Kansas Jayhawks have six players tabbed to Preseason All Big 12 Teams

Bill Self and Brandon Schneider each have three players recognized by their fellow coaches.

© Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

With the Big 12 Basketball Tipoff coming up next week, the Preseason All-Big 12 teams have been announced. The Jayhawks have a total of six players who received preseason honors, three each from the men's and women's side.

In both cases, the selections are voted on by the head coaches in the conference, with coaches unable to cast votes for their own players. On the men's side, the top five vote-getters are named to the first team, and all vote-getters are included in the Honorable Mentions. On the women's side, the top ten vote-getters are named to the All-Big 12 Team, with all vote-getters included in the Honorable Mentions.

The women's selections were announced last week, with the Jayhawks matching the three selections that they prior to the 2022-23 season. 

Taiyanna Jackson had a record-setting season last year, as she was selected to both the All-Big 12 First Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Teams, earning the MVP in the WNIT after leading the Jayhawks to the tournament championship. She averaged a double-double last season, finishing with 23 of them on the season. She was a unanimous selection this season.

Zakiyah Franklin was an All-Big 12 First Team selection last season, leading the team in scoring at 15.7 points per game. She has started 115 games in her four-year career at Kansas, and is 12th on the all-time scoring list and 5th on the all-time assists list. Franklin earned a spot on the team this year after twice being an honorable mention in the preseason.

Holly Kersgieter earned her fourth preseason selection and has played in 116 games in her Kansas career. She also earned honorable mention after last season, and is both 11th on the all-time scoring list and third in school history in three-pointers made.

On the men's side, senior center Hunter Dickinson made history as the first player to earn both Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in the same season. The Michigan transfer earned All-Big Ten honors the last two seasons, and his selection was not a surprise.

Joining him on the first team is redshirt-junior point guard Dajuan Harris, who was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last season. The starter on the 2022 Championship team, Harris has earned postseason honors in the last two seasons.

Graduate senior Kevin McCullar, who transferred to the Jayhawks from Texas Tech before last season, was named as an honorable mention in the preseason for the second straight season. He earned postseason honors twice at Texas Tech and then was named to the third team after last season.

It is a lot of awards for the Jayhawks, who are both looking to have great seasons. The women's team was selected third in the conference by the coaches, and it is expected that the men's team will be tabbed to win the conference when the coaches selections are announced tomorrow.