Kansas City, Mo. ? So, who’s the player of the year in the Big 12 Conference?

In the past, that often was an easy call — Drew Gooden last season, who led the Big 12 in both scoring and rebounding; Marcus Fizer before that, who set a league career scoring record.

But this time, the league is bulging with candidates.

Kansas University has seniors Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison, who both on certain nights have picked up their team and personally carried it to victory.

Texas has sophomore T.J. Ford, probably the best point guard in the nation.

Don’t forget senior guard Hollis Price at Oklahoma. Or Texas A&M’s Bernard King, who has broken Fizer’s scoring record and is the current career Big 12 scoring leader.

For those who value defense, Oklahoma State’s Melvin Sanders is named by many coaches as the finest defender in the Big 12.

“Choosing a player of the year … with the level of some players we have is going to be a very difficult decision,” Kansas coach Roy Williams said Tuesday. “But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We’ve got some big-time players who are having some nice years.

“It’s a good problem for the league, with so many good players.”

Colorado coach Ricardo Patton agrees this is going to be the toughest year in the Big 12’s brief history to pick the most outstanding player.

“There are several players who come to mind right off the bat,” said Patton, who also would include Oklahoma State newcomer Tony Allen.

Voters will also have to decide on which factors to weigh. Should it be the best player in the league, or the player who most elevates his team?

“I really lean toward the player who’s doing the most for his team,” Patton said. “When you talk about the best player in the league, I’ve always believed you’ve got to put him in a position. You can’t compare T.J. Ford with Nick Collison. Collison is a better post player, and T.J. is a better point guard.

“The guy who comes to mind for me, really, is Hollis Price.”

Williams, of course, likes Hinrich and Collison.

“Kirk … during the K-State game when Nick goes out with 14 minutes left, he carried us,” Williams said. “In the Texas game, Nick carried us with his effort and work on the backboards. Oklahoma with Hollis … you can go down the line, because some awfully good players are in this league.”

Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, naturally, is a Price partisan. But he’s also a big fan of Sanders.

“Melvin Sanders is special,” Sampson said. “It’s just his attitude and his personality. He doesn’t get his identity from making baskets. He’s got a big heart. You can tell he’s a low-ego kid, too.”

While debate simmers over the player of the year, there’ll be no argument that the Big 12’s most surprising victory was Baylor’s 74-72 shocker Saturday over No. 13 Oklahoma State. The Bears had lost 22 straight road games, were clobbered by 49 points by Oklahoma and then went into Gallagher-Iba Arena as double-digit underdogs. They snatched one away from the Cowboys, knocking them out of a first-place tie with Kansas in the conference race.

“We have no pretense about who we are,” Baylor coach Dave Bliss said. “We had a terrific game against a wonderful basketball team. I’m sure they were looking ahead to (playing Oklahoma this week), and we might have caught them on an off night.”

— Sports writer Gary Bedore contributed to this story