Baylor places first, Kansas second in preseason Big 12 men’s basketball coaches’ poll
Defending national champion Kansas is picked to finish runner-up to Baylor in the 2022-23 Big 12 regular-season men’s basketball conference race, the league announced on Thursday.
The Jayhawks, who won the league title last season and have been the pick of the coaches in the conference’s preseason poll 10 of the last 12 seasons and 19 times in the 27-year history of the league, received four first-place votes and 73 total points to Baylor’s five first-place votes and 77 points. Texas received one first-place vote and 64 points to place third in the preseason poll. Coaches could not vote for their own teams.
TCU (58 points) was fourth in the preseason coaches poll, followed by a tie between Oklahoma State and Texas Tech (42). Oklahoma was seventh (32), followed by Iowa State (30), West Virginia (20) and Kansas State (12).
Kansas’ second-place showing in the preseason coaches’ poll marks the sixth time in the 27-year history of the conference that the Jayhawks were not voted No. 1. KU has won outright or tied for the conference regular-season championship 20 times, including an NCAA-record 14 consecutive times from 2005-18. A preseason coaches poll was not conducted in the Big 12’s first season (1996-97).
The Baylor Bears were also the preseason favorites in 2020-21 and went on to win both the Big 12 and NCAA championships that season.
Big 12 teams have won the last two national titles: KU last season and Baylor in 2021. Big 12 teams have played in the last four Final Fours and the last three national championship games. The Big 12 is the first conference to win back-to-back national championships since 2009 and 2010, and is the only conference to have three different teams play in three consecutive championship games.
2022-23 BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
Team (First-place votes) – Points
1-Baylor (5) – 77
2-Kansas (4) – 73
3-Texas (1) – 64
4-TCU – 58
5-Oklahoma State – 42
5-Texas Tech – 42
7-Oklahoma – 32
8-Iowa State – 30
9-West Virginia – 20
10-Kansas State – 12
Points awarded: 9 pts for 1st, 8 for 2nd, 7 for 3rd, etc.
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 11:32 AM.
