Purdue's Braden Smith Voted Top College Basketball Player By Overwhelming Margin
In this story:
Braden Smith was projected to be one of the top contenders for the Naismith National Player of the Year entering the 2025-26 college basketball season. But is he the absolute best player in the sport? An overwhelming number of anonymous coaches are high on Purdue's senior guard.
CBS Sports recently published its Candid Coaches series, polling nearly 100 college basketball coaches about different questions. The network asked coaches to name the sport's best player for the upcoming season.
Smith received more than 50% of the vote, with no other player receiving more than 14%. Second on the list was Texas Tech guard JT Toppin. Here are the five players who received the most votes:
- Braden Smith, Purdue — 51%
- JT Toppin, Texas Tech — 14%
- Darryn Peterson, Kansas — 9%
- AJ Dybantsa, BYU — 7%
- Donovan Dent, UCLA — 5%
Smith is coming off a tremendous junior season, averaging 15.8 points, 8.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game for the Boilermakers. He received first-team All-Big Ten honors and was the Big Ten Player of the Year for the 2024-25 season. The guard was also a first-team All-American and the winner of the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the top point guard in college basketball.
Smith's return to Purdue this season is a major reason why the Boilermakers are one of the favorites to win the national championship.
Purdue picked as best team
In that same series from CBS, Purdue was projected to be the best team in college basketball this season, although the results were not quite as lopsided.
Purdue received 32% of the vote from the nearly 100 anonymous coaches. Houston got 28% of that vote.
Obviously, all of this will begin to unfold in just a few weeks. But heading into the 2025-26 season, most believe that Purdue has the best team and the best player in college basketball.
Related stories on Purdue basketball
PURDUE TRAINS WITH NAVY SEALS: What did Matt Painter hope to get out of his Purdue team training with the Navy SEALs? He explained during his media availability. CLICK HERE
DETAILS FOR PURDUE-KENTUCKY RELEASED: A tipoff time and television information have been released for Purdue's exhibition game against Kentucky, which is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24, in Lexington. CLICK HERE
BENTER PUTS HIMSELF IN POSITION TO PLAY: Jack Benter used his freshman season as a redshirt year. After one year in Purdue's program, he's put himself in "a good position" to play for the Boilermakers. CLICK HERE
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.
Follow SchutteDustin