Today’s poll marks the fourth straight season the Big 12’s eight head coaches have picked the Mountaineers to finish first in the conference; WVU was not picked No. 1 in 2012, its first season in the Big 12.
Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams.
The four-time defending Big 12 Conference regular-season champion, the Mountaineers are the only current league team to be tabbed the preseason favorite in four consecutive polls. WVU is the first program since Texas A&M (2004-07) to earn a conference-best four straight preseason No. 1 rankings.
“We always carry a large target on our backs into the Big 12 portion of our season,” WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, the four-time reigning Big 12 Conference coach of the Year, said.