Kaufman-Renn entering the year.
Recently, Vitale released his preseason "All-Rolls-Royce Team" for the 2025-26 season. Both Smith and Kaufman-Renn earned recognition from the longtime ESPN analyst.
Smith received first-team honors and Kaufman-Renn was a second-team selection. Vitale explained why he picked the two Boilermakers to be on his "All-Rolls-Royce" team for the upcoming season.
What Vitale wrote about Braden Smith
Smith is coming off of a 2024-25 campaign in which he was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, the Bob Cousy Award winner (top point guard) and was a first-team All-American. The point guard averaged 15.8 points, 8.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game.
"The maestro, the conductor, the Diaper Dandy-turned-veteran PTPer. The Bob Cousy Award winner led the entire nation last season in assists," Vitale wrote. "He's the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, a first-team All-American, and when you're breaking conference records for dimes, you're the Rolls-Royce of point guards. He's Purdue's straw that stirs the drink."
Entering the 2025-26 season, Smith is a strong candidate to be named the National Player of the Year and is a big reason why Purdue is expected to be a Final Four contender.
What Vitale wrote about Trey Kaufman-Renn
There may not have been a player in college basketball who improved more drastically than Kaufman-Renn. After averaging 6.4 points and 4.0 rebounds as a sophomore in 2023-24, the Sellersburg, Ind., native was Purdue's top scorer and rebounder, posting 20.1 points and 6.5 boards per night.
"Ohhh, he's a scoring dynamo. Averaged 20 points, six boards, two assists, and shot almost 60% from the floor. Are you kidding me? He's a scoring machine in the paint, baby," Vitale wrote. "Matt Painter's paint crew is alive and well with TKR running the show up front."
Kaufman-Renn probably didn't get the respect he deserved last season, but many are aware of the scoring threat he can be, especially working in the short roll with Smith at point guard.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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