The University of Kansas has been named as the top team in the Big 12 Conference in the men’s basketball coaches poll released on Thursday morning. Kansas, with 12 of 14 first-place votes, had 168 points to pace the rankings. Newcomer Houston, a powerhouse program that spent several weeks as the #1 ranked team in the country a season ago, had the other two first-place votes and 153 points, good for second position.
In the program’s final season in the Big 12, the Texas Longhorns check in at #3, with 143 points, followed by Baylor at #4 with 137 points. TCU (113 points) was fifth and Kansas State (106 points) sixth.
Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own team, meaning that Jayhawk coach Bill Self voted for Houston and UH head coach Kelvin Sampson voted for Kansas.
Iowa State was seventh, followed by Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, BYU, and UCF. The 2023-2024 season will represent the first as Big 12 members for UCF (Orlando, Florida), BYU (Provo, Utah), Cincinnati, and Houston.
UCF’s first Big 12 Conference game will be at Kansas State on January 6th, BYU will host Cincinnati in the first conference game for both schools on January 6th at the Marriott Center in Provo, with Houston hosting West Virginia on January 6th.
