Mike Boynton voted K-State No. 1 in his Big 12 poll

Last week, the Big 12 Conference released its preseason poll, as voted on by the league’s coaches, of where they thought that all the teams would finish in the Big 12 this season. Kansas has won 14-straight Big 12 regular season titles, so to no one’s shock, the Jayhawks were selected as the No. 1 team in the conference.

KU picked up nine votes in the preseason poll and coaches cannot vote for their own teams, so that means the other nine coaches voted for KU to win the conference, right? It has to mean that.

Well, it doesn’t mean that.

On Wednesday at Big 12 Media Day, GoPowercat spoke to Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton about various topics surrounding the upcoming Big 12 basketball season. Among topics discussed in the interview was the difficulty of the league.

During the discussion, Boynton stated that he indeed voted for Kansas State to be the conference champion, rather than Kansas. Here was the full transcript of that interaction:

Riley Gates, GoPowercat.com: “I want to ask you about Kansas State really quick. They were picked No. 12 in the nation, No. 2 in the conference. I know, obviously, you voted them No. 2 because KU had nine and Coach Self can’t vote for his own team. To ask you if you’d vote K-State No. 1 is a waste of time. Is No. 12 a fair ranking for K-State? Because Coach Weber thinks they should be a top 10 team, returning what they do. Do you think they got slighted with the preseason rankings?”

Mike Boynton: “No, I picked them first. I think Kansas is really talented, but I also have been in the game long enough to understand the value of experience. They’ve (KU) got guys that were a game short of the ultimate goal they set for themselves. I haven’t studied the whole landscape of the national scene, so I don’t know if 12 is right, if there are 12 teams better than (what I think is) the best team in our league. I wouldn’t think so. I think they’re the best team in our league and I picked Dean Wade as the (Big 12) Player of the Year. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and those guys.”

Boynton did not misspeak.

According to Boynton’s ballot, as provided to GoPowercat by Oklahoma State, he voted the Wildcats as the No. 1 team, with KU finishing second. GoPowercat reached out to the Big 12 for comment on the matter

“I went back and checked the ballots and the mistake was mine,” Joni Lehmann said on behalf of the Big 12. “OSU did vote for K-State for first, so KU wasn't the unanimous pick as K-State had two first-place votes, however the order of the poll didn't change. I'll inform the two schools of my mistake.”

So yes, nothing changed in the ballot. KU is still tabbed as the preseason No. 1 team in the conference and K-State is second. But now, add two first place votes to K-State.