Has Jerome Tang rebuilt Wildcats into NCAA Tournament hoops team? A K-State Q&A
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
Thanks, as always, for providing so many great questions.
Now that the Kansas State men’s basketball roster is all but complete, what do you think our chances are of reaching the NCAA Tournament next season? - Jeff M. via e-mail.
My expectation is for the Wildcats to be a bubble team during the 2025-26 basketball season.
What side of the bubble they end up on will likely depend on how just how good (or bad) international newcomers Andrej Kostic and Elias Rapieque play in Manhattan.
Bart Torvik has K-State projected as the nation’s No. 45 team in his lookahead roster rankings. But his ratings system doesn’t factor in foreign players. If Kostic, a skilled guard from Serbia, and Rapieque, a 21-year old forward from Germany, hit the ground running as above-average Big 12 players then Jerome Tang’s team will probably be dancing after a two-year absence from March Madness.
It won’t take much for K-State to overachieve those expectations.
But nothing is a lock in college basketball anymore. The Wildcats will be counting on two foreign players and three transfers to come together quickly as a starting lineup. They will also be adjusting to a new offense with Matthew Driscoll taking over as associate head coach. If everything goes perfectly, then the Wildcats could be one of the better teams in the Big 12.
But things could easily go wrong.
For example, K-State unexpectedly lost Nae’Qwan Tomlin two years ago and Achor Achor last year. Both of those teams missed out on the Big Dance. There’s no way to predict injuries and suspensions and other things that transpire over the course of a season.
The Big 12 is also going to be nasty next season. K-State could be an improved team and still hover around .500 in league play.
For now, I would put K-State’s tournament odds around 50%.
Let’s talk about Cats baseball. Did they overachieve, underachieve or meet expectations? And what’s the outlook for the future? -@BusMedicMike via X.
I think the Bat Cats met expectations.
Pete Hughes and his team finished the season with an overall record of 32-26, which may not look great on paper. But K-State won a record 17 of those games in Big 12 competition and played a very difficult schedule. The Wildcats also reached a NCAA Regional for the second straight season and won a game in the postseason.
Could they have done more? Sure. At one point, it looked like the Wildcats might compete with West Virginia for a conference championship, but those dreams died quickly after Oklahoma State and Kansas both swept a pair of three-game series against K-State. So I can see how some fans were a little disappointed with how the season went.
But K-State didn’t have enough good pitching to realistically win a NCAA Regional this season. The Bat Cats would have had to put up 15 runs per game to get by Houston and Texas.
The future seems bright at Tointon Family Stadium.
Hughes has done a nice job of bringing in talent via the transfer portal and traditional recruiting. He also seems to have figured out how to put together a schedule that helps the Wildcats achieve a quality RPI.
If Maxiumus Martin, AJ Evasco and Dee Kennedy all return, K-State will have a salty lineup.
I expect the Wildcats to compete for another postseason trip next season.
Let’s say I could only go to one K-State football game next season. Which is the can’t-miss game of the bunch? - @garrettb1993 via X
The season-opener against Iowa State is the obvious choice.
It has the best location (Dublin, Ireland), some of the best weather (it’s not going to be too hot or cold overseas in August) and high stakes (the winner of this game may compete for a Big 12 championship).
If I could only go to one game, I know that’s the one I would circle. So much about it is unique. Just going will make for a great story, regardless of how the game turns out.
But if you don’t have enough money to make it to Ireland then Texas Tech at K-State on Nov. 1 is my runner-up pick.
That game could also have conference championship implications, and early November is a great time watch football at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Kellis, it’s the offseason. Every team out is there sharpening their skills so next season is even better. While you’re still going at it, how are you getting better this offseason? And what’s been the biggest change in the news game since becoming the K-State beat writer years ago? - @ChadFullington via X.
Fortunately, I work for a great company that sends its entire sports staff to Hawaii for a retreat twice each year.
They paid for us to go to Maui last month, and we are going to Kauai in July.
You wouldn’t believe how much we improve as sports writers after we share our thoughts around seafood towers and Mai Tais while we tour volcanoes and waterfalls. Not to brag, but my team won the golf scramble with a score of 59. My driver was really on at The Plantation Course after a few nights of relaxation at the Ritz-Carlton.
Patrick Mahomes and Michael Jordan gave us some great motivational speeches, too.
The only down side was we had to fly first class instead of on a private jet.
Sorry, I must have dozed off at my keyboard for a second there. Did I type a few paragraphs in my sleep?
In all seriousness, there really isn’t any time for us college writers to work on our craft with a private coach like you see with athletes. I may not be going to many games right now, but there is still a ton of work to be done. Chris Klieman has added four new recruits in the past week. Jerome Tang has spent the past few months rebuilding the basketball roster. The House Settlement could be finalized any day now.
And let’s not forget there’s always a chance conference realignment rears its ugly head again.
Some news cycles are slower than others, but there isn’t much of an offseason anymore. Every time I tell my editors I’m not expecting much to happen on a certain day I end up writing four stories. That is probably the biggest change from when I started this job. Back then you had to dig deep into your bag of story ideas for content at this time of year. With the transfer portal and NIL, now something is always happening.
You rest and relax when you can. Then you try to hit the ground running when football season returns.
My weekly recommendations
Streaming: Nonnas on Netflix. The combination of Vince Vaughn and Italian food worked for me. It’s a feel-good flick.
Food: Twizzlers (five-pound resealable container from Sam’s Club). I have been snacking on these for a few weeks, and they haven’t gone bad! The resealable container is a game-changer.
Clothing: Sweat shorts. I picked up a pair of these from Adidas last month, and they changed my life. They allow you to have the comfort of sweat pants in warm weather. Now, I probably won’t want to keep wearing them in July. But they have been perfect for our unusually cool weather this May and June.