There remains a long journey to climb out of the Big 12 basement. Yet the Colorado men’s basketball team will start the 2025-26 season exactly where it began last year.
The Big 12 released its preseason coaches poll for men’s basketball on Thursday, with coach Tad Boyle’s Buffaloes finishing 15th with 37 points. That is the same placement and point total the Buffs received last year, but an 0-13 start in league play ultimately doomed them to a last-place finish in the regular season.
Houston, ranked second nationally in the preseason AP Top 25, took the Big 12’s top spot with 14 of 16 first-place votes in a poll in which coaches can’t vote for their own team. No. 8 BYU claimed one of the other first-place votes and finished second, 20 points behind Houston. Texas Tech was third followed by Arizona, which received the other first-place vote.
Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor and Cincinnati rounded out the top eight. The Buffs finished two points behind 14th-place Central Florida and three ahead of last-place Arizona State.
Texas Tech’s JT Toppin was named as the Preseason Player of the Year. Toppin was one of four unanimous selections for the preseason All-Big 12 team, a group that also includes BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and Milos Uzan of Houston.
No CU player was named to the 10-player preseason All-Big 12 team. Peterson was tabbed as the league’s preseason Freshman of the Year while Texas Tech’s LeJuan Watts, a transfer from Washington State, was named the preseason Newcomer of the Year.
Big 12 2025-26 men’s basketball preseason poll
- Houston (14) 224
- BYU (1) 204
- Texas Tech 200
- Arizona (1) 179
- Iowa State 170
- Kansas 163
- Baylor 137
- Cincinnati 120
- K-State 117
- TCU 90
- West Virginia 79
- Oklahoma State 77
- Utah 50
- UCF 39
- Colorado 37
- Arizona State – 34
Big 12 Preseason all-conference
AJ Dybantsa, BYU*Richie Saunders, BYUEmanuel Sharp, HoustonJoseph Tugler, HoustonMilos Uzan, Houston*Tamin Lipsey, Iowa StateDarryn Peterson, Kansas*P.J. Haggerty, K-StateChristian Anderson, Texas TechJT Toppin, Texas Tech*(*-unanimous selection)
Preseason Player of the Year: JT Toppin, Texas TechPreseason Newcomer of the Year: LeJuan Watts, Texas TechPreseason Freshman of the Year: Darryn Peterson, Kansas
