Taj Manning enters transfer portal after four seasons with K-State basketball
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Taj Manning entered the transfer portal after four seasons at Kansas State.
- K-State loses its longest tenured player as six transfers and four seniors depart.
- Coach Casey Alexander inherits multiple open scholarships and roster turnover.
Taj Manning spent four seasons at Kansas State, but he will finish his college basketball career somewhere else.
The 6-foot-7 redshirt junior entered the transfer portal Tuesday, which means he intends to play for a new team next year.
K-State is losing its longest tenured player in Manning. He has been at K-State for so long that he committed to Bruce Weber. But he remained loyal to the Wildcats when Jerome Tang took over.
Manning spent the past four seasons playing for Tang. He came off the bench during most of that time, but he emerged as a starter last season while averaging 4.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
K-State lost 20 games and flirted with last place in the Big 12 standings, which led K-State to fire Tang and replace him with new coach Casey Alexander. But Manning’s improvement was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season.
Some hoped that Manning would choose to return to K-State for one more year, given how long he has worn a purple uniform. But he ultimately decided to join many of his teammates in the transfer portal.
Six K-State basketball players have already announced their exit plans. Add on four departing seniors, and the Wildcats will have plenty of open scholarships in Year 1 for Alexander.
So far, only Andrej Kostic has announced that he will return to K-State next season.
K-State basketball transfer tracker
Outgoing transfers (6):
Abdi Bashir
David Castillo
PJ Haggerty
Taj Manning
Stephen Osei
Exavier Wilson
Departing seniors (4):
Marcus Johnson
Nate Johnson
CJ Jones
Khamari McGriff
Returning players (1):
Andrej Kostic
Incoming recruits (2):
Jaylen Alexander
Devin Hutcherson