LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball was always going to enter the season as a Big 12 Conference contender, and now the preseason coaches poll has confirmed that.

Kansas, in a poll released Thursday, was picked No. 1 in the 16-team league. They received both the most votes, and the most first-place votes. Its chief competitors look to be Houston, Iowa State, Baylor and Arizona, as is outlined in the poll’s top five.

Kansas also saw graduate center Hunter Dickinson picked as a preseason first-team honoree, and the preseason player of the year. Graduate guard Dajuan Harris Jr. made the league’s preseason second team. In 28 years, per a KU release, Kansas has been picked to finish first 21 times.

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Here’s more:

Big 12 preseason coaches poll

Place — Team (first place votes)

1 — Kansas (9) – 215

2 — Houston (5) – 211

3 — Iowa State (1) – 194

4 — Baylor – 185

5 — Arizona (1) – 179

6 — Cincinnati – 140

7 — Texas Tech – 135

8 — Kansas State– 133

9 — BYU – 116

10 — TCU – 90

11 — UCF – 83

12 — Arizona State – 64

13 — West Virginia – 62

14 — Oklahoma State – 46

15 — Colorado – 37

16 — Utah – 30

Preseason All-Big 12 First Team

Caleb Love, Arizona; L.J. Cryer, Houston; J’Wan Roberts, Houston; Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State; Hunter Dickinson, Kansas*

Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team

Norchad Omier, Baylor; Jeremy Roach, Baylor; Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State; Dajuan Harris Jr., Kansas; Coleman Hawkins, K-State

* — unanimous selection

Preseason Player of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Jeremy Roach, Baylor

Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Coleman Hawkins, K-State

Freshman of the Year: VJ Edgecombe, Baylor

Jordan Guskey covers the University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball is Big 12 Conference favorite for 2024-25 season