KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Forward Danny Manning of Kansas is the pre-season pick as Big Eight basketball palyer of the year for the third year in a row, but sports writers and broadcasters participating in the conference’s ninth annual poll strongly favor Missouri to repeat as the champion.
In five of the previous eight years, the scribes have correctly predicted the champion. This time, the record 55 participants gave Missouri 36 first-place votes for a total of 415 points out of a possible 440.
Kansas was next with 17 first-place votes and 396 points, while two voters picked Oklahoma, giving the Sooners, 331 points.
Kansas State got 276 points, Iowa State 197, Oklahoma State 172, Nebraska 128 and Colorado 65.
In the balloting for player of the year, Manning had 47 votes, to four for Missouri’s Derrick Chievous and one for Iowa State’s Jeff Grayer.
Oklahoma’s Mookie Blaylock was the pre-season choice for the newcomer of the year, getting eight votes, to seven for Marvin Branch of Kansas. Players from all eight schools got votes in this category.
The top five vote-getters in the balloting for the all-conference team were Manning – a unanimous choice – Chievous, Grayer, Harvey Grant of Oklahoma nad Mitch Richmond of Kansas State.
