Anonymous Player Survey

Today, you get the Big 12 basketball anonymous player survey in its entirety! The players gave me great insight into the toughest place to play, the meanest fans, and the biggest trash talker.

If you’re a relatively new subscriber, I did the same thing with anonymous Big 12 football players this fall. You can catch their thoughts on which fans throw batteries, the now-demoted coach they wanted to play for, and why they didn’t want to play for Coach Prime at the link here. 

First, here are some quick headlines.

What You Need to Know

• Lane Kiffin challenged BYU. Judging by this tweet, Kiffin appears ready for Ole Miss to play the Cougars. Kiffin has been outspoken lately about the Big 12 and ACC not being on par with the SEC. 

• The Athletic’s New York Jets beat writer says Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell would be interested in interviewing with the Jets. Campbell famously turned down an interview with New York in 2019, so this seems a bit hard to believe. 

• Arizona State-Texas was the second-most watched College Football Playoff quarterfinal. The 17.8 million viewers set a record for bowl games that kicked off before 3:00 p.m. Eastern. 

• Former NFL official Terry McAulay says the targeting call wasn’t the only time the Peach Bowl officiating crew let down Arizona State. He claims the crew missed a blindside block on Texas’ first-quarter punt return touchdown. 

• Heartland College Sports’ Matthew Postins has a great recap of the first weekend of Big 12 men’s hoops. Iowa State kept rolling, Houston, Texas Tech, and West Virginia dropped the hammer, and the Arizona resurgence continued.

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Big 12 Basketball Anonymous Player Survey

I talked to around 20 players at Big 12 Media Day in Kansas City. Not every player wanted to answer every question, and I respect that, so not every category will have 20 responses.

Who Will Win the League?

After 21 votes from the players, their preseason favorite to win the league is…Houston!

Houston – 7
Iowa State – 4
Kansas – 3
Baylor – 2
Arizona – 1
Colorado – 1
Oklahoma State – 1
Cincinnati – 1
Texas Tech – 1

“Houston. They’re just tough. Toughness wins games.”

“I’ll go with Houston. Defense wins games, and defense travels. You know they’re going to play defense.”

“Probably Iowa State. They have a great defensive scheme, and they’re very underrated.”

“Cincinnati. I just think they brought back a lot of pieces. They added a piece or two. And they have a coach that knows how to put them in the right spots.”

“Oklahoma State. Just random. They’re an underdog. I’m not picking the top seed. I want to pick somebody else.”

“I’ll go with Baylor. I feel like they have some good pieces. Coach Drew knows what he’s doing.”

“It’s hard to say. There’s a lot of talent in the Big 12. I can’t really pick a team. It might not be a team that you expect.”

Toughest Place to Play

After 26 votes from the players, we have a tie for the toughest place to play in the Big 12. The winners are…Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas) and the Fertitta Center (Houston)!

Kansas – 8
Houston – 8 
Iowa State – 4
Baylor – 2 
BYU – 2 
Texas Tech – 1 
K-State – 1 

Here’s what they said:

“Kansas. Kansas gets really, really, really loud.”

“Definitely Allen Fieldhouse. I don’t know what Baylor’s is called, but it got loud in there last year.”

“Kansas or BYU. BYU actually has a lot of fans and they have a big arena. It’s really loud in there.”

“A lot of people would say Allen Fieldhouse, but I think it’s Iowa State or maybe even Texas Tech. Baylor’s new arena is pretty tough to play at, too.”

“Houston is a little smaller, actually, but that made it a little more loud too. We played them when we were ranked high, and they were ranked high. It was a fun environment, for sure.”

“I would say Houston. They don’t have a very large gym. It’s kind of small, so the fans and the noise are kind of compact on top of you.”

“BYU or Houston. I didn’t go to Kansas. BYU was loud. They have a lot of people in there. They were playing well against us, so it just got loud.”

“Houston and Iowa State were good. They were loud. Iowa State, we played at 11 am. If we played them at night time, it would have been even louder.”

Meanest Fans in the Big 12

Baylor got twice as many votes as anybody else for the meanest fans in the league. 

Baylor - 4
Texas Tech - 2
West Virginia - 2
Iowa State - 1
Kansas - 1
Texas (yes, I know) - 1

“I’m gonna go with Baylor because they were talking the most crazy when we were there. They’re right behind the bench. They were calling fouls for us and stuff that they didn’t like, so it got ugly.”

“Might be Baylor. I think they might have thrown some water on us after the game.”

“Texas Tech. They’ll call you anything out there.”

“Texas Tech. They’ll let you have it at Tech. It’s crazy.”

“Probably Iowa State. Just the things the crowd was yelling were a bit offensive at times. And it’s very loud.”

“West Virginia. They were heckling even during warm ups.”

“Kansas. I didn’t hear what they were saying, but it was probably something crazy.”

“Texas had some crazy fans, too. They were just throwing bottles and stuff at the football game.”

Coach You’d Most Like to Play For

And the coach that Big 12 players most want to play for is…KU’s Bill Self–but it’s close! 

Bill Self – 5
Scott Drew – 4
Kelvin Sampson – 2
Jerome Tang – 2
Jamie Dixon – 1

Here’s what they said:

“I’ll go with Bill Self at Kansas. Just because of the tradition. The legacy he has and the success he has…that’s what I’ll go with.”

“Sampson. He’s a really good coach who knows how to develop guys, and he’s an African American coach.”

“I’d probably play under Coach Drew. He knows what he’s doing really well, and he’s been good with guards in his past.”

“Probably Jerome Tang because I just love his personality and coaching style. He recruited me out of high school and in the portal the first time.”

“Coach Drew or Bill Self. I love winning, so I wanna play for winners.”

“No comment.”

“I’m going with (my coach) forever. I don’t think I can say anything else right now. He’s one of one.”

Favorite Big 12 Player to Watch

The answers here were all over the board, and the only player to receive multiple votes was…Houston’s L.J. Cryer!

“L.J. Cryer is a pretty fun dude to watch.”

“This year, probably Caleb Love. They’re new to the Big 12, but he’s fun to watch.”

“Who was player of the year this year, Dickinson? Was it (Hunter) Dickinson? That’s not my favorite.”

“I’d say Hunter (Dickinson) because I kind of grew up around him. We went to school together.”

“I like DaJuan Harris’ game. Good facilitator and doesn’t get sped up.”

“He hasn’t played yet, but I’ve been seeing a lot about V.J. Edgecombe.”

“Javon Small at West Virginia.”

“Kid from Oklahoma State. Jamyron Keller. He played in Killeen, Texas. Knowing somebody from that city that made it to the Big 12 too makes you feel good. We made a way for ourselves.”

“I’d probably say Langston Love. I like watching guys that I know personally. I feel like he’s a good shooter and he’s able to drive. He’s a big physical guard.”

Biggest Trash Talker

The answers were all over the board when I asked who the biggest trash talker in the league was. The only specific player mentioned more than once was former K-State guard Cam Carter, who is now at LSU. So, if you want to declare a winner, it’s technically Carter.

Anyway, here’s what the players had to say. 

“He’s not there anymore, but when we played Kansas State, Cam Carter was talking.”

“He’s not there anymore but one dude from Kansas State. He was number five (Cam Carter).”

“I can’t remember the guy’s name from Texas Tech, but he’s here (at media day). He talked a lot.”

“Some of the guys from Cincinnati, I’d say. They had kind of an underdog role last year, so they had a chip on their shoulder.”

“Let me throw Iowa State in there.”

“My guy Rylan Griffin at Kansas. He can talk some trash, man.”

“I think the team that had that type of energy was UCF.”

“Houston. They say stuff, but it’s like slick.”

“Colorado was talking a little crazy at Colorado last year.”

“Nobody really is talking trash. I don’t think there was a team that was really talking trash.”

“Not a lot of guys talk.”

NIL and Tampering

I asked players whether the reported NIL numbers are accurate and how prevalent tampering is. 

Here’s what they said:

NIL

“It is exaggerated. It is what it is. The internet thing makes people shocked, but it is exaggerated. It’s supposed to be. It’s social media. I know that when they shout out the numbers that they’re not getting that.”

“I feel like they’re pretty accurate, to be honest. When it goes high for six figures, they’re pretty accurate. Once you get into the multi-millions, you never know.”

“I’m not trying to be in anybody’s pocket.”

“If I see a couple hundred thousand or a couple Ms, I wouldn’t say it’s not. But I wouldn’t put it past anybody to lie about it, either.”

“I know for a fact a lot of these people aren’t making what they say. Even if they are, I feel like it shouldn’t be a concern for people who just judge athletes for being athletes. People wake up and go to work every day, and that is a tough thing to do, but basketball is all year round. We don’t get breaks. I feel like whatever people are making, it’s very much worth it.”

Tampering

“Oh yeah, it happens a lot. They just never get caught. It’s been happening way before NIL.”

“I’m not sure. A couple places might have said something, but for me, it wasn’t really anything crazy. I guess it does happen, but in my situation, it wasn’t like a coach or a school hit me directly, but maybe somebody affiliated with them did.”

“Every time the season ends, coaches are looking for new players. I’ve been targeted a couple of times, but I knew where my heart was at. I didn’t have any plans of leaving.”

“I wouldn’t say a coach will text me or slide in my DMs; I’ll just hear about it.”

“I really don’t think so. I feel like players reach out more than coaches. I’ve never talked to any coach in the portal. I feel like you have agents that do that for you.”

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