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As the 2025-26 college basketball season nears, Iowa basketball senior point guard Bennett Stirtz has been voted as one of 10 players to the preseason All-Big Ten team, per the conference’s press release on Tuesday afternoon.
Stirtz now becomes the sixth Hawkeye to be voted upon by a selected panel of media as a representative on the preseason All-Big Ten team in the last seven seasons. Previous Iowa honorees include: Joe Wieskamp (2019), Luka Garza (2020), Keegan Murray (2021), Kris Murray (2022), and Payton Sandfort (2024).
Additionally, Stirtz has also been named a preseason fourth-team All-American and a first-team All-Big Ten selection by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.
Before transferring to Iowa in the offseason alongside four other teammates from Drake, the native of Liberty, Missouri, was an All-American by three outlets during the 2024-25 season, and he was also tabbed as the Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year and Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year.
While under the tutelage of now-Iowa head coach Ben McCollum, he led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring (19.2), steals (2.21), and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.86), while ranking second in assists (5.7). He also led the NCAA in minutes played, averaging 39:22 per game through 35 contests.
According to the conference’s media vote, the full preseason-All-Big Ten team honorees are as follows:
Preseason Player of the YearBraden Smith, Purdue
Preseason All-Big Ten TeamBennett Stirtz, IowaYaxel Lendeborg, MichiganNick Martinelli, NorthwesternBruce Thornton, Ohio StateNate Bittle, OregonJackson Shelstad, OregonTrey Kaufman-Renn, PurdueBraden Smith, Purdue (unanimous)Donoven Dent, UCLAJohn Blackwell, Wisconsin
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