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After finishing fifth in the Big 12 at the end of the 2011-12 season, that's exactly where the Kansas State Wildcats are projected to finish again in the 2012-13 preseason Big 12 Conference coaches' poll, released on Thursday.
With 54 points, the Wildcats finished just behind Texas and Oklahoma State, who received 58 and 60 points, respectively. At the top of the poll, the Kansas Jayhawks unsurprisingly earned the majority of the points as they have finished at the top of the Big 12 standings at the end of the regular season for eight consecutive years. Just behind them was Baylor.
Missouri, the reigning winners of the Big 12 Tournament, are no longer members of the conference as they left to join the SEC. Newcomers West Virginia and TCU finished sixth and 10in the poll, respectively.
The 2011-12 K-State team was ranked as high as No. 18 in the AP Poll with big wins over Missouri and Baylor, but earned a first-round exit from the Big 12 Tournament and was defeated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by Syracuse after earning a No. 8 seed.