On Thursday, the Big 12 conference released the results of the preseason conference coaches poll, and for the second time in three seasons, Baylor was picked as the league's preseason favorite.
Kansas State was picked to finish 10th in head coach Jerome Tang's first season leading the Wildcats.
In Tang's first season, the Wildcat roster is completely remade heading into the 2022-23 season because of drastic losses through the transfer portal after the resignation of former head coach Bruce Weber after last season.
The Wildcats return two starters from last season's team, Markquis Nowell and Ismael Massoud. Marquee transfer addition Keyontae Johnson is expected to be one of the Wildcat's best players in 2022-23, but he hasn't played since the 2020-21 season after he collapsed on the court during a game because of a heart condition. Kansas State doctors have cleared Johnson to play entering the season.
Nowell was an All-Big 12 defender last season for the Wildcats. He averaged 12.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game on the offensive end with 5.0 assists. His shooting stroke has proven to be unreliable, though, making just 30 percent of his 140 three-point attempts from a year ago.
During the 2019-20 season, Johnson averaged 14.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game for the Florida Gators while also making 38.0 percent of his three-point attempts.
Arkansas State transfer Desi Sills is another integral player for the Wildcats entering the 2022-23 season. Sills started his career at Arkansas but transferred after three seasons to play with Arkansas State in 2021-22. Last season, he averaged 12.6 points a game with 2.8 assists. Due to nonbasketball basketball circumstances, Sills wasn't in Manhattan, Kan., until Wednesday of this week.
Tang comes to Kansas State after previously serving as an assistant coach to Baylor's Scott Drew for the last 19 seasons. From 2017-22, Tang was an associate head coach and helped the Bears win the national championship.
Reigning national champion Kansas was picked to second in the Big 12, just one vote behind Baylor for the top spot in the league. Kansas head coach Bill Self does have to replace lots of contributors from last season with Remy Martin, Ochai Agbagi and David McCormack all no longer with the program. But the Jayhawks did receive a boost when wing Jalen Wilson announced he return to the program this summer.
Texas received one first-place vote in the poll. Chris Beard is entering his second season leading his alma mater after the Longhorns earned a six-seed in last season's NCAA Tournament. Guard Marcus Carr returns while the backcourt also received a boost from Iowa State transfer Tyrese Hutner, one of the most highly regarded transfers entering the season. The Longhorns are a more experienced team in 2022 than they were a year ago when their roster was largely filled with transfers.
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