Craig Brackins News

By DREW DAVISON All signs point to the Big 12 taking home a lot of hardware at the end of the men's college basketball season.

Editor`s note: This is the eighth of the Big 12 capsule previews, which will run in order of predicted finish .

It was equal parts Iowa State men's exhibition basketball and Harrison Barnes love fest Friday night at Hilton Coliseum.

Ames, Ia. - Iowa State men's basketball coach Greg McDermott played for Eldon Miller.

Eight Big 12 men's basketball players from five different schools are part of the preseason watch list for the 2010 Naismith Trophy, it was announced.

BAYLOR Last year: 24-15 overall, 5-11 Big 12 , NIT finalistKey story line: Coaches have philosophies and teams have styles, and Baylor under Scott Drew has been about perimeter play and shooting.

The greatest Big 12 men's basketball season ever? It could be the one about to start, considering the talent returning and the potential stars added through recruiting.

Kansas CITY, MO. - What does it say about Big 12 men's basketball when it can lose the nation's best player - former Oklahoma star Blake Griffin - and still expect the upcoming season to be its strongest ever? What does it say about a conference that has a team such as Iowa State that features a unanimous preseason all-league player and the Big 12 ...

Kansas has those two stars, that loaded recruiting class, five straight conference titles, won a national championship two years ago, will likely be the preseason No.

Bill Self, Rick Barnes, Jeff Capel and the rest of the Big 12 coaches aren't true believers in the Buffs.

Iowa State basketball team dealing with deep roster. By JOHN BOHNENKAMP jbohnenkamp@thehawkeye.com AMES -- Greg McDermott has a good problem that could become a big problem.

AMES, Iowa -- Former Iowa State star Wesley Johnson's stunning transfer before the start of last season left the Cyclones with a huge hole at small forward.

Ames, Ia. - The legend says Marquis Gilstrap does the kind of things with a basketball that Harry Potter does with a wand.

Kansas, the unanimous No. 1 team in the country in every preseason publication, is also the choice to win the conference title in a vote of the league's head coaches.

Iowa State is picked to finish eighth in the Big 12's preseason men's basketball poll.

No transfer enters the season with as much expectation as Wesley Johnson. The former Iowa State wing is supposed to take Syracuse on his back and carry the Orange to a top-five finish in the Big East and back to the NCAA tournament.

A tie in the voting created six spots on the all-conference squad, which was voted upon by league coaches.

Coach Greg McDermott can count on no subtraction in the middle and a big addition on the wing.

Posted on Oct 08, 2009 by admin . Marquis Gilstrap and Craig Brackins Iowa State forward Craig Brackins has been named to the preseason All-Big 12 team and junior college transfer Marquis Gilstrap is the league's preseason Newcomer of the Year.

You can make a case that the top two teams in the country hail from the Big 12. The Kansas duo of Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, along with Oklahoma's Willie Warren, Iowa State's Craig Brackins and Texas' Damion James, all opted to spurn the NBA for one more year of college.