The Big 12 has publicly announced its preseason player awards on Wednesday and projections on Thursday, as voted on by the league’s coaches. Kansas was selected as the favorite to win the 2021-22 regular season title and Jayhawks guard Remy Martin, a transfer from Arizona State, was awarded Preseason Player of the Year.
The selection marks the tenth time in the last 11 years that Kansas has been selected as the preseason favorite. The Jayhawks received eight of the ten available first-place votes, earning 80 points. The other two went to Texas, who was voted to finish second and accumulated 70 points. Defending national champion Baylor clocked in at third, trailing just behind Texas with 67 points, followed by Texas Tech at fourth with 51 points.
The remainder of the field includes Oklahoma State and West Virginia tied for fifth with 49 points, No. 7 Oklahoma (29), No. 8 Texas Christian (24), No. 9 Kansas State (22) and No. 10 Iowa State (9).
Martin joins the Big 12 following three All-Pac-12 selections, including All-Pac-12 Second team in 2018-19 and two All-Pac-12 First Team selections in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
This past season for the Sun Devils, the fifth-year senior averaged 19.1 points, 3.7 assists while shooting 34.6% from deep per game.
The Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year is one of four transfers joining the Jayhawks, joining Jalen Coleman-Lands from Iowa State, Cam Martin of Missouri Southern State and Joseph Yesufu coming in from Drake.
Guard Marcus Carr of Texas was named the Preseason Newcomer of the Year for the Big 12. Transferring in from Minnesota, Carr was seen as one of the top available players in the portal and becomes the star addition for the Longhorns under first year head coach Chris Beard.
The Montverde Academy standout and Toronto native led the Big Ten in minutes played per game and total free throws attempted. In addition, he was third in the conference in scoring at 19.4 points on 15.6 field goals attempted per game.
Freshman forward Kendall Brown of Baylor was named the conference’s Preseason Freshman of the Year. As the highest rated recruit and only five-star to join a Big 12 school this year per 247Sports 2021 rankings, Brown enters into his collegiate career previously being ranked as No. 13 player in his high school class. The former Sunrise Christian Academy standout was also named to the 2021 Nike Hoop Summit Team.
The addition of Brown helped to elevate the Bears’ incoming recruiting class as No. 15 in the country and second in the Big 12. Baylor brings in Langston Love and Jeremy Sochan as incoming freshman as well.
The Preseason All-Big 12 Team was comprised of six players due to a tie resulting in an additional athlete. Five of the six players named to the team were listed as seniors, with the other being a junior. The team is comprised of Baylor’s guard/forward Matthew Mayer, Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji, Martin, Kansas forward David McCormack, Carr and Texas Tech guard Terrence Shannon Jr.
Seven players were named to the Preseason Honorable Mention list. This is comprised of Baylor’s James Akinjo, Oklahoma State’s Avery Anderson and Moussa Cisse, Texas Christian’s Mike Miles, Texas’s Andrew Jones and Tre Mitchell and West Virginia’s Taz Sherman.
The first Big 12 games of the season will get underway on Tuesday, November 9. Conference play will begin on New Years Day, Saturday January First, with each team in the Big 12 playing throughout the day.
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