The regular season might not have gone as planned for Kansas basketball, but the Jayhawks still had a pair of standout players carry the way for the majority of the year. The Big 12 released its Phillips 66 All-Conference basketball awards yesterday, and KU was represented by several players.
Prized transfer Hunter Dickinson won Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in his first campaign in Lawrence. Despite some up-and-down performances, he has lived up to expectations at KU, averaging 18 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks before dislocating his shoulder last game against Houston.
Dickinson also found himself on the All-Big 12 Newcomer Team and All-Big 12 First Team along with fellow Jayhawk Kevin McCullar. The former Texas Tech Red Raider took a leap offensively in 2023-24, leading the conference in scoring with 18.3 points per game. He missed five games during conference play but was still effective enough to garner first-team honors.
The rest of KU's starting five in KJ Adams, Johnny Furphy, and Dajuan Harris were all listed as honorable mentions for the All-Big 12 teams. Harris was named to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team one year after winning the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award, while Furphy made the All-Big 12 Freshman Team.
Dickinson, Harris, and Adams are all expected to return to Kansas next year, while McCullar runs out of eligibility and Furphy could enter the NBA Draft. As disappointing as this season has been, head coach Bill Self will still get back some of the conference's best players in addition to a highly touted recruiting class and potentially a handful of transfers.
Houston took home most of the top awards, with star guard Jamal Shead winning Big 12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Meanwhile, head coach Kelvin Sampson won Coach of the Year after finishing the regular season 28-3 with the No. 1 ranking in the country.
Kansas basketball was the only school to have multiple players on the All-Big 12 First Team. Last year, Jalen Wilson won the conference's player of the year award and was named to the first-team as well.