This comes roughly a week after Dean Wade was named the Big 12 Conference Preseason Player of the Year, and Wade was joined on the all-conference first team by Barry Brown. The Wildcats were picked to finish second in the league by the league's coaches, earning a first-place vote from Kansas coach Bill Self - who could not vote for his team to finish first by rule.

A preseason full of high expectations added another noteworthy mention on Monday, as Kansas State was tabbed at No. 12 in the preseason Top 25 released by the Associated Press.

Other Big 12 teams of note are Kansas at No. 1, West Virginia at No. 13 and TCU at No. 20. Texas Tech and Texas also received votes, as did non-conference opponent Marquette, who would have checked in at No. 27 if you extend the poll out.

K-State was the highest ranked team in the poll to not finish last year ranked in the AP's Top 25, and there was also a significant voting drop-off from No. 12, where K-State is, to No. 13. The 244-point gap is larger, for example, than the gap between K-State and No. 9 Villanova (163 points).

Bruce Weber's Wildcats will open the regular season on Nov. 9 in Manhattan when they host Kennesaw State as part of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.