Baylor tabbed Big 12 men's basketball favorite over Kansas

Baylor has been tabbed by Big 12 coaches as favorite to win conference title this season, with Bears returning four starters from a team that likely would have been a . 1 seed if re had been an NCAA Tournament last spring.

In preseason poll released Thursday, Bears received seven first-place votes from coaches, who weren’t able to vote for ir own teams. Kansas got or three first-place votes and was second.

Bears, 26-4 last season, are led by junior guard Jared Butler. league's top returning scorer (16 points a game) was named preseason Big 12 player of year.

This is first time Jayhawks haven’t been picked as preseason favorite since 2011-12. Kansas was 28-3 last season and was . 1 team in final AP Top 25 poll before rest of Big 12 tournament and NCAA Tournament were canceled because of coronavirus pandemic.

West Virginia, Texas and Texas Tech rounded out top five. Oklahoma was picked sixth, followed by Oklahoma State, Iowa State, TCU and Kansas State.

Im credits: AP