As I famous in last Wednesday’s edition of the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1, Kansas State was picked to complete at the underside of the Big 12 standings in a preseason ballot by the league’s 10 head coaches. It was the byproduct of some various things. The Wildcats solely received 14 video games final season and had been beneath the route of a first-time head coach. Also, nobody fairly knew what to anticipate from Florida switch Keyontae Johnson, who hadn’t performed since December 2020 after collapsing throughout a recreation towards Florida State.
But now right here we’re, greater than two months into this season, and it is change into abundantly clear that even when it was smart in October to challenge KSU to complete final within the Big 12, the Wildcats really touchdown that deep within the standings is now not a possible state of affairs.
This workforce is legit good.
That’s the primary takeaway following Saturday’s 97-95 extra time win at Baylor that pushed Kansas State to 14-1 total and 3-0 within the Big 12. And the rationale this feels for actual as against fluky is as a result of if you have a look at the roster with recent eyes, these Wildcats are undeniably extra proficient than most acknowledged within the preseason.
It all begins with Johnson. The proven fact that he entered this season having not performed in practically two years following his collapse made it affordable to surprise what sort of participant he’d be. Fifteen video games into this season, nonetheless, we now know he is roughly the identical participant — and arguably a higher participant — than he was when he was voted the SEC Player of the Year prematurely of the 2020-21 season. That explains a variety of this. Kansas State’s main scorer is a former preseason SEC Player of the Year who has emerged as a candidate for Big 12 Player of the Year.
Beyond that, Markquis Nowell has developed into one of many nation’s greatest level guards. In Saturday’s win at Baylor, he completed with 32 factors and 14 assists after getting 36 factors and 9 assists in Tuesday’s win at Texas, making him simply the third Division I participant up to now 10 seasons to get 65-plus factors and 20-plus assists in any two-game span. The solely others who’ve achieved it are NBA All-Stars Ja Morant (Grizzlies) and Trae Young (Hawks), according to research conducted by Jared Berson.
Beyond that, Kansas State’s third-leading scorer (Nae’Qwan Tomlin) is a JUCO All-American, and the Wildcats’ fourth-leading scorer (Desi Sills) began for an Arkansas workforce that made the Elite Eight two years in the past. In different phrases, the top of this roster is skilled and proficient — and the first-year coach who put this all collectively, Jerome Tang, has proven himself to be so efficient on this position after spending 19 seasons as an assistant at Baylor that he is been listed in a number of locations as a potential candidate for the Texas job.
It’s an amazing story. It’s been enjoyable to look at.
It has compelled me to maneuver Kansas State to No. 7 in Sunday morning’s up to date CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 day by day school basketball rankings based mostly on a résumé that includes a 4-1 document in Quadrant 1 with zero extra losses. The street wins at Texas and at Baylor which have prolonged Kansas State’s profitable streak to eight video games are huge. No program within the nation has two street victories as good as these. And Kansas State’s 3-0 begin within the Big 12 has the Wildcats tied atop the league standings with Kansas and Iowa State heading into every week by which they will play Oklahoma State (Tuesday) and at TCU (Saturday).
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Top 25 And 1 rankings
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