The Inside Zone

The Inside Zone

Slices of Tuna: A crowded upper class in the Big Ten

Prediction time! Plus, high praise for NDSU. And what's with all these cheesy coach clichés lately?

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Matt Fortuna
Jul 27, 2026
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Photo: Getty

My last intro in this space proved pretty prophetic, huh? (Even if I am as shocked as everyone else that LeBron ultimately chose Philly.)

On to the slices …

1. It’s B1G time

Big Ten media days are Tuesday through Thursday here in Chicago, and with that comes the unofficial conference preseason poll, which I was happy to be a part of this year.

Doug Lesmerises conducts the poll, and he and Bill Landis had Audrey Snyder and me on “The Bill and Doug Show” this week to break down the poll and dive further into our picks.

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My projected order of finish, in the interest of transparency:

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