Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang talks about the Big 12
Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang talks about how strong the expanded Big 12 Conference is in 2024-25.
K-State Athletics
Kansas State basketball forward Coleman Hawkins was voted co-newcomer and named to the preseason all-conference second team, but that was all the love the Wildcats got from Big 12 coaches Thursday ahead of the 2024-25 season.
K-State was picked to finish eighth in the newly expanded 16-team conference leading into Jerome Tang’s third season as head coach. The Wildcats had 133 points, just two behind No. 7 Texas Tech’s 135 and five behind sixth-place Cincinnati (140)
Kansas was a narrow favorite to win the league, receiving nine first-place votes and 215 points total, followed by defending champion Houston with 211 points and five votes to repeat. Iowa State (194), Baylor (185) and Arizona (179) rounded out the top five, with Iowa State and Baylor each receiving one first-place vote.
Tang talked about the overall strength of the Big 12 during a news conference last month before the Wildcats’ first official practice.
Related: Kansas State basketball reveals full 2024-25 schedule with record 20 Big 12 games
Related: With Kansas State’s basketball roster fully stocked, Jerome Tang is eager to get started
“I will say this about our league. The Big 12 is the best basketball league in the country before last year, and then we added the conference champion (Houston),” Tang said. “We were the best basketball league in the country last year and now we’ve added four schools, one of them that is picked to win the national championship.
“And we have four or five other schools in the league that people are picking to have a chance to win a national championship. So, that’s at least six games this year we’re going to play against a team that in the preseason people thought had a chance to win a national championship. And so that’s what makes it exciting for you as a coach and a competitor.”
Much like in Tang’s first season, the Wildcats underwent a nearly complete roster turnover with only three players and one regular contributor back from last year’s team that finished with a 19-15 overall record and went 8-10 in the Big 12.
Super-senior forward David N’Guessan is the only Wildcat who was a regular part of the rotation last year, starting 21 games and averaging 7.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. Hawkins, a heralded graduate transfer from Illinois, was a second-team All-Big Ten pick last season after averaging 12.1 points for the Illini.
Hawkins shared the preseason newcomer of the year award with Baylor’s Jeremy Roach. The preseason player of the year pick was Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson, while Baylor’s V.J. Edgecombe was preseason freshman of the year.
Joining Dickinson on the all-conference first team were Arizona’s Caleb Love, Houston’s L.J. Cryer and J’Wan Roberts, and Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey.
K-State opens its season on Nov. 5 against New Orleans after entertaining Fort Hays State for its lone exhibition game on Oct. 29.
Big 12 Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
- Kansas (9 first-place votes), 215 points
- Houston (5), 211
- Iowa State (1), 194
- Baylor, 185
- Arizona (1), 179
- Cincinnati, 140
- Texas Tech, 135
- Kansas State, 133
- BYU,116
- TCU, 90
- UCF, 83
- Arizona State, 64
- West Virginia, 62
- Oklahoma State, 46
- Colorado, 37
- Utah,30
Preseason All-Big 12 First Team
Caleb Love, ArizonaLJ Cryer, HoustonJ’Wan Roberts, HoustonTamin Lipsey, Iowa StateHunter Dickinson, Kansas**- unanimous selection
Preseason All-Big 12 Second team
Norchad Omier, BaylorJeremy Roach, BaylorKeshon Gilbert, Iowa StateDajuan Harris Jr., KansasColeman Hawkins, K-StatePreseason Player of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, KansasPreseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Jeremy Roach, BaylorPreseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Coleman Hawkins, K-StatePreseason Freshman of the Year: VJ Edgecombe, Baylor
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
