by John Rohde, jrohde@opubco.com , The Oklahoman

Coaches vote on the Big 12's preseason awards. This year's first team was so good, six players were named to the starting five and the player-of-the-year honor had to be shared.

Point guard Sherron Collins and center Cole Aldrich of Kansas were tabbed co-players of the year and were joined on the first team by Oklahoma guard Willie Warren, Oklahoma State wingman James Anderson, Iowa State forward Craig Brackins and Texas power forward Damion James.

Six months from now, several of the aforementioned could end up being named first-team All-Americans.

Texas coach Rick Barnes, entering his 12th season, is the dean of Big 12 coaches and said this potentially could be the league's deepest talent pool.

"Then again, people have never given the Big 12 the credit it deserves," Barnes said.

Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford has been warning fans to dress accordingly.

"I've been telling our fans, 'You better get your jackets because when January gets here, you're not going to want to miss this,'" Ford said. "Night in and night out, you're going to witness three to four to five NBA players on the court."

Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said he considers Collins to be the nation's best point guard, Warren to be the nation's top off/combo guard, Anderson as one of the nation's best wing players, Brackins as one of the nation's most underrated players, Aldrich as possibly the nation's best center and then bragged about the league's newcomers.

"It is incredible talent," Capel said.

Kansas coach Bill Self said of James, "We haven't guarded Damion James yet ... and we've played him five times."

Aldrich's progress has been so impressive, Self said he might be end up being the best true center at KU since Wilt Chamberlain (1956-58).

Big 12 coaches made KU the unanimous preseason pick to win the conference, and the Jayhawks are ranked No. 1 in the eight most prominent preseason polls that have been released to date, yet Self was bragging about the league's runner-up choice as the team to watch.

"Arguably the best team in the country is Texas," Self said.

The Big 12 has had three consensus All-Americans in two different seasons - Raef LaFrentz and Jacque Vaughn of Kansas and Colorado's Chauncey Billups in 1997; Nick Collison of Kansas, T.J. Ford of Texas and OU's Hollis Price in 2003. This season could surpass that total.

Further proof of the league's depth comes in the fact Iowa State has a first-team pick in Brackins and the preseason newcomer of the year in junior forward Marquis Gilstrap, but the Cyclones were still picked to finish eighth.

Some coaches kiddingly mentioned drawbacks to playing in a league that's so loaded.

"It's not fun when it's late January and you get your brains beat in," Kansas State coach Frank Martin said, "but it's tremendous basketball."

Time will tell exactly how talented and deep the Big 12 is this season, but expectations are at an all-time high.

The most NCAA Tournament berths the Big 12 has received is six.

"I believe this is our league's year," said Self, who two seasons ago won the Big 12's only national title in men's basketball.

"I don't think we'll be talking about maybe getting six in the tournament next March. That'll be something that's very disappointing to everybody involved if this league doesn't have six, seven, eight teams at least."

John Rohde: 475-3099. John Rohde can be heard Monday-Friday from 6-7 p.m. on The Sports Animal Network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1.

Copyright 2009 The Oklahoman, All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.