Horns Illustrated All-Big-12 Team

On the eve of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Horns Illustrated wraps up the regular season with its all-Big 12 teams.

The Big 12, from top to bottom, has arguably been the best conference in college basketball this season. Seven teams posted 20 wins during the regular season, and thanks to late-season surges by Oklahoma State and Baylor, the conference could see as many as seven teams selected for the NCAA Tournament. With such depth comes a plethora of talent and many players deserving of all-conference honors.

With that in mind, the all-conference honorees are:

Player of the Year: Melvin Ejim, Iowa State

If Marcus Smart hadn’t shoved a fan in the waning moments against Texas Tech and received a three-game suspension, this award might have been his. But it’s Ejim who gets the nod instead, helping put the Cyclones on the map with their best start in school history and first Top 10 ranking since 2001. Scoring a Big 12-record 48 points against TCU helps, too. He ranked second in the conference in scoring and rebounding.

Newcomer/Rookie of the Year: Andrew Wiggins, Kansas

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It’s not easy coming into college with the hype as Wiggins did, but he managed to score a team-high 16.8 points per game and help the Jayhawks win their mind-boggling 10th consecutive regular season conference championship. His teammate, Joel Embiid, was his only real challenger for this honor. The freshman capped his regular season with a 41-point effort at West Virginia.

Coach of the Year: Rick Barnes, Texas

Lon Kruger guided Oklahoma to a second-place finish after being picked to finish fifth. Bill Self coached the conference’s top slew of freshman to another league title. But Barnes gets the nod for taking a team in disarray as late as August and guiding it to a third place finish after being picked to finish eighth. Despite a disappointing end to the regular season, Barnes’ Longhorns overachieved, putting last season’s 16-18 debacle in the rear view mirror.

First team:

Melvin Ejim, Iowa State: The Cyclones are poised to make three straight NCAA Tournament appearances for just the second time in school history, largely due to Ejim’s team-best 18.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Andrew Wiggins, Kansas: His 41-point effort at West Virginia capped a freshman season where Wiggins averaged almost 17 points and six rebounds while leading his team in minutes played and steals and ranking second in blocked shots. As a wing player, Wiggins’ 19 rebounds at Iowa State were tops in the league this season. Given his hype coming in, detractors say Wiggins didn’t do enough to assert himself, but the freshman matured and developed as the season progressed and is playing his best as the tournament approaches.

Joel Embiid, Kansas: Though he played second fiddle to Wiggins amongst league freshman, the 7-footer might very well be the top pick in next year’s draft. Despite battling a sore back, Embiid ranked second in the league in blocked shots and fifth in rebounding while anchoring the inside for the league champs.

Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State: Has anyone impacted his team’s fortunes more than Smart? After his surprising return for his sophomore season, Smart’s suspension contributed to the Cowboys spin from league co-favorite to a seven-game losing streak and eighth-place finish. But his return has the Cowboys surging again, entering the conference tourney having won four of five including a win over Kansas.

Juwan Staten, West Virginia: The league leader in scoring (18.4), assists (5.9) and minutes played (37.6), Staten proved one of the more explosive and versatile players. He averaged 5.9 rebounds, shot 49.2 percent from the field (5th in the league) and grabbed 1.2 steals (8th in the league).

Second team:

Cam Ridley, Texas: Who saw Texas’ improvement from 16-18 to a team that contended for the conference title? What drove that improvement? Look first at the big man in the middle, one of the conference’s most improved players. After a forgettable freshman year, Ridley put himself through a Dexter Pittman-like transformation, both in body and performance, going from 4.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game to 11.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game in 25 minutes. His greatest improvement, though? At the free throw line. From an abysmal 33.3 percent shooting at the charity stripe to 62.6 percent.

Cory Jefferson, Baylor: The Bears have gotten six much-needed victories in their last seven games, with Jefferson scoring more than 20 points in three of them, including 21 in a double-overtime win over Kansas State and 25 in an overtime victory over Oklahoma State. He’s been the Bears’ most consistent post players.

Markel Brown, Oklahoma State: Part of the Cowboys’ three-headed monster with Smart and Le’Bryan Nash, Brown became the Cowboys most consistent player. He averaged 17.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 30 assists while ranking second on the team in blocks, three point shooting and free throw shooting. Brown played every position for the Cowboys from point guard to power forward.

Buddy Hield, Oklahoma: The most consistent performer, and explosive of late, for the resurgent Sooners. All of OU’s starters averaged in double figures, but Hield topped them at 16.8 points per game. He also ranked in the conference’s top 10 in steals, shooting percentage, three-point percentage and three-pointers made.

De’Andre Kane, Iowa State: Kane is the latest in a long line of transfers Fred Hoiberg has made a living out of feeding the Cyclones program with. After averaging 15.1, 16.5 and 15.1 points per game at Marshall over the last three years, he picked up right where he left off, putting up 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds – both career-highs – along with 5.8 assists per game.

Honorable Mention:

Jonathan Holmes, Texas; Eron Harris, West Virginia; Le’Bryan Nash, Oklahoma State; Georges Niang, Iowa State, Kyan Anderson, TCU, Isaiah Taylor, Texas; Thomas Gipson, Kansas State; Marcus Foster, Kansas State.

Complied by Jay Plotkin, Christian Corona
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