Big 12 Basketball: 5 biggest storylines of 2020 offseason

By Dave Ackert | May 28, 2020

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - MARCH 04: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks hands the the Big 12 Championship Trophy to players after Kansas defeated the TCU Horned Frogs to win the game at Allen Fieldhouse on March 04, 2020 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

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AUSTIN, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 24: Andrew Jones #1 of the Texas Longhorns (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /

In other Big 12 Basketball news, Texas’ Andrew Jones received the Big 12 Male Sports Person of the Year Award.

Andrew Jones was diagnosed with leukemia in January 2018. He re-joined the Texas basketball team for the 2018-19 season, but played in only two games, as he continued his chemo treatments throughout the year. He actually completed his final two 28-day treatment cycles in Austin so he could start the semester on/near campus. During Summer and Fall workouts he was seen with a PICC line in his arm and a chemo bag strapped around his waist.

In Jones’ return to the court this season, he registered a then-career-high in scoring with 20 points, including going 4-of-5 from three-point range in the season-opening win over Northern Colorado. Jones earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades during the 2019-20 season, as he ranked second on the team in scoring (11.5 ppg) and third in assists (1.9 apg) and steals (23.)

As he continues forward after graduation, Jones has ambitions of creating his own foundation in the fight against pediatric leukemia and has shown interest in working with the Jimmy V Foundation staff to help spread awareness and raise funds for research and treatment.

Andrew Jones not only leaves behind an incredibly inspirational story with the Longhorn program but he also leaves behind what may be Shaka Smart’s best team, that will likely have the grit and determination after his example to prove that they belong in the top-3 talk with Baylor, Kansas and Texas Tech.

Early Big 12 power rankings for 2020-21. dark. Next

It’s hard to talk about the top of the league without mentioning breakout star Oscar Tshiebwe and the Mountaineers who like the Longhorns will want to claim a spot at the top of the Big 12 come seasons end. Them along with the previously mentioned Oklahoma State Cowboys and the number 1 player in the coming class of 2020 Cade Cunningham, makes for a VERY scary Big 12 Conference here in 2020-21.

We will be following all of these headlines and many more very closely and I’ll have updates available as they come!

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