Kansas was named the Big 12 men's basketball preseason favorite and KU's Dickinson was named the preseason player of the year

Kansas was picked as the favorite in the Big 12 men's basketball preseason poll, marking the 20th time in 28 seasons that the Jayhawks have been ranked atop the preseason poll. KU's Hunter Dickinson was named preseason player of the year by the conference's head coaches for the second straight year.

Baylor's Jeremy Roach and K-State's Coleman Hawkins shared Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year honors. The Bears' VJ Edgecombe was the Preseason Freshman of the Year.

The Jayhawks enter the season as preseason favorites for the second straight year and are closely followed by Houston, which has finished second in the preseason poll in both Big 12 seasons. Iowa State, Baylor and Arizona rounded out the top five.

Dickinson was a consensus All-American in 2023-24 and earned 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 that a Kansas player has won Preseason Player of the Year honors.

Roach comes to 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 freshman to receive 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. Hawkins, a winger from Sacramento, Calif., begins his K-State career just 21 points shy of 1,000 career points. He is the first K-State player to earn a share of the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year list.

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

Dickinson was the only unanimous selection to the Preseason All-Big 12 First Team, along with Caleb Love of Arizona, LJ Cryer and J'Wan Roberts of Houston and Tamin Lipsey of Iowa State. Baylor's Norchad Omier and Roach were joined 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.

Big 12 Preseason Poll

1. Kansas (9 first place finishers) – 215 points
2. Houston (5) – 211
3. Iowa State (1) – 194
4. Baylor-185
5. Arizona (1) – 179
6. Cincinnati-140
7. Texas Tech-135
8. Kansas State – 133
9. BYU-116
10. TCU-90
11. UCF-83
12. Arizona State – 64
13. West Virginia – 62
14. Oklahoma State – 46
15. Colorado-37
16. 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

Co-Newcomer of the Year in the previous season: Jeremy Roach, Baylor

Co-Newcomer of the Year in the previous season: Coleman Hawkins, K State

Preseason Rookie of the Year: VJ Edgecombe, Baylor