October 18, 2000
Texas A&M forward Nick Anderson has been named Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year in a preseason vote of the conference coaches, the league office announced Wednesday.
The 6-6 Anderson was a Parade All-America selection last year and was ranked as the 18th-highest recruit in the nation by The Sporting News. The forward averaged 23.7 points, 14.6 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 7.4 blocks and 3.4 steals per game as a senior at Southern Lab High School in Baton Rouge, La., last year.
A&M's Bernard King, last year's Big 12 Freshman of the Year, received votes for the preseason All-Big 12 team.
Returning five starters and nine lettermen from a 2000 NCAA Tournament team, Kansas is the coaches' favorite to win the Big 12 championship. Kansas received 11 possible first-place votes of the league mentors, who were not allowed to vote for their own team. The conference coaches also selected a preseason All-Big 12 team, and preseason player and newcomer of the year.
Iowa State senior Jamaal Tinsley was the overwhelming selection for preseason player of the year. The 6-3, Brooklyn, N.Y., point guard earned first team All-Big 12 honors last season and was the league newcomer of the year last year. Tinsley, a preseason Playboy All-America for 2000-01, played a major role in the Cyclones' 32-5 record, which ended in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. In 1999-2000 ISU won its first conference title since the 1945 Big Six crown after going 14-2 in Big 12 play.
The coaches' preseason all-league team consists of two seniors - Tinsley and Nebraska center Kimani Ffriend - and three sophomores - Kansas forwards Drew Gooden and Nick Collison and Missouri guard Kareem Rush. Ffriend was a second-team All-Big 12 selection last season, averaging 12 ppg and 8.8 rpg.Gooden (10.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg), Collison (10.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg), and Rush (14.7ppg, 4.3 rpg) were all honorable mention all-conference performers last season and also members of the league's all-freshman squad.
Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors go to Texas junior guard/forward Maurice Evans. The 6-5 Wichita, Kan., transfer from Wichita State led the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring and was ninth nationally with a 22.6 points per game average in 1998-99. He also shot 46.1 percent from the floor, 42.1 percent from three-point range, and 79.2 from the free throw line his sophomore season. Only Oklahoma junior Aaron McGhee, a forward transfer from Vincennes (Ind.) JC, received other votes for preseason newcomer honors.
Anderson will be looking to become the third Texas A&M Aggie to earn Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors as Jerald Brown was the selection at the conclusion of the 1997 season and King last year (Associated Press outright and co-freshman of the year with Missouri's Rush by the coaches). Other freshmen receiving coaches' votes include Oklahoma forward Johnnie Gilbert, Oklahoma State forward Terrance Crawford and Texas forward Brian Boddicker.
The coaches' poll reflects directly on the seven Big 12 squads which advanced to the postseason in 2000. As previously mentioned, Kansas was the unanimous choice with Oklahoma and Missouri in a tight race for second. Defending Big 12 champion Iowa State was fourth in the coaches' poll followed by Texas and Oklahoma State. The aforementioned participated in the 2000 NCAA Tournament with Iowa State and Oklahoma State advancing to the quarterfinals, the farthest any league team(s) has reached in the four-yhistory of the conference. Colorado, a 2000 NIT participant, is seventh in the coaches' vote.
This is the third year of the Big 12 men's basketball preseason coaches poll. In 1997-98 the league mentors successfully chose Kansas as its eventual champion. The following year, 1998-99, the league coaches chose Oklahoma State with Texas, a fifth-place preseason pick, winning the title. Last year, the coaches chose Kansas with eventual conference champ Iowa State a No. 6 preseason selection.
Kansas head coach Roy Williams is entering his 13th season as head coach of the Jayhawks, which includes seven of the school's 45 conference titles. KU won the first two Big 12 championships in 1997 and 1998. Under Williams, Kansas has also won four league tournament crowns, which includes three (1997, '98, '99) of the Big 12's four. Last year KU made its 11th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and was fifth in the Big 12 with a 24-10 overall and 11-5 league record.
Williams has posted a 329-82 record in his previous 11 seasons and became the fastest coach in NCAA Division I history to record 300 victories. Additionally, since 1990, Kansas is the only Big 12 school to have finished in the upper half of its conference standings every season.
A media preseason poll will be conducted in conjunction with the Big 12 Basketball Media Days, Oct. 25 and 26, at the Embassy Suites KCI in Kansas City, Mo. Should the media agree with the coaches, Kansas would be its conference pick for the seventh time since the 1992-93 season. The Jayhawks were the Big Eight Conference preseason choice in 1992-93, 1994-95, and 1995-96 and the Big 12 selection in 1996-97 (by media only), 1997-98, 1998-99 and the 2000-01 coaches.
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Big 12 Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Kansas (11) 121
2. Oklahoma 102
3. Missouri 100
4. Iowa State 93
5. Texas 82
6. Oklahoma State 78
7. Colorado 57
8. Nebraska 45
9. Texas Tech 39
10. Texas A&M 34
11. Baylor 28
12. Kansas State 13
() Denotes first place votes
Note: Points were awarded 11 for first,
10 for second, nine for third, etc.
Coaches were not allowed to vote for
their own team.
Preseason All-Big 12 Team
Name, School Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl-Exp Ppg Rpg Hometown (Previous school)
Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa State G 6-3 195 Sr-1L 11.0 5.1 Brooklyn, N.Y. (Mt. San Jacinto [Calif.] CC)
Nick Collison, Kansas F 6-9 240 So-1L 10.5 6.9 Iowa Falls, Iowa
Drew Gooden, Kansas F 6-9 221 So-1L 10.6 7.5 Richmond, Calif. (El Cerrito HS)
Kareem Rush, Missouri F 6-6 214 So-1L 14.7 4.3 Kansas City, Mo. (Pembroke Hill HS)
Kimani Ffriend, Nebraska C 6-11 220 Sr-1L 12.0 8.8 Kingston, Jamaica (Gulf Coast [Fla.] CC)
Others Receiving Votes: Terry Black, F, Sr., Baylor; Jamahl Mosley, F, Sr., Colorado; Eric Chenowith, C, Sr., Kansas; Kenny Gregory, G/F, Sr., Kansas; Clarence Gilbert, G, Jr., Missouri; Cookie Belcher, G, Sr., Nebraska; Nolan Johnson, G, Sr., Oklahoma; Hollis Price, G, So., Oklahoma; J.R. Raymond, G., Jr., Oklahoma; Fredrik Jonzen, F, Jr., Oklahoma State; Chris Owens, F, Jr., Texas; BERNARD KING, G, SO., TEXAS A&M; Andy Ellis, C, Jr., Texas Tech.
Preseason Honors
Player of the Year: Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa State
Newcomer of the Year: Maurice Evans, Texas
Freshman of the Year: NICK ANDERSON, TEXAS A&M