MANHATTAN – Kansas State women’s basketball will enter its 2020-21 season with high expectations, as the Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll has ranked the team with a fourth-place finish in an announcement by the league office on Thursday.
This is the highest preseason ranking for the program under the direction of head coach Jeff Mittie and the highest for Kansas State since the 2004-05 season when the Wildcats were slotted into third-place.
The league’s coaches selected defending league champion Baylor as the preseason favorite with nine first-place votes and 81 total points. Texas was second with one first-place vote and 73 points. Iowa State was third with 69 points.
Behind the Wildcats in fifth was West Virginia with 45 points, Texas Tech was in sixth with 36 points and Oklahoma with 33 points in seventh. The final three teams were Oklahoma State in eighth with 26 points, TCU in ninth with 23 points and Kansas in 10th with 14 points.
The Wildcats will be led into the 2020-21 season by Preseason All-Big 12 selection Ayoka Lee and 2020-21 Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection Rachel Ranke
K-State endured four season-ending injuries in the 2019-20 season which depleted the roster by early December. However, the Wildcats (16-13, 10-8 Big 12) tied for fourth in the Big 12 and won seven of their last 10 games in the league.
The Wildcats completed the season with a winning record for the sixth straight season. The Wildcats had their 2020 postseason destination derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which canceled the 2020 Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship, the 2020 NCAA Tournament and the 2020 Postseason WNIT.
Kansas State returns nine letter winners for the 2020-21 season. K-State also welcomes in graduate transfer Sydney Goodson, junior Makayla Pippin, redshirt freshman Jada Thorpe from injury and freshmen Taylor Lauterbach and Jada Moore.
2020-21 Big 12 Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll
1. Baylor (9) 81
2. Texas (1) 73
3. Iowa State 69
4. Kansas State 50
5. West Virginia 45
6. Texas Tech 36
7. Oklahoma 33
8. Oklahoma State 26
9. TCU 23
10. Kansas 14
(first place votes in parentheses; coaches not allowed to vote for their own team)
– kstatesports.com –