K-State Q&A: Spring football and Jerome Tang’s search for new basketball transfers

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

Basketball season is officially over for the Wildcats, but that doesn’t mean nothing is going on in the world of EMAW sports. Transfer season is upon us. So is spring football. And the K-State baseball team currently resides in first place of the Big 12 standings at 18-6 overall and 6-1 in conference.

That gives us more than enough topics to cover in this week’s mailbag. So let’s get right to your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

What are your final thoughts on the women’s basketball season? I was expecting more than an early exit from the NCAA Tournament a team with that much talent, especially with the Cats playing games at home. - Jeff M. via e-mail.

I have been consistent in saying that Jeff Mittie’s team needed to reach the Sweet 16 for this to be a truly special season.

The Wildcats have had plenty of excellent women’s basketball teams before but it almost feels like there has been some kind of curse preventing them from advancing past the Round of 32. Maybe it’s the same voodoo that keeps stopping the men’s team in the Elite Eight. I thought this team was good enough to break through that wall and get another shot at Iowa this week in the Sweet 16.

K-State was a top 5 team for portions of the season and got off to a tremendous start.

But they still bowed out in the second round.

Some are understandably disappointed with that result. I get that. But that doesn’t mean it was a bad year. Far to the contrary.

There is no need to channel your inner Ricky Bobby and proclaim that, “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

K-State still won 26 games, finished third in the Big 12 standings and got to host in the NCAA Tournament. Gabby Gregory, Serena Sundell and Ayoka Lee got to play in front of large crowds at Bramlage Coliseum. The community really supported this team. That was awesome to see.

And it’s not like they got upset by some awful team. Colorado is really good. The Buffaloes beat LSU at the start of the season. Getting past them was always going to be hard, regardless of who had home-court advantage.

Was it the best season in school history? No.

But it was an awfully good year for the K-State women’s basketball team.

What are the most notable differences from the QB room with the transition of the staff? How is Avery managing those changes? -@Syl_Pic_Tgating via X.

Things are a little different with Matt Wells now coaching the quarterbacks instead of Collin Klein.

But I haven’t noticed any gigantic changes so far at spring practice. K-State quarterbacks are still going through many of the same drills and working on the same things they always have.

The subtle differences I have noticed:

• More of a focus on precision passes. I have witnessed Avery Johnson attempt many deep throws to the boundaries.

• There is a new communication system on the way. K-State coaches are allowed to talk to Johnson via a helmet speaker next season. It seems like the Wildcats are experimenting with that but also still signaling in plays from the sidelines.

• Perhaps they are just trying stuff out in spring practice, but it feels like quarterbacks are directing more pre-snap motion than they have in the past.

• More attention to the snap. I’m not sure exactly what Wells is stressing on the center/quarterback exchange, but he likes to take a knee right next to the center and study how the ball is being transferred before certain drills. Never saw Klein do anything like that.

Johnson seems to be handling those changes just fine. He has looked great.

The QB depth behind him might be a concern, though. I won’t be surprised if Chris Klieman ends up bringing in a more experienced transfer quarterback to help some competition that room before summer gets here.

Which running back in spring practices is showing the most potential to slot in as the No. 2 behind D.J. Giddens. Or is it still too early to tell? - Kirk Z via e-mail.

Joe Jackson seems like the guy who should be voted most likely to emerge as a solid running back behind D.J. Giddens this season. The redshirt freshman has looked good in practice and insiders have told me promising things about him.

But if we’re talking about long-term potential then DeVon Rice might be the guy.

The 5-foot-9 speedster has all the physical traits you could want out of a running back. And he certainly fits the mold of small running backs who have gone on to do fantastic things for the Wildcats. The question with him is how quickly can he learn the playbook and do other things well like pass block.

Then there is La’James White, who is probably the most solid player of all the backups. You know he’s not going to screw things up if you put him in for a few plays.

If/when Kansas State wins a national championship, what will it be in? -@AP_Dubya

Am I allowed to go way off the grid and mention a sport that Kansas State doesn’t even currently sponsor?

Because if the Wildcats ever added wrestling I could see them winning a national championship in that sport. The Sunflower State has some avid wrestling fans out there. Iowa State is good at it. Missouri is good at it. Oklahoma State is the best at it. Seems like this is the part of the country where you can build a really good wrestling team. And there isn’t a ton of competition. It’s not a national sport like basketball or football.

Maybe one day they will add men’s and/or women’s team and bring home a national championship.

Until then ... Baseball, track and field or volleyball seem like the most likely sports. Teams come out of nowhere to win the College World Series every dozen years or so. The Wildcats have a strong history in track. And volleyball seems much more wide open than basketball or football.

Let’s talk about Kellis the K-STATE WRITER for a moment. What stories get you excited everyday to write? Is it the daily game that’s got an exciting ending. Or is it creating the relationships over time that shows the growth of the player/student over time? - @ChadFullington via X.

Allow me to lay out the best three stories for any beat writer:

1. The feature story on a player or coach that goes deep into their background and shares a bunch of interesting details about their lives and athletic careers that nobody had any clue about.

2. The emphatic and/or last-second victory that the entire fan base is fired up about. Nothing beats a happy locker room after an NCAA Tournament win or a victory in the Big 12 championship game or the celebration on the field after a bowl. It’s always a lot of fun to share those moments with readers.

3. The controversial loss. Most of the time, nobody wants to read about how K-State didn’t win one of its games. But if Big 12 officials botch a call or a player makes a crucial mistake or a coach calls a boneheaded play then all of a sudden there is a lot of interest and it can be fun to dissect what happened on video and interview people about it.

Breaking news is also a rush, but not like it once was. The days of writing a story and owning it for an entire news cycle before any other media outlet could catch up are long gone. Any more, news like injuries and hirings can be confirmed and shared on social media within minutes, if not seconds.

New football uniforms? Or helmet change? What about basketball as well now that there is a new Nike deal? -@C_Banning via X.

I’m sure K-State will break out some nifty alternate football uniforms at some point, but I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for them.

The original plan was for the Wildcats to wear something new under Chris Klieman. Alas, they kept losing every time they made even small adjustments like white helmets, white pants or a new “Cats” logo instead of the traditional powercat. Believe or not, some prominent boosters even complained that going away from the powercat logo, even for one game, was disrespectful to all the winning K-State achieved with Bill Snyder’s favorite logo.

So put yourself in Klieman’s shoes. You can either keep trying to alter the uniforms and deal with complaints and losses or just stick with the traditional look. Football coaches are a superstitious bunch. They made the conservative choice.

That being said, now that they have a long-term deal with Nike in place I do think alternative uniforms will once again become a topic. My suggestion is to order some and wear them at home against a FCS opponent. That almost guarantees they will win in them. Maybe then people will stop blaming uniforms for losses. Of course, if they follow that plan and lose to a FCS team at home they may never wear new uniforms again.

I do think you will continue to see new basketball uniforms every year. K-State could really use a better base uniform than the ones they wore this past season.

Who is the first transfer Cat that Jerome Tang adds out of the portal? - Andrew B. via e-mail.

K-State has been linked to well over a dozen transfers already so it’s hard to know exactly who will emerge from the pack and commit to the Wildcats before everybody else.

For all I know, it could be someone who isn’t even currently in the transfer portal.

Jerome Tang likes to take a patient approach to transfers, realizing that more will become available after the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament and even more will become available after NBA Draft workouts come to an end.

Right after I broke down K-State’s transfer options some big names like South Dakota State guard Zeke Mayo and Colorado forward Eddie Lampkin entered the portal.

Some of Tang’s best transfer additions have come extremely late in the form of Keyontae Johnson, Arthur Kaluma, Desi Sills and Will McNair.

So there is no need to rush.

But I do think K-State will land at least one new transfer relatively soon. It sounds like there is mutual interest between K-State and Michigan guard Dug McDaniel, Drexel big man Amari Williams and Furman guard JP Pegues.

All three look like solid players that could help K-State next season. We will have to wait and see what happens.