Men’s basketball picked fourth in Big 12

By Steve Lansdale

IRVING, Texas — The Big 12 Conference announced Thursday that the league's men's basketball coaches have picked the University of Texas to finish fourth in Shaka Smart's first season as the Longhorns' head coach.

Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.

The Kansas Jayhawks were picked to win the conference, collecting nine first-place votes and 81 points. The Oklahoma Sooners were picked second, with 70 points, while the Iowa State Cyclones compiled 68 points and were tabbed to finish third and earning Kansas coach Bill Self's first-place vote. Texas received 51 points.

Big 12 Media Day will be held next Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, which also will be the site of this season's Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship. The event can be seen live at big12sports.com.

The Longhorns tip off their 2015-16 season with an exhibition home game against Tarleton State at 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 6 at the Frank Erwin Center in a game that can be seen nationally on the Longhorn Network. Texas opens the regular season against Washington in Shanghai, China, at 9 p.m. (Central time), Friday, Nov. 13 in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN.

2015-16 Big 12 Basketball Preseason Poll

Rank        Team (First-place votes)        Points
1.             Kansas (9)                                 81
2.             Oklahoma                                  70
3.             Iowa State (1)                            68
4.             Texas                                         51
5.             Baylor                                        49
6.             West Virginia                             47
7.             Oklahoma State                         33
8.             Kansas State                             18
TCU                                             18
10.           Texas Tech                               15