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POSTED: March 9, 2026 -- 5:41 p.m. CT

Arizona's Jaden Bradley was named Player of the Year to highlight the 2026 All-Big 12 men's basketball awards. After winning its first Big 12 regular season title, Arizona's Tobe Awaka (Sixth Man) and head coach Tommy Lloyd (Coach of the Year) completed a trio of Wildcats to earn Big 12 superlatives.

Kansas' Flory Bidunga (Defensive Player) and Melvin Council Jr. (Newcomer), along with Iowa State's Tamin Lipsey (Scholar-Athlete), BYU's AJ Dybantsa (Freshman), and Texas Tech's Christian Anderson (Most Improved) completed the individual "of the year" awards.

Bradley is the third Arizona player in the past five seasons to be named conference player of the year, but the first to earn the honor in the Wildcats' two seasons in the Big 12. Bradley averaged 13.4 points and 4.6 assists to lead his team to an 18-2 record. He had key 25+ point performances in wins at BYU and Baylor, which proved key for Arizona's title chances.

Bidunga is the ninth Kansas player to earn the league's top defensive honor and the first since Dajuan Harris in 2023. Bidunga had a league-leading 2.7 blocks per game, helping Kansas hold its opponents to a 38.7 field goal percentage, the best in the Conference. Offensively, he adds 13.8 points per game to go along with 9.0 rebounds.

Lipsey is the fourth Scholar-Athlete of the Year from Iowa State, and the first for the Cyclones since 2018-19. Lipsey averaged 13.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists, helping his hometown school to a top 10 national ranking. The communications studies major holds a 3.73 GPA.

In a year where the storylines centered around a deep and talented freshman class, Dybantsa emerged as the Big 12's best, becoming the first from BYU to earn the award in the program's three seasons in the league. Dybantsa averages an NCAA-leading 24.7 points per game, which is on track to be a top-five mark in the history of the Big 12.

Council is the Jayhawks' fourth Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and second honoree in the past three seasons. Council averages 13.4 points and 4.9 rebounds, while becoming a fan favorite for his senior leadership. The St. Bonaventure transfer ranks among the Conference's top 10 in both assists per game (5.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.9).

Awaka was the nation's leading rebounder off the bench, averaging 9.7 rebounds and 9.9 points when entering the game as a reserve. Awaka reached double-digit rebounds in eight Big 12 games. He is the first Arizona player to win Sixth Man Award in the Big 12.

Anderson nearly doubled his scoring average, going from 10.6 points to 19.2 this season to earn the Most Improved Award. Anderson ranks third in Division I with 7.8 assists per game and has represented Texas Tech's next-man-up mentality after the injury to JT Toppin, scoring 20+ points in three of the five games since. He is the first Red Raider to capture the award since its institution for the 2019-20 season.

Lloyd led Arizona to its first Big 12 regular season title, navigating the nation's toughest league with an 16-2 record. The 2022 AP National Coach of the Year earns his first honor in the Big 12 Conference, while amassing 141 wins in the first five seasons of his career, the most of any coach in NCAA Division I history.

In addition, the Conference named a 10-person first team along with five-member second and third teams plus All-Defensive, All-Freshman and All-Newcomer teams. Dybantsa, Houston's Kingston Flemings and Texas Tech's JT Toppin were unanimously voted to the first team.

2026 All-Big 12 Awards

Player of the Year: Jaden Bradley, Arizona

Defensive Player of the Year: Flory Bidunga, Kansas

Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State

Freshman of the Year: AJ Dybantsa, BYU

Newcomer of the Year: Melvin Council Jr., Kansas

Sixth Man Award: Tobe Awaka, Arizona*

Most Improved: Christian Anderson, Texas Tech

Coach of the Year: Tommy Lloyd, Arizona

All-Big 12 First Team

Jaden Bradley, Arizona

Brayden Burries, Arizona

Motiejus Krivas, Arizona

AJ Dybantsa, BYU*

Emanuel Sharp, Houston

Kingston Flemings, Houston*

Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State

Flory Bidunga, Kansas

Christian Anderson, Texas Tech

JT Toppin, Texas Tech*

All-Big 12 Second Team

Richie Saunders, BYU

Baba Miller, Cincinnati

Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State

Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State

Darryn Peterson, Kansas

All-Big 12 Third Team

Koa Peat, Arizona

Cameron Carr, Baylor

Rob Wright, BYU

Themus Fulks, UCF

Xavier Edmonds, TCU

Honorable Mention:

Arizona: Tobe Awaka

Baylor: Tounde Yessoufou

Cincinnati: Moustapha Thiam

Colorado: Isaiah Johnson

Houston: Joseph Tugler, Milos Uzan

Kansas: Melvin Council Jr.

Kansas State: PJ Haggerty

Oklahoma State: Parsa Fallah

TCU: David Punch

Texas Tech: Donovan Atwell

West Virginia: Honor Huff

Utah: Terrence Brown

All-Defensive Team

Jaden Bradley, Arizona

Motiejus Krivas, Arizona

Emanuel Sharp, Houston

Joseph Tugler, Houston

Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State

Flory Bidunga, Kansas*

A tie resulted in an extra position on the team

All-Freshman Team

Brayden Burries, Arizona*

Koa Peat, Arizona

AJ Dybantsa, BYU*

Kingston Flemings, Houston*

Darryn Peterson, Kansas*

All-Newcomer Team

Cameron Carr, Baylor

Themus Fulks, UCF

Baba Miller, Cincinnati

Melvin Council Jr., Kansas

Donovan Atwell, Texas Tech

*- unanimous selection

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