Europe has become a valuable recruiting ground for K-State basketball. Here’s why
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas State recruited three seasoned European pros to boost team maturity.
- Coach Tang prioritized professionalism and NIL readiness in new roster picks.
- International recruits signed without visits, reflecting career-driven mindset.
The changing landscape of college basketball led Jerome Tang somewhere he never expected to repeatedly visit for recruiting purposes this offseason — Europe.
Now that Kansas State is allowed to share millions of dollars with its basketball roster and Wildcat players are free to earn money via NIL deals, Tang decided it was time to seek out a new type of recruit.
Tang, who is entering his fourth year as head coach at K-State, wants his team to practice and play with a businesslike approach this season. To that end, he tried his best to sign a few players who were mature enough to handle that type of no-nonsense environment.
K-State ended up finding three players that fit that mold. All of them have spent time playing professionally overseas: German big Elias Rapieque, Italian center Dorin Buca and Serbian wing Andrej Kostic.
After missing out on the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons, Tang thinks his new batch of Euro Cats is talented enough to help K-State on the court and experienced enough to boost K-State in the locker room.
“Those guys, they’ve played professionally or been in in a club setting where they’re around older guys who play basketball for a living,” Tang said. “If they didn’t handle their responsibilities, they could be fired. Basketball was their livelihood, how they took care of their families. That forced them to grow up quick.
“They have a more professional approach that should help us now that college players are being paid. We say it’s not pay for play, but at the end of the day that’s what it is. These guys are very serious about their craft. That is what we wanted. We really tried to find guys who had a more mature approach to the game of basketball.”
It’s not hard to understand why Tang wants more basketball players who know how to treat the game like a job.
Coleman Hawkins earning a then record $2 million in NIL money last season created a major distraction for both him and his teammates. It loomed over K-State like a dark cloud until Hawkins tearfully said he wished his contract had remained private following his final game in a purple uniform.
Many of K-State’s basketball players will make seven figures this season. None of their International additions came cheap.
But money wasn’t the only recruiting tool that Tang used to sign three foreign players.
He also piled up frequent flyer miles on his way across the Atlantic Ocean to meet Rapieque, Buca and Kostic. K-State assistant coach Anthony Winchester led the way on International recruiting and scouting. But Tang said he met with all three players in Europe before they signed with the Wildcats.
“I went and saw all three of them play in person and met them,” Tang said. “Anthony Winchester did a great job. He went over and evaluated and developed relationships. We had a good combination of things.”
Convincing all three to leave for another country wasn’t easy. Unlike with high school recruits, K-State was unable to set up campus visits for them. They all had to commit to EMAW sight unseen.
The fact they were willing to do so without being wined and dined was a sign of their maturity in the eyes of Tang.
“All of those guys have signed with professional teams without a visit,” Tang said. “It was just about if there was a need and did it make sense to them, their families and their agents. They’re used to making those types of decisions.”
Getting all three to campus took some time. But they have been hard at work in Manhattan for several weeks now.
There has been a bit of a language barrier in practice, but Tang says all three newcomers “speak good English and a couple other languages.”
Rapieque is a 6-foot-9 and 225-pound forward from Germany who spent the past few years playing for ALBA Berlin. The 21-year old averaged 3.5 points and 2.2 rebounds last season.
“He played at the highest level overseas, with former NBA guys,” Tang said. “There were times when he was the star, the focal point of his team. He was able to do that when they needed him to score and be dominant. He could also be a role player when they needed him to be. When he’s on the floor, he just makes everybody better.”
Buca is a 7-2 and 254-pound center who played for Akern Libertas Livorno in the Italian pro league last season. He averaged 5.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists while seeing 16.7 minutes of action per game.
“He is going to provide us something as a mobile big with great size that maybe we haven’t had before,” Tang said.
Kostic was the first European player to commit to K-State. He is a 6-6 and 210-pound guard who some consider to be a NBA Draft prospect. He has scored as many as 39 points in pro games and served as a go-to player for Serbia’s U19 national team.
“He is just a bucket, man,” Tang said. “He’s gifted with his size at 6-foot-7 for a guard. He shoots the ball effortlessly, and he’s got a bunch of creativity to his game.”
Most importantly, though, Tang thinks all three players are mature. That is what he wanted most out of his European recruiting adventures.