K-State women picked as Big 12 favorite by coaches, Wildcats C Ayoka Lee the top player

IRVING, Texas — Kansas State graduate center Ayoka Lee has been tabbed the Big 12 women's preseason player of the year, and the Wildcats were picked as the team favored to win the league in a vote of the conference's 16 coaches that was revealed Thursday.

In the preseason poll, Kansas State was followed by Iowa State, Baylor, TCU and West Virginia. Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado and Texas Tech completed the top 10. Oklahoma State, BYU, Cincinnati, UCF, Arizona State and Houston were the bottom six.

The 6-foot-6 Lee has averaged 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds in her 114 career games with K-State. After being a second-team AP All-America pick in 2021-22 as a junior, Lee missed all of 2022-23 because of an ACL injury. She averaged 19.7 points and 8.6 rebounds in 27 games last season, missing about a month with an ankle injury.

K-State's 26 wins last season were the most since a school-record 29 in 2002-03. Lee and senior guard Serena Sundell are among four returning starters for coach Jeff Mittie, who is going into his 11th season with the Wildcats.

Sundell is the only player in program history with more than 1,000 career points, 500 assists and 50 blocks. She is also the only Wildcat to average 10 points and five assists in three different seasons.

TCU guard Hailey Van Lith and Baylor center Aaronette Vonleh shared newcomer of the year honors. Van Lith, the LSU transfer, is the only active Division I player who has tallied at least 1,900 career points, 500 rebounds and 350 assists. Vonley was a starter at Colorado the past two seasons.