Musings: Kansas State receives first big test this week

SURE BETS FOR KANSAS STATE

1. Return: According to Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang, Achor Achor will be back on the floor for the Wildcats after missing time due to a family emergency. He missed the first two games but is expected to return for Thursday’s contest against LSU.
2. Lady Cats: Respect is abound for the K-State women. Jeff Mittie and company are ranked No. 10 in AP Poll after a 92-45 win over Green Bay and a 82-56 victory over Belmont.
3. DNG: Just an appreciation post. It doesn’t need to be said, but David N’Guessan is a very good basketball player. He was probably the best player on the team going down the stretch last year, he always plays hard and he’s one of the best defenders in the Big 12, if not the country. Not many guys can guard just about anyone on the floor like him. Now he’s drumming up some confidence on the offensive end.

SURPRISES IN THE K-STATE WORLD

1. Redshirts: While Zashon Rich is the only football true freshman not redshirting, nobody on the basketball team will be. All of Baye Fall, Mobi Ikegwuruka, Macaleab Rich and David Castillo have already played this season.
2. Continuity: Just something that has crossed my mind is the continuity of the K-State basketball coaches. Tang has the same top three assistants as when he was hired in Ulric Maligi, Jareem Dowling and Rodney Perry. Even the support staff is largely the same.
3. Game management: To me it is still shocking at how Chris Klieman and Kansas State chose to manage the game in Houston. Typically, the problem isn’t them being too aggressive. I can’t remember a time before this season where I thought the Wildcats pushed the envelope too much. They have at BYU at the end of the first half and did so again through the air at Houston while up two scores.

JURY STILL OUT

1. Colorado: Will they lose? K-State can’t make it to Arlington without it happening.
2. 10-win season: Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, yes the jury is still out on a 10-win season for Kansas State after being tripped up already by BYU and Houston. However, I’m really talking about Iowa State who has never won 10 games in a season. They’ve lost their last two games to Texas Tech and Kansas and still play Cincinnati, Utah and the Wildcats.
3. Cure: The drama is not ending despite his trip to Oregon falling apart last week due to weather. K-State tight end commit Linkon Cure now circled the final game of the season as a potential stop in Eugene to watch the Ducks play Washington. A dead period goes into effect immediately afterwards because Signing Day is the following Wednesday.

HAS MY ATTENTION

1. First test: No offense to New Orleans or Cleveland State, but the first test of the regular season will come on Thursday when Kansas State hosts LSU in a return game following the Wildcat win in Baton Rouge last year. It will also be a return game for Cam Carter, who is one of the main scorers for Matt McMahon and the Tigers.
2. Entertainment value: Part of the reason why the 2022-2023 K-State basketball team was so embraced is that they were entertaining to watch. They’d shoot the heck out of the three-ball at times, and from deep range thanks to Markquis Nowell, but they also had a showtime edge about them. Nowell’s flashiness, exceptional passes, the finishing ability of Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Keyontae Johnson and there was a recipe for something special every time they hit the court. That didn’t exist last season, but there are elements already of it this year, especially the three-point shooting.
3. Tight end numbers: No tight ends were signed by Kansas State last year. And the lone tight end in the current class is Cure. Whereas, on the flip side, Oregon has already flipped Washington commit Vander Ploog in this cycle and signed another two in the last class in A.J. Pugliano and Roger Saleapaga. Will it matter? I don’t know. But I think the normal thing would be to at least consider that. The Ducks have signed two other tight ends and have another commit in the last two cycles when in the same time span Cure is the only one picked by the Wildcats.

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