Kansas Jayhawks tabbed men’s basketball favorite in talent-laden Big 12

Kansas has been selected favorite in the Big 12 men’s basketball preseason poll, marking the 20th time in 28 seasons the Jayhawks have been selected first in the preseason poll. Hunter Dickinson of Kansas was voted Preseason Player of the Year by the conference’s head coaches for the second consecutive year.Baylor’s Jeremy Roach and Kansas State’s Coleman Hawkins shared Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year honors. The Bears’ VJ Edgecombe was Preseason Freshman of the Year.The Jayhawks were closely followed by Houston, which has been tabbed second in the preseason poll in both of its seasons in the Big 12. Iowa State, Baylor and Arizona rounded out the top five.

Arizona State, which returned just three players but boasted one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, checked in at No. 12.

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 10.9 rebounds per game and ranked second in the conference with a 17.9 scoring average. It is the fifth time since 2017-18 that 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 and earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in New York.

Dickinson was the only unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Big 12 First Team. He was 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.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Preseason Big 12 men’s basketball poll forecasts 2024-25 season