Let’s rank Casey Alexander’s incoming basketball transfers: a K-State Wildcats Q&A
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Alexander has 10 new transfers and two high school recruits joining K‑State.
- Bart Torvik projects K‑State at No. 77 nationally and No. 15 in the Big 12.
- Multiple incoming transfers are noted for shooting, size, or high‑school pedigree.
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
Perhaps that will come as a surprise to some of you, given that I neglected to ask for questions from social media followers this week on X. But there is a method to my madness.
Last week, a reader submitted an excellent question via e-mail that arrived in my inbox shortly after I submitted my mailbag for editing. The question was so good that I decided to save it and give it special treatment this time around.
What kind of special treatment? Well, it is the only question I am going to answer.
This will give everyone else an extra week to think of new and creative questions about the Wildcats. Thanks, as always, for your participation.
New K-State men’s basketball coach Casey Alexander has 10 new transfers on their way to Manhattan. Which one of them is the best? Which one of them is the worst? Please rank them for me in your next Q&A. - Dallas N. via e-mail.
Alexander has assembled an interesting roster ahead of his first season at Bramlage Coliseum.
As you mentioned, 10 new transfers will soon arrive on campus. They will be joined by two high school recruits. Serbian sharpshooter Andrej Kostic is the lone returning player.
Put them all together, and you have a team that will need to exceed expectations to reach the NCAA Tournament ... at least on paper. And that’s even after you factor in the Big Dance foolishly expanding to 76 teams. College basketball statistician Bart Torvik projects K-State at No. 77 nationally and No. 15 in the Big 12.
There isn’t much star power on the roster, but what do you expect with a $6 million budget?
Alexander recruited a bunch of tall and athletic players who can shoot the basketball. If they fit his system, perhaps the Wildcats can perform better than the analytic data suggests they will.
Former coach Jerome Tang focused on high-priced players, and he used a system that seemed to change game by game. The results weren’t good.
Perhaps a new approach will lead to better results. It will be interesting to see what Alexander with this motley crew.
In the meantime, I think it is a great idea to rank the incoming transfers. Here we go!
10. Brock Vice (Murray State)
He averaged 2 points and 1.8 rebounds for a Missouri Valley team last season. There is no other candidate for the No. 10 spot.
That being said, he was a coveted recruit coming out of high school. He originally signed with Creighton before he transferred to North Texas and then Murray State. His limited highlight reel is better than you would expect from a reserve big. He has athleticism and skill around the basket.
Perhaps he could bring value as a bench player.
9. Pape N’Diaye (Xavier)
His career numbers (2.4 points and 3.1 rebounds) aren’t much better, but he has at least played 32 game at UNLV and 29 games at Xavier. The 7-footer averaged 9.3 minutes per game last season, and he blocked the occasional shot.
Alexander will find ways to put his size to use in the paint.
8. Timotej Malovec (Miami)
This player reminds me of Andrej Kostic. Malovec is originally from Slovakia. Kostic is from Serbia. They have similar names, too.
Beyond that, their young highlight reel from Europe is very entertaining to watch.
But they both were underwhelming as freshmen in college. Malovec averaged 4.2 points and 1.3 rebounds for a NCAA Tournament team last season. We will have to see if Alexander can get more out of him at K-State.
7. Isaiah Abraham (Georgetown)
This 6-foot-7 guard is a high-ceiling, low-floor gamble for the Wildcats.
Abraham was a touted recruit coming out of high school, and he began his college basketball career at Connecticut. But things haven’t worked out for him all that well ever since. He barely played for the Huskies, and he only averaged 4.8 points and 2.9 rebounds last season at Georgetown.
He does shoot the ball well, though. He also has great size for his position. And he only turned the ball over 16 times last year.
Maybe there is some potential here.
I’m not really sure how things will work for him at K-State. So I will rank him here, for now.
6. Matt Gilhool (LSU)
If K-State’s incoming transfer class was a deck of playing cards, Gilhool would be a joker.
He is the ultimate wild card of the group.
Gilhool was a coveted four-star recruit out of high school, but he didn’t play at all because of injuries last season at LSU. After a redshirt season, he could be dynamite for the Wildcats. Or he could experience growing pains. Alexander is high on him. He studied his practice tape at LSU and liked what he saw. I will rank him near the middle, because of his volatility.
5. JT Rock (New Mexico)
He only averaged 12.8 minutes of playing time last season at New Mexico, but JT Rock made the most of them. The 7-foot-1 center, who began his college career at Iowa State, had 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Rock didn’t do much of anything during his previous season in the Big 12, but Alexander has attributed that to youth and inexperience. Now that he has added on muscle and expanded his game, Rock appears ready for another go in a power conference. His ability to shoot from the outside as a center could play very well into K-State’s new run-and-gun system.
4. Dezdrick Lindsay (Oregon)
Unlike many of his new teammates listed above, you know exactly what you are going to get from Lindsay in a K-State basketball uniform.
The 6-foot-6 senior was a valuable hustle player for the Ducks last season. His numbers (5.3 points and 2.8 rebounds) weren’t overwhelming, but he had some nice games. He scored 16 points against Penn State, 11 against Washington and 10 against Iowa.
Alexander has already described him as “the best athlete on the roster.” He should be fun to watch.
3. Montana Wheeler (Bradley)
If we are only talking about next season, this is where I would rank Wheeler. But he would jump to No. 1 if we were talking about long-term transfer rankings.
Bradley has only played one season of college basketball, and he averaged 8.5 points, 2.8 assists and 1.1 rebounds as a freshman. He also had a big game against Belmont, Alexander’s former employer.
There is a chance that K-State uncovered a gem here. If he develops in Alexander’s system and decides to stay in Manhattan for multiple seasons then he will end up being a very valuable pick up for the Wildcats.
2. Brandon Rechsteiner (Colorado State)
I was tempted to rank him even higher, given that Rechsteiner is the only new K-State basketball player who was a double-digit scorer last season, at 12 points per game. The 6-foot-1 guard is a good shooter who has played 92 games in college.
He has the highest floor of any incoming KSU player.
K-State should expect good things from him at Bramlage Coliseum.
1. Jaden Schutt (Virginia Tech)
Alexander caught my attention when he predicted Schutt to have his best season as a senior while playing in Manhattan.
Schutt is a 6-foot-5 guard who was a star player in high school. He could have gone to just about any school, and he committed to Duke. He didn’t play much as a freshman and then spent the past two years at Virginia Tech, where he averaged 7.7 points last season.
But something tells me Schutt has been waiting for a breakout year. He has made at least 35% of his 3-pointers in all three of his college seasons. He is big and athletic. He should fit K-State’s offensive style.
If Alexander can successfully get more from Schutt than his previous coaches, he could end his college career with a bang in Manhattan.
My weekly recommendations
Streaming: The Boys. This series explores what could have happened in the movie “The Incredibles” if a small group of citizens decided to try and wipe out superheroes rather than ask them to go into hiding. It’s not family-friendly like “The Incredibles,” but it is entertaining. And its final episode is coming up next week on Amazon Prime.
Drink: KC Bier Kolsch. This brewery is best known for its Dunkel, but the Kolsch is a tasty option for warm weather. I cracked one open after a long day of watching 11U baseball in Wichita last weekend, and it really hit the spot.
Food: Old Trapper beef jerky. This is quickly becoming my favorite protein-filled snack. Here’s hoping they continue giving away jumbo bags of it at Big 12 Media Days this summer.