Big 12 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

LUBBOCK, TX - JANUARY 02: General view of a basketball and Big 12 logo taken before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns on January 02, 2016 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech won the game 82-74. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

2 of 11

MANHATTAN, KS – FEBRUARY 29: Head coach Bruce Weber of the Kansas State Wildcats (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images) /

. . Wildcats . 10. team. 463.

After a 4-0 start to the season, just about nothing went right for the Wildcats last season. They had few capable scoring contributors on the roster and ended up last in the Big 12 standings. Unfortunately for them, things could be looking the same in 2020-21, thanks to both the graduation of leading scorer Xavier Sneed, as well as Cartier Diarra electing to grad transfer over to Virginia Tech.

Add a couple of others transferring out, you have a Kansas State team that returns little production from the season prior. There’s just one senior on the roster (Mike McGuirl), with two other juniors.

If there’s any chance that the Wildcats aren’t the worst team in the Big 12, it’ll come from quality production from four-star freshman point guard Nigel Pack, as well as three-star center Davion Bradford. To add some experience, top-10 JUCO prospects Carlton Linguard and Rueadale Williams should have sizeable roles as well.

The reality for Wildcat fans is that this is a rebuilding year, with little to no hope of making the 2021 NCAA Tournament. And that’s somewhat okay, as long as the program can show a couple of promising building blocks to work with in the future. That’ll make players more likely to stick around and attract a couple of key recruits in the 2021 class. All eyes will be on Pack to see if he can become a future All-Big 12 caliber player.

Home/Big 12