ASU men’s basketball finish near bottom of Big 12 Coaches Poll

ASU head coach Bobby Hurley talks with other coaches on the sideline of a game during the Section 7 basketball tournament at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Friday, June 21, 2024. © Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

With the expansion of the Big 12 Conference up to 16 teams, the coaches’ 2024-25 preseason poll is in and ASU men’s basketball is projected to finish near the bottom despite the roster improving dramatically.

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After every head coach around the conference casted their votes, Arizona State was 12th with 64 points while arch-enemy Arizona slotted in fifth with 179 points and received a first-place vote. The coaches were not allowed to pick their own teams in the poll.

Utah and Colorado, the two other former Pac-12 programs that joined ASU and Arizona in the Big 12, were the two worst-ranked teams on the list. Colorado ended up in 15th and Utah was dead-last.

Here are the results of the preseason poll:

Preseason Big 12 Poll

1. Kansas (9) – 215 points
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

Key: Numbers in parenthesis = first-place votes

At the top of the list, college basketball powerhouse Kansas was the overall leader with 215 points and nine first-place votes. This is the 20th time the Jayhawks have been No. 1 in the preseason poll.

Houston was not far behind, clinching second with 215 points and five first-place votes. Besides Arizona, the only other school to record a first-place vote was Iowa State who were third with 194 points.

As for who made the preseason first-team and second-team in the conference, Arizona’s Caleb Love was the lone player from either local university. There were no Sun Devils.

Preseason All-Big 12 First Team

Caleb Love – Arizona
LJ Cryer – Houston
J’Wan Roberts – Houston
Tamin Lipsey – Iowa State
*Hunter Dickinson – Kansas*

Key: Asterisks = Unanimous Selection

Preseason All-Big 12 Second Team

Norchad Omier – Baylor
Jeremy Roach – Baylor
Keshon Gilbert – Iowa State
Dajuan Harris Jr. – Kansas
Coleman Hawkins – Kansas State

Even though they aren’t predicted to have a successful season, ASU has all the tools to make a splash in the program’s new conference. Head coach Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils picked up five-star recruits Jayden Quaintance and Joson Sanon who could turn out to be a dynamic duo from the jump with their high level of skill and athleticism. Transfers like BJ Freeman (Milwaukee), Basheer Jihad (Ball State) and Alston Mason (Missouri State) are expected to complement Arizona State’s goal of improving immensely over last year where the school was 14-18 overall and 8-12 in the Pac-12.

With the season inching closer and close to starting, the Sun Devils squad will look to prove the doubters wrong and make a statement in arguably the tough conference college basketball has to offer.

Report: Utah receives major injury boost, star quarterback Cam Rising to start vs. ASU

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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini