Big 12 Men’s Basketball Media Day: Live Updates, Analysis From Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Big 12 Basketball Media Day is taking place in Kansas City today.

KSL Sports BYU Insider Mitch Harper is on location inside the T-Mobile Center to give the latest updates from media day for what is viewed as the toughest men’s basketball league in America.

Big 12 Basketball Tipoff from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.#Big12 #BYUHoops @kslsports pic.twitter.com/lrwCY0vth3

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 17, 2023

Make sure to keep checking back here throughout the day as we will have updates from the arena as we give updates on what coaches and players from the Big 12 are saying.

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang

• Tang said he feels a little bit more comfortable at Big 12 Media Day. Last year was his first experience ever participating in Media Day despite being part of the league for a long time with the Baylor staff under Scott Drew.

K-State coach Jerome Tang will be the first coach to speak at #Big12Tipoff. pic.twitter.com/Ozgu7AIkH1

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 18, 2023

• Jerome Tang was asked about his recent visit to Colorado to meet Coach Prime and the Buffaloes program. He said they discussed roster management, program building, etc.
• Tang believes the K-State brand is already national but he wants it to become “global.” He feels that K-State is capable of winning of National Championships.
• Tang said he reached out to 75 transfer portal players via Zoom after he replaced Bruce Weber as the head coach.

Cincinnati coach Wes Miller

• Wes Miller came out and shared his excitement about being in the Big 12 Conference. He said it’s “undeniable that the Big 12 is the best basketball conference in America.
• The opening question for Wes Miller was about the status of Utah Valley transfer Aziz Bandaogo and Temple transfer Jamille Reynolds. Miller said the second-time transfers were denied at the NCAA staff level. It’s now going to the appeal committee. Miller notes he “expects them to be cleared” but said he is “concerned the potential mental health impact” if those players aren’t approved.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton

• Boynton thanked Brett Yormark for the work that he has put into the conference.
• The competition is a real thing. It’s been baptism by fire for me and the league continues to get better. Will continue to elevate this conference more than I ever expected.
• Boynton isn’t mad about the double round-robin schedule going away beginning this year.

UCF coach Johnny Dawkins

BYU coach Mark Pope

Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger

• Otzelberger on why he has so much success finding players to buy into the defensive mentality he has in the Iowa State program.
• “First of all, we’re looking for guys with tremendous character and basketball character. Those guys, they usually want to do effort-based things, give multiple efforts, do the hard work every single day.”

Baylor coach Scott Drew

• Drew said the Bears are set to begin play in their new arena beginning on January 2nd.
• Referred to Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis as an “old-school type of player.”

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson

• Sampson had one of the funniest press conference interactions with the media. He was discussing the amount of “dogs” that are in the Big 12.
• “The difference is I was standing in that — we had a head coaches’ meeting a while ago. It was kind of like in a dog park. You’ve got two dogs walk by each other, kind of side-eye or little one starts yapping at the big one and they start sizing each other up. I was kind of sizing them all up. I said, it used to be you could look at a few of those little dogs and go, I can get that one, I can get that one, I can get that one. I ain’t seen anybody I can get in this conference. That’s the difference. They’re all German Shepherds, man. Where’s the ShihTzus? Where’s the Chihuahuas at? Oh, that’s aRottweiler. Oh, my God, that’s a Pit Bull. This is a tough dog park, man.”

West Virginia interim coach Josh Eilert

Texas coach Rodney Terry

• Terry said he’s focused on where his feet are planted right now, when asked a question about the future move to the SEC.
• Noted that he feels the Big 12 has the chance to be the basketball conference again in the country with the newcomer additions.

TCU coach Jamie Dixon

• Dixon said Delaware transfer Jameer Nelson Jr. didn’t get cleared until August after having to finish up some summer classes to complete his transfer.

Oklahoma coach Porter Moser

• Moser said that he feels his team has improved on athleticism. Noted that in the past his Sooner teams haven’t been athletic enough.
• Moser feels that the transfer portal definitely helped with bringing in additional athleticism.

Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland

• McCasland a former assistant at Baylor said that he cherishes the relationships with Baylor coach Scott Drew and K-State head coach Jerome Tang.
• When asked he said that he would welcome the possibility of scheduling Texas in nonconference action when the Longhorns join the SEC.

Big 12 Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll

1. Kansas
2. Houston
3. Texas
4. Baylor
5. TCU
6. Kansas State
7. Iowa State
8. Texas Tech
9. West Virginia
10. Oklahoma State
11. Cincinnati
12. Oklahoma
13. BYU
14. UCF

Brett Yormark opening the Big 12 Basketball Media Days.#Big12Tipoff pic.twitter.com/PzLuTQGrbb

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 17, 2023

Big 12 Tipoff Podium Schedule

8:10 a.m. (MT): Kansas State Coach Jerome Tang

8:25 a.m.: Cincinnati Coach Wes Miller

8:40 a.m.: Oklahoma State Coach Mike Boynton

8:55 a.m.: UCF Coach Johnny Dawkins

9:10 a.m.: BYU Coach Mark Pope

9:25 a.m.: Iowa State Coach T.J. Otzelberger

9:40 a.m.: Baylor Coach Scott Drew

12:45 p.m.: Houston Coach Kelvin Sampson

1 p.m.: West Virginia Interim Coach Josh Eilert

1:15 p.m.: Texas Coach Rodney Terry

1:30 p.m.: TCU Coach Jamie Dixon

1:45 p.m.: Oklahoma Coach Porter Moser

2 p.m.: Texas Tech Coach Grant McCasland

2:15 p.m.: Kansas Coach Bill Self

Big 12 basketball players in attendance

Baylor: Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, RayJ Dennis, Jalen Bridges

BYU: Spencer Johnson, Fousseyni Traore, Dallin Hall

UCF: Darius Johnson, C.J. Walker, Shemarri Allen

Cincinnati: Ody Oguama, Viktor Lakhin, John Newman III

Houston: Jamal Shead, L.J. Cryer, J’Wan Roberts

Iowa State: Tamin Lipsey, Robert Jones

Kansas: Dajuan Harris Jr., Kevin McCullar Jr., Hunter Dickinson

Kansas State: Tylor Perry, Arthur Kaluma, David N’Guessan

Oklahoma: Milos Uzan, Javian McCollum, LeTre Darthard

Oklahoma State: Bryce Thompson, John-Michael Wright

TCU: Micah Peavy, Emanuel Miller, Jakobe Coles

Texas: Max Abmas, Brock Cunningham, Dillon Mitchell

Texas Tech: Joe Toussaint, Devan Cambridge, Warren Washington

West Virginia: Jesse Edwards, Kerr Kriisa, Quinn Slazinski

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X and Threads: @Mitch_Harper.

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