Kansas Basketball: Jayhawks at peak of 2019-20 Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll

Kansas Basketball is the overwhelming favorite to capture the Big 12 regular-season crown, according to the league’s annual preseason coaches’ ballot.

For the ninth-consecutive term and 19th instance overall, the Kansas basketball squad sits atop the Big 12 Conference annual preseason coaches’ poll, which got released on Thursday. The Jayhawks earned eight of 10 first-place votes, with second-place Baylor and third-place Texas Tech each landing one first-place tally.

Preseason Finish Order
Kansas
Baylor
Texas Tech
Texas
West Virginia
Oklahoma State
Iowa State
Oklahoma
Kansas State
TCU

In recent memory, Kansas has generated unparalleled results in the conference, winning 18 outright or shared Big 12 regular-season trophies during the past 23 stanzas. The Jayhawks, from 2005 to 2018, achieved 14-straight league titles, a streak that got snapped in 2018-19 when Kansas State and NCAA Tournament runner-up Texas Tech tied for Big 12 regular-campaign glory.

Per a press release from the Kansas athletics department, in the other 18 occasions with which the Jayhawks got anointed as the preseason front-runner, Kansas claimed the conference’s regular-term championship 15 times.

The Jayhawks, in the upcoming 2019-20 stanza, will return three starters and eight lettermen from a 2018-19 crew that finished 26-10 but exited March Madness in the round of 32, where it fell to eventual Final Four participant Auburn. Prior to that development, Kansas had garnered terrific success in recent NCAA Tournaments, advancing to the Elite Eight in 2016 and 2017, and journeying to the Final Four in 2018.

Preseason All-Big 12 Team
Tristan Clark, Baylor
Tyrese Haliburton, Iowa State
Udoka Azubuike, Kansas
Devon Dotson, Kansas
Desmond Bane, TCU

Looking ahead to 2019-20, numerous national pundits are projecting the Jayhawks as a top-five unit, and the logic is sound. Center Udoka Azubuike, who elected to come back for his senior stint, earlier this week got named the league’s preseason Player of the Year, and sophomore guard Devon Dotson joins Azubuike on the preseason All-Big 12 group.

While there’s no denying that Kansas proved a tad disappointing in 2018-19, and injuries, unfortunately, factored into the equation, expectations are high this cycle, and I foresee a special odyssey for the Jayhawks over the next several months that will culminate in late March or, hopefully, in early April.

Additional conference accolades are dispensed to Red Raiders guard Chris Clarke, a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech, who is the preseason Newcomer of the Year, and West Virginia forward Oscar Tshiebwe, who is the preseason Freshman of the Year.