Oklahoma State Picked to Finish Sixth in Big 12 Preseason Basketball Poll

The Cowboys received their highest Big 12 preseason poll placement since the Marcus Smart/Markell Brown/Le’Bryan Nash era.

Oklahoma State was sixth on the poll that was announced Thursday, the highest placement for OSU since the 2013-14 season. The Big 12 coaches vote in the poll.

Rank	Team (First-Place Votes)	Points
1	Kansas (8)	80
2	Baylor (1)	71
3	Texas Tech (1)	62
4	Texas	57
5	West Virginia	45
6	Oklahoma State	42
7	Iowa State	30
8	Oklahoma	29
9	Kansas State	23
10	TCU	11

The Cowboys were picked to finish last in the first two seasons of Mike Boynton’s tenure, but the Boynton-led teams avoided a 10th-place finish in both of those seasons. In fact, OSU has finished better than its preseason placement in six of the past eight seasons.

If the Cowboys are able to finish at their projected spot, it’ll likely mean OSU will make the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Boynton. The Big 12 has sent at least six teams to the tournament in each of the past six seasons.

The Cowboys return all five of their starters from last season in Isaac Likekele, Thomas Dziagwa, Lindy Waters, Cameron McGriff and Yor Anei. Anei, who led the league in blocked shots last season, was named a Big 12 honorable mention Wednesday.

It’s the ninth-straight season Kansas has been selected atop the conference. The Jayhawks have gotten at least a share of the Big 12 title in 18 of the past 23 seasons.