Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll Out - Cowboys Picked 10th

(The Big 12 Conference and Oklahoma State University athletic media relations added to this story.)

STILLWATER – The Big 12 Conference Preseason Coaches Poll was released for the upcoming basketball season on Friday (Oct. 13) morning. Hopefully, the coaches poll will be doomed with it’s unlucky release on a Friday the 13^th.  Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton would like to see it be inaccurate as the Cowboys were picked at No. 10. We suspected as much, but the bright spot is the poll clumped the Pokes closely with Cincinnati and Oklahoma in the 10-12 places. Oklahoma State was 10^th with 57 points, Cincinnati had 55 points to be next, and Oklahoma with 54 points was in the 12^th position. 

Seventh-year head coach Mike Boynton Jr. will lean on a pair of veteran guards in Bryce Thompson (last year's leading scorer at 11.2 points per game) and John-Michael Wright (9.8 ppg) while working to get nine talented newcomers up to speed. The Cowboys' freshman class has been ranked as high as seventh nationally, headlined by McDonald's All-American Brandon Garrison and Team USA U19 standout Eric Dailey Jr.

Oklahoma State Athletics

John-Michael Wright dribble inside against Kansas.

Boynton, Thompson and Wright will represent OSU in Kansas City next Wednesday, Oct. 18 at the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tipoff, presented by Old Trapper. Interviews from the event will air from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Coaches press conferences will be carried live from 9:10-10:50 a.m. and 1:30-3:25 p.m. CT.

The Cowboys welcome Oklahoma Baptist for an exhibition game on Wednesday, Nov. 1 (7 p.m. CT) before opening the regular season Monday, Nov. 6 against Abilene Christian (8 p.m. CT).

A familiar name is at the top of the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll as Kansas was chosen to win the 2023-24 regular season title in a vote of the Conference’s head coaches. In 28 seasons, KU has been picked outright or tied for first in 20 preseason ledgers and won or shared the regular season championship in 21 years. A coaches’ preseason poll was not conducted in the Big 12’s first season of 1996-97.

This season marks the first for the Conference to compete with 14 teams. The Jayhawks were the top pick on 12 ballots and totaled 168 points. New  Conference member Houston received the other two first-place votes and compiled 153 points. Texas (third), Baylor (fourth) and TCU (fifth) rounded out the top five. The remaining spots were Kansas State (sixth), Iowa State (seventh), Texas Tech (eighth), West Virginia (ninth), Oklahoma State (10th), Cincinnati (11th), Oklahoma (12th), BYU (13th) and UCF (14th).

The Big 12 placed seven of 10 teams in the 2023 NCAA Tournament and captured consecutive national championships in 2021 (Baylor) and 2022 (Kansas). Conference teams played in four consecutive Final Fours from 2018-2022, including three straight national championship games (2019, 2021, 2022).