Changes are coming to the K-State basketball roster under coach Casey Alexander
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Casey Alexander expects turnover now but seeks year-to-year continuity.
- Priority: try to retain players and boost high school recruiting.
- Short term mix: returning talent, possible Belmont adds, recruits and portal players.
Casey Alexander expects the Kansas State basketball roster to look different next season.
Now that he has been hired as head coach, it makes sense that he wants to bring in a new batch of players, especially with the Wildcats coming off a campaign that featured 20 losses and a 15th place finish in the Big 12 standings.
“You will probably have quite a bit of turnover this go-around,” Alexander said at his introductory news conference Monday.
But he doesn’t want to continue resetting the K-State basketball roster as he gets settled in Manhattan.
In fact, he wants to do the opposite.
His plan is to emphasize high school recruiting, player retention and year-by-year development as much as possible. In most years, he wants to use the transfer portal strictly to fill needs around a strong returning nucleus of talent. The last thing he wants to do is “throw darts” and hope that a dozen new transfers will find a way to win.
“What I would love for you to see is a program that from year to year you know what the identity of our team is,” Alexander said. “I want you to recognize faces year to year. I want our style of play to be super predictable. I want to be able to adapt and change stuff that happens within a game. But I want you to see some consistency.
“I want you to know our players. I want them to be in the community. I don’t want to flip a roster over every season. That might take a minute or two for us to get to that point. I think you will probably have quite a bit of turnover this go-around. But we don’t want to see that on an annual basis. We want to build a program.”
That will likely come as a refreshing approach for K-State basketball fans who watched the Wildcats lose with transfer-heavy rosters during Jerome Tang’s final three years on campus.
High school recruiting was becoming an afterthought. Alexander wants to change that. He says “closer is better” in recruiting, but he will cast a national net. He will also look overseas for European talent.
It will be interesting to see where he looks over the next month for players.
He will first focus on current K-State players. Though he has been unable to speak with them while they are out of town on spring break, he is hoping to connect with as many as possible.
David Castillo and Taj Manning seem like logical options for Alexander to try and retain. Maybe he will try to keep PJ Haggerty, Andrej Kostic or Abdi Bashir.
“I’m not closing the door on anybody that’s here currently at all,” Alexander said. “I look forward to having those conversations. If it’s the best thing for them and for us, they’ll be back and we’ll move on to the next steps.”
Alexander may also invite some of his former players at Belmont to follow him to K-State.
Tyler Lundblade is planning to enter the transfer portal after averaging 15.6 points per game for the Bruins this season. He would be an obvious target for Alexander, and other coaches.
“It could include some Belmont guys,” Alexander said. “That’s a pretty sensitive subject right now. We have got to make sure we’re doing things the appropriate way. But if there are guys that played for me there that aren’t going to stay there, then it would make pretty good sense that this might be a place where they can finish.”
For now, it seems like Alexander’s first roster at K-State will consist of four types of players.
The Wildcats may have some returning talent, a few Belmont transfers, some high school recruits and a handful of newcomers from the transfer portal.