Big Ten’s top 40 players for the 2026-27 season: 20-11

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With the start of the season rapidly approaching, UM Hoops and Inside the Hall have partnered to bring you our annual preseason breakdown of the top players in the Big Ten for the 14th straight season.

The series is broken into five parts, and we continue with our third installment of players 20-11 for the 2026-27 season: (Previously: 21-30, 31-40)

20. J.P. Estrella, Michigan (Forward, 6-foot-11, graduate student)

Big men transferring to Michigan have consistently been underranked on this list in the preseason and Estrella will hope to continue that trend.

He averaged 10 points and 5.4 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game for a Tennessee team that won 25 games and made the Elite Eight. Estrella has nice touch in the paint and is one of the best offensive rebounders in the country, grabbing 17.3 percent of Tennessee’s misses while on the floor last season.

At Michigan, he’ll hope to expand his game on the perimeter, where he’s expected to start at power forward and potentially space the floor, too. Estrella’s per-minute numbers were already very impressive at Tennessee – implying something close to 15 points and eight rebounds per game if he were to play 27 minutes per game – so the chance to expand his role and play more minutes in Ann Arbor is a breakout opportunity.

19. Nikola Kusturica, UCLA (Forward, 6-foot-9, freshman)

Projecting freshmen in an era of college basketball dominated by transfers and upperclassmen is a crap shoot. Kusturica just turned 17 in April and will be one of the youngest players in the Big Ten this season. The Serbian was the youngest player to make a professional debut for FC Barcelona in Spain, but he played mostly on the Liga U U22 squad. He was also the 2025 FIBA U16 Eurobasket MVP and the 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup defensive MVP. Kusturica chose the Bruins over Kentucky, Michigan and Gonzaga.

His size and versatility on the wing make him a talent that NBA teams will closely monitor over the next two seasons as he is not draft eligible until 2028, where he’s already in the conversation to be the top pick. A good, but not elite, shooter, Kusturica is a matchup problem because of his scoring and ability to create for others. He’s also an elite defender, making him a strong candidate to rise up the list of the league’s best players by season’s end.

18. Coen Carr, Michigan State (Forward, 6-foot-6, senior)

Now entering his senior year, Coen Carr is still the best in-game dunker in college basketball. Carr stepped into the starting lineup last season and set career highs in points (12.0), rebounds (5.4) and assists (1.2) per game. He’s a returning starter for one of the best teams in the Big Ten, but also feels like a major swing piece.

For Michigan State to reach its ceiling, he’ll need to diversify his game just a bit more offensively, both as a shooter and a playmaker. He took over five times as many 3-point shots in 2025-26 as the previous year, but still finished at just 27 percent.

17. Stefan Vaaks, Illinois (Guard, 6-foot-7, sophomore)

A native of Tabasalu, Estonia, Vaaks has excellent positional size and is a confident, high-volume shooter. As a freshman last season at Providence, Vaaks averaged 15.8 points per game and shot 35 percent on 3-pointers while adding 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Defense isn’t a strong suit of his game and will be an area to monitor as he adjusts to the Big Ten as part of a roster expected to win the conference.

There’s reason to believe his efficiency will improve with a much better supporting cast in Champaign. The Illini have elite depth at guard and on the wing so Vaaks won’t be asked to do everything like he was at Providence. Already 21 years old with professional experience overseas, Vaaks is a heady scorer who, on paper, fits perfectly into an Illinois system that values shooting and positional size.

16. Braden Frager, Nebraska (Forward, 6-foot-7, junior)

Frager was the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year and an All-Freshman selection last season, averaging 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and an assist per game while knocking down 57-of-162 of his 3-point attempts.

He should have every opportunity to build on that production as he steps into a more featured role in the starting lineup. Frager has size, skill, and offensive versatility, and is a perfect fit for Fred Hoiberg’s five-out offense. He’s an excellent cutter and movement shooter who can also make plays out of handoffs or ball screens. While he took over half of his shots from 3-point range, his finishing also stands out at 73 percent around the basket.

15. Amare Bynum, Ohio State (Forward, 6-foot-8, sophomore)

If making a list of potential Big Ten breakout candidates for the upcoming season, Bynum has to be prominently featured on the list. The sophomore from Omaha, Nebraska, returns to Columbus for his second season after starting 24 of the team’s 34 games last season. And with Devin Royal’s transfer to Villanova, he’s clearly Ohio State’s go-to option in the frontcourt.

Bynum averaged 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds last season in 28.5 minutes per game but took his game to a higher level down the stretch. Over Ohio State’s final six games, he averaged 12.3 points while shooting better than 60 percent from the floor. An explosive finisher – he led the Buckeyes with 37 dunks last season – Bynum has a powerful frame and his rapid improvement last season suggests big things are ahead for him as a sophomore.

14. Moustapha Thiam, Michigan (Center, 7-foot-2, junior)

Thiam arrives at Michigan after stops at Cincinnati and UCF and will hope to follow the same script that led to breakout years for players like Aday Mara and Vlad Goldin in Ann Arbor.

Thiam, who is a year young for his class after reclassifying to attend UCF and is already a proven high-major starter, averaging 12.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game at Cincinnati last season. Despite that production, he still has significant untapped potential. He tends to drift into the mid-range at times and will have to prove he can be a volume finisher in the paint.

The good news for Michigan is that he started to figure things out late in his sophomore year. He averaged 15.8 points and 8.6 rebounds over the last 12 contests, including three-straight 20-point games against Kansas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

13. Pharrel Payne, Maryland (Center, 6-foot-9, redshirt senior)

Payne began his career at Minnesota, transferred to Texas A&M and then followed Buzz Williams to Maryland, where he was expected to be the centerpiece last winter for the Terrapins. Unfortunately for Payne and Maryland, he played in only 10 games before a leg injury suffered against Michigan ended his season.

A physical force in the paint, Payne is back for a fifth season after averaging 17.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots in 26.9 minutes per game before his injury last winter. Payne is an efficient finisher – his career shooting percentage is nearly 64 percent – and a very good offensive rebounder. Defensively, his size and strength make him a deterrent at the rim and his ability to challenge and block shots will be a major boost for a Maryland defense that was thin inside last season.

12. Andrej Stokjakovic, Illinois (Guard, 6-foot-7, senior)

Stojakovic’s first season at Illinois was a rollercoaster. His production waned in January, and he eventually lost his starting spot after two games on the bench for a February injury. He responded by playing some of his best basketball of the season – including three KenPom MVP performances – off the bench and played a key role in helping Illinois to the Final Four.

For the first time in his career, Stokjakovic will run it back with the same program and have a platform to build off of. His ability to get downhill and draw fouls (4.8 per 40), finish at the rim (61.9 percent) and make free throws (80.5 percent) is a terrific foundation. It might not be the flashiest, but it is how he posted a 119.5 offensive rating on 23.6 percent usage last season.

11. Aiden Sherrell, Indiana (Forward, 6-foot-11, junior)

A 2024 McDonald’s All-American, Sherrell left Alabama after two seasons despite taking on a far more prominent role as a sophomore on a team that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. He averaged a solid 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots in 23.9 minutes per game as a sophomore. After playing exclusively at the five last season for the Crimson Tide, he’ll shift to the four this season in Bloomington alongside Samet Yigitoglu.

Whether Sherrell can consistently guard fours in the Big Ten is an open question, but he has the offensive versatility to play the position. He’s a capable 3-point and mid-range shooter who can also finish plays with authority at the rim. Over the summer, he was IU’s best player at the FISU America Games in Lima, Peru. He’s also done extensive work on his body, trimming down in order to make himself more mobile.