Cowgirl Basketball Tabbed Big 12 favorites; Crooks, McGill Collect Preseason Player Awards
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State women's basketball is the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 Conference title for the first time in program history, the conference announced today. Additionally, Audi Crooks was named the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, and Liv McGillwas voted the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
The Cowgirls finished with 215 points and received seven of 16 possible first-place votes from the league's head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own team or players. TCU finished second with 212 points and six first-place votes, followed by Baylor (199 points, 2), West Virginia (186 points, 1) and Kansas (160 points).
Oklahoma State is seeking its first conference title in the Big 12 era to pair with its 1990-91 Big Eight regular-season championship. Under fifth-year head coach Jacie Hoyt, the Cowgirls have finished inside the top four of the Big 12 three times and are coming off a 24-10 season that included OSU's first NCAA Tournament win since 2020-21.
Crooks, a three-time All-American at Iowa State, earned Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year honors for the second straight season, becoming the first Cowgirl to receive the honor. McGill is the first Cowgirl to be named the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year since Marisha Wallace in 2013-14.
The pair were also voted to the league's 10-member preseason All-Big 12 team, with Crooks tabbed a unanimous selection. OSU is one of two teams in the conference with multiple selections, joining Kansas.
Crooks, the consensus No. 1-ranked transfer in the country, joined the Cowgirls as one of the country's most dominant post players. The Algona, Iowa, native finished the 2025-26 season as the nation's second-leading scorer with 25.8 points per game and ranked second in the country in field goal percentage at 64.9%. She was one of two DI (men's or women's), NBA, or WNBA players this century to have at least 25.0 points per game while shooting at least 64.7% from the field.
Crooks holds the Big 12 record for the fewest games played to reach 2,000 career points (89 games) and has scored in double figures in every game since her collegiate debut (98 games), the longest active streak in NCAA women's basketball.
McGill, a Minneapolis, Minn., native, was a consensus top-five transfer portal prospect and is one of the most exciting players to watch in collegiate basketball. She earned honorable mention All-America honors from the Associated Press and the USBWA after her sophomore season at Florida, where she finished ninth in the country with 6.3 assists per game and 11th nationally with 22.5 points per game.
The 2026 first-team All-SEC selection ranked in the top 30 nationally in eight categories last season en route to setting UF single-season records for points (697), scoring average (22.5) and 30+ point games (five).
Crooks, McGill and the rest of the Cowgirls open the regular season against Southern on Nov. 2 at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
2026-27 Big 12 Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
- Oklahoma State (7) – 215 points
- TCU (6) – 212 points
- Baylor (2) – 199 points
- West Virginia (1) – 186 points
- Kansas – 160 points
- Arizona State – 143 points
- BYU – 137 points
- Colorado – 126 points
- Kansas State – 121 points
- Texas Tech – 103 points
- Iowa State – 78 points
- Utah – 77 points
- Arizona – 55 points
- Cincinnati – 43 points
- Houston – 38 points
- UCF – 27 points
