The Cougars were picked to finish ninth in the league’s preseason coaches poll with 116 points, just ahead of TCU (90 points) and just behind Kansas State (133 points).

For the 20th time in 28 seasons, Kansas was picked to win the conference, collecting 211 points and nine first-place votes. Houston was second with five first-place votes and Iowa State third with one first-place vote. Arizona, which was picked fourth, received the other first-place vote.

Last year under Mark Pope, BYU was picked to finish 13th (out of 16 teams) but ended up tied for fifth. Pope left for his dream job at Kentucky, taking Jaxson Robinson and former No. 1 recruit Collin Chandler with him to Lexington. Young, the highest-paid assistant coach in the NBA, was named the new Cougar head coach in April and worked some recruiting wizardry by bringing in a pair of projected NBA lottery picks in Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings, as well as an impressive haul of transfer portal additions.

Still, the Big 12 is considered the toughest men’s basketball conference in America and earning respect is going to take time … and wins.

BYU was also ignored in the individual preseason award selections. KU’s Hunter Dickinson was voted as Preseason Player of the Year by the Conference’s head coaches for the second consecutive year. Baylor’s Jeremy Roach and K-State’s Coleman Hawkins shared Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year honors. The Bears’ VJ Edgecombe was Preseason Freshman of the Year.

The Jayhawks enter the season as the preseason favorite for the second consecutive year and were closely followed by Houston, who has ranked second in the preseason poll in both of its seasons in the Big 12. Iowa State, Baylor and Arizona rounded out the top five.

Dickinson was a consensus All-American in 2023-24, earning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-Big 12 honors. The center from Alexandria, Virginia led the Big 12 with 10.8 rebounds per game and ranked second in the Conference with a 17.9 scoring average. It is the fifth time since 2017-18 a Kansas player has earned Preseason Player of the Year honors.

Roach arrives at Baylor after earning All-ACC honors and helping Duke to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2024. The guard from Leesburg, Virginia averaged 14.0 points and 3.3 assists for the Blue Devils. He is the first Baylor newcomer to earn a share of the Conference preseason award since Manu Lecomte in 2016.

Hawkins averaged 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists at Illinois in 2023-24, as the Illini advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. A wing from Sacramento, California, Hawkins starts his K-State career just 21 points shy of 1,000 for his career. He is the first K-State player to earn a share of Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

Edgecombe’s honor marks the fourth consecutive season a Baylor student-athlete received a Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year nod. The Nassau, Bahamas native was a McDonald’s All-American who helped Long Island Lutheran to the No. 2 national ranking, earning Gatorade Player of the Year honors in New York.

Dickinson was the only unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Big 12 First Team, joined by Arizona’s Caleb Love, Houston’s LJ Cryer and J’Wan Roberts and Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey. Baylor’s Norchad Omier and Roach were joined on the second team by Iowa State’s Keshon Gilbert, Kansas’ Dajuan Harris Jr. and K-State’s Hawkins.

All awards were voted on by the league’s 16 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

Preseason Big 12 Poll

Kansas (9 first-place votes) – 215 points

Houston (5) – 211

Iowa State (1) – 194

Baylor – 185

Arizona (1) – 179

Cincinnati – 140

Texas Tech – 135

Kansas State – 133

BYU – 116

TCU – 90

UCF – 83

Arizona State – 64

West Virginia – 62

Oklahoma State – 46

Colorado – 37

Utah – 30

Preseason All-Big 12 First Team

Caleb Love, Arizona

LJ Cryer, Houston

J’Wan Roberts, Houston

Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State

Hunter Dickinson, Kansas*

*- unanimous selection

Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team

Norchad Omier, Baylor

Jeremy Roach, Baylor

Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State

Dajuan Harris Jr., Kansas

Coleman Hawkins, K-State

Preseason Player of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Jeremy Roach, Baylor

Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Coleman Hawkins, K-State

Preseason Freshman of the Year: VJ Edgecombe, Baylor