West Virginia Picked to Finish Near Bottom in Preseason Big 12 Poll

The media has relatively low expectations for the Mountaineers this season.

Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Thursday afternoon, the Big 12 Conference released the preseason poll, as voted on by the media. The West Virginia Mountaineers were picked to finish 13th in the expanded 16-team league.

Big 12 Preseason Poll

1. Kansas

2. Houston

3. Iowa State

4. Baylor

5. Arizona

6. Cincinnati

7. Texas Tech

8. Kansas State

9. BYU

10. TCU

11. UCF

12. Arizona State

13. West Virginia

14. Oklahoma State

15. Colorado

16. Utah

Quick Thoughts

I know it won't make West Virginia fans feel any better, but this is about where I expected them to check in. It's a first-year head coach who brought in a completely brand-new roster with guys coming from all over the place.

Teams just aren't going to have a ton of success in year one of a rebuild, especially when 99% of your roster is new. It's going to take some time for this group to learn how to play with and off one another. Will it be as bad as last season? No, but it's not an NCAA Tournament-caliber bunch.

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