Baylor MBB Trio Collect Preseason All-Big 12 Recognition

IRVING, Texas – Baylor's V.J. Edgecombe and Jeremy Roach headlined Thursday's Preseason All-Big 12 awards. Edgecombe was tabbed the Freshman of the Year, while Roach was named the co-Newcomer of the Year, joining his teammate Norchad Omier on the All-Big 12 Second Team.

This is the fourth-straight season Baylor has been home to the Preseason Freshman of the Year, joining Kansas as the only other Big 12 program to have four-straight players bring home the preseason award. In the last two seasons, Keyonte George and Ja’Kobe Walter followed their preseason selections with postseason honors. Edgecombe will look to make BU the first school in conference history to have the preseason and postseason freshman of the year in three straight seasons.

The Bimini, Bahamas, native spent the summer playing for the Bahamian National Team in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament. Playing alongside the likes of Buddy Hield and Deandre Ayton, Edgecombe impressed, averaging 16.5 points, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals in four games. He is coming off a stellar senior season at Long Island Lutheran, where he helped the Crusaders reach No. 2 in the ESPN High School basketball rankings. Long Island reached the Chipotle National Finals (formerly GEICO Nationals), falling in the quarterfinals of the eight-team national tournament against Columbus, which eventually bowed out in the semifinals against fellow Baylor freshman Robert Wright and his Montverde Academy Eagles.

Roach is Baylor's third Preseason Newcomer of the Year and the first since Manu Lecomte in 2016-17. The Duke transfer was a two-time team captain for the Blue Devils, appearing in 130 games with 108 starts. A native of Leesburg, Va., he has 1,469 career points to go along with 402 career assists. Additionally, he has averaged 10.9 points and 3.0 assists while shooting .435 from the field across his four years on Tobacco Road. The fifth-year senior also helped Duke to a Final Four (2022), an ACC regular-season title (2022) and an ACC Tournament title (2023).

Omier joins Roach on the All-Big 12 Second Team, making Baylor one of just four teams with multiple representatives on one of the two preseason teams. The first person from Nicaragua to receive a Division I basketball scholarship, Omier played two seasons with Miami, helping the Hurricanes to the first Final Four in program history in 2023. In 2024, he averaged a career-best 17.0 points per game and 10.0 rebounds, earning a spot on the All-ACC Second Team. He was also honored with the Skip Prosser Award for men's basketball last season, given to the top scholar-athlete in ACC men's basketball. Prior to that, the 6-foot-7 big man re-wrote the Arkansas State record books, garnering all-conference accolades, highlighted by his 2022 Sunbelt Player of the Year nod.

The conference also released the preseason poll, where the Bears landed in fourth. The Bears have been picked in the top 5 of the preseason poll in six straight seasons.

Big 12 Preseason Poll

1. Kansas (9)
2. Houston (5)
3. Iowa State (1)
4. BAYLOR
5. Arizona (1)
6. Cincinnati
7. Texas Tech
8. Kansas State
9. BYU
10. TCU
11. UCF
12. Arizona State
13. West Virginia
14. Oklahoma State
15. Colorado
16. Utah

2024-25 PRESEASON ALL-BIG 12 TEAM                   

First Team

• Caleb Love, Arizona
• LJ Cryer, Houston
• J’Wan Roberts, Houston
• Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State
• Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

Second Team

• Norchad Omier, Baylor
• Jeremy Roach, Baylor
• Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
• Dajuan Harris, Kansas
• Coleman Hawkins, Kansas State

Preseason Player of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas

Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Jeremy Roach, Baylor

Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year: Coleman Hawkins, Kansas State

Preseason Freshman of the Year: V.J. Edgecombe, Baylor

BAYLOR'S PRESEASON ALL-BIG 12 SELECTIONS (since 2002-03)

• 2007-08 – Curtis Jerrells
• 2008-09 – Curtis Jerrells
• 2010-11 – LaceDarius Dunn
• 2011-12 – Perry Jones III
• 2012-13 – Pierre Jackson
• 2013-14 – Isaiah Austin
• 2013-14 – Cory Jefferson
• 2015-16 – Rico Gathers
• 2016-17 – Johnathan Motley
• 2019-20 – Tristan Clark
• 2020-21 – Jared Butler
• 2021-22 – Matthew Mayer
• 2022-23 – Adam Flagler 
• 2023-24 — Jalen Bridges, RayJ Dennis, Ja’Kobe Walter
• 2024-25 — Norchad Omier,  Jeremy Roach