Big 12 Basketball: Bruce Weber, Scott Drew lead 2019 Coach of the Year race

1. Bruce Weber

Bruce Weber being the favorite to win the award is very much up for debate but since it is so close between a handful of candidates I think you have to lean towards the guy who has his team on top of the standings. If they even get a share of the Big 12 it may be enough for him to win but I think since they have a one-game lead on Kansas and Texas Tech you have to give him the slight edge for now.

This is pretty much the same Kansas State team that made the Elite Eight a season ago the only difference is now they have a healthy Dean Wade. He has missed some time this season due to injury but when he has been playing he has been doing so at a high level. Wade has been fantastic but the Wildcats have been led by Big 12 Player of the Year candidate, or dare I say, the frontrunner, Barry Brown.

If Kansas State wins the Big 12 Barry Brown should be a lock for that award, he is the guy that makes this team go on both ends of the floor. This is an upperclassman led team that had high expectations coming into the season as they were ranked 12th in the preseason AP poll. Some may question how a coach whose team is supposed to be that good deserves the award over some of the other candidates but when you take into account the Wildcats struggles this season it’s a no brainer.

The way they played during a large stretch of non-conference play and the first couple of games during conference play didn’t even look like an NCAA Tournament team, let alone a top 12 team in the country. They were without Wade for a few games but even with him, they did not play very well at all.

They even started Big 12 play 0-2 before they would win 10 of their next 11 Big 12 games but they also had a bad loss at Texas A&M in there. They started off conference play with a 20 point home loss against Texas before losing a close one on the road against Texas Tech. In their next game, they hosted West Virginia in a game which they trailed 42-21 early on in the second half. Losing that game could’ve spiraled them in a bad direction but instead, they buckled down and rallied to win 71-69 and have played extremely well in almost every game since.

The Wildcats have been the best team in the conference recently with their only loss coming at home against Iowa State in a game in which Dean Wade got injured in. They very likely could’ve lost anyway as they were trailing by a few points when he went out of the game but it was completely different when he wasn’t out there.

This team struggles to score which could keep them from getting back to the Elite Eight but they definitely have the potential to do so. Bruce Weber has this team playing very well and if they are able to get even a share of the Big 12 regular season title he has to be the favorite for Big 12 Coach of the Year. They play Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Monday which is a game in which he can prove himself as a truly great coach in this conference.