Big 12 (Quincy Acy, Baylor)
Player of the Year: Undecided
You have to look at what Jordan Hamilton has done to keep Texas close to the top of the rankings all season long; you have to look at the Morris twins at Kansas; and then you've got K-State's Jacob Pullen. Pullen is doing an outstanding job of living up to his words and trying to keep his team out of the NIT. The Morris twins can't share the award. And I'm undecided on what's more valuable: Hamilton playing at a high level all season or what Pullen is doing right now, when his team needs it most.
Coach of the Year: Frank Martin, Kansas State I just like his coaching style. He's had a lot of team problems -- a couple of guys getting suspended or leaving the team -- and he's still got them playing well. I think it takes a strong player to play for him with his coaching style. I remember when we played them last season, and at one point in the game I was right near their bench. One of his players made a mistake and he hit him with that look. I was right in the line of fire and he maybe intimidated me a little bit. He gets his guys to play hard.Conference tourney winner: Kansas
Something amazing always happens in our tournament. My freshman year we were picked one of the last seeds and we made it to the championship game. Everyone steps up their game to another level. In the conference right now, Kansas is playing pretty well, but in the tournament you never know.
Dark horse: Us and Colorado
We want to make it back to the tournament and we're hearing a lot of negatives ... people saying we're not the same team. Obviously we're not; we have only two returning starters. We want to prove that people are wrong about us. Alec Burks is playing at a high level right now and carrying Colorado. So I'd say us two.
Predicted number of NCAA tournament bids for Big 12: 4
Kansas, Texas, K-State and Missouri. If it's five, that fifth one is totally up in the air.
