Jayhawks picked to win league in Big 12 Coaches Preseason Poll

IRVING, Texas – For the ninth-straight season and 19th time in the 24-year history of the league, Kansas tops the men’s basketball Big 12 Coaches Preseason Poll. The Jayhawks received eight of a possible nine first-place votes by the coaches in 2019-20 poll. The coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.

KU has won 18 outright or shared Big 12 regular-season championships in the previous 23 years since the inception of the league in 1996-97. Included was an NCAA-record 14 consecutive from 2005-18. KU’s 61 overall conference titles is also an NCAA record.

Baylor and Texas Tech each received one vote by a league coach with the Bears finishing second in the preseason poll and Red Raiders third. Texas was fourth followed by West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Kansas State and TCU.

Historically, the other 18 times Kansas has been named the preseason favorite, the Jayhawks won the Big 12 regular-season on 15 occasions. This includes the first preseason poll in 1996-97 in which only a media poll was conducted.

Kansas returns three starters and eight letterwinners from last season’s 26-10 team which opened the season No. 1 in the national polls, won the NIT Season Tip Off, finished 12-6 in the Big 12, reached the Big 12 Tournament title game and advanced to its NCAA record 30th-consecutive NCAA Tournament. Senior center Udoka Azubuike was named the 2019-20 Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year by the conference coaches and was joined on the preseason all-league team by sophomore guard Devon Dotson.

The Big 12 will tip off 2019-20 with its annual media day, slated for Wednesday, October 23 at Sprint Center in Kansas City – site of the 2020 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship. Live coverage will be available at Big12Sports.com and on the Conference’s official social media platforms.

2019-20 BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL*

Team (First-place votes) – Points

  1. KANSAS (8) – 80
  2. Baylor (1) – 71
  3. Texas Tech (1) – 62
  4. Texas – 57
  5. West Virginia – 45
  6. Oklahoma State – 42
  7. Iowa State – 30
  8. Oklahoma – 29
  9. Kansas State – 23
  10. TCU – 11

*Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own team.

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