Kansas chose to win Big 12; Dickinson leading player

Oct 10, 2024, 05:12 PM ET

IRVING, Texas– Big 12 coaches tabbed Kansas as the preseason favorite to win a conference that had nine of its present groups make the guys’s NCAA tournament last season.The Jayhawks were chosen ahead of Houston, Iowa State, Baylor and league beginner Arizona in a vote by the conference’s 16 coaches that was released Thursday. Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Kansas State, BYU and TCU completed the leading 10, followed by UCF, Arizona State, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Colorado and Utah.With coaches not enabled to choose their own groups, Kansas got 9 of the 15 possible first-place votes. Houston got five, while Iowa State and Arizona split the other two.Kansas center Hunter Dickinson was picked as the preseason player of the year. The 7-foot-2 center averaged 17.9 points and a Huge 12-best 10.9 rebounds last season.Dickinson was the only consentaneous choice for the preseason All-Big 12 team that also included Houston’s L.J. Cryer and J’Wan Roberts, Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey and Arizona’s Caleb Love.Baylor guard Jeremy Roach and Kansas State guard Coleman Hawkins shared the preseason newcomer of the year honor after they led their respective teams

to the NCAA Elite Eight last season. Roach averaged 14 points and 3.3 helps for Duke, and Hawkins averaged 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.7 helps at Illinois.Bears guard VJ Edgecombe was voted as the preseason freshman of the year.