In keeping with his No. 1 ranking in the recruiting class of 2026, Kansas men’s basketball freshman Tyran Stokes was named the Big 12’s preseason freshman of the year in a poll of league coaches released on Thursday morning.
Stokes, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Louisville, Kentucky, attended Rainier Beach High School in Seattle and averaged 31.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 4.0 steals as a senior while leading his team to a state title. He picked KU over Kentucky and Oregon in late April.
It is the 11th time in 31 years that the conference’s preseason freshman of the year has come from Kansas, including most recently Stokes’ fellow No. 1 recruit Darryn Peterson last fall.
Stokes was also named to the all-league team, and as a team the Jayhawks — who bring back newly eligible returnees Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White and add a variety of auxiliary transfers and freshmen — were picked to finish third after first-place Arizona (which received 12 first-place votes) and second-place Houston (which garnered four). That matches the standings from the conclusion of last season.
After KU in the preseason ranking came Iowa State, Texas Tech, BYU and TCU, with Cincinnati and West Virginia in a tie for eighth. The rest of the ranking included Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, UCF, Colorado and Kansas State in a tie for 14th, and Utah in last.
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas received preseason player of the year honors, while Paulius Murauskas, a Saint Mary’s transfer forward who followed his coach Randy Bennett to ASU, was named newcomer of the year.
BYU guard Robert Wright III and Texas Tech’s JT Toppin were the two unanimous preseason all-conference selections.
