Big 12 Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2024-25 season

9. Kansas State Wildcats

2023-24 season record: 19-15 (8-10 Big 12)

After making the Elite 8 in his first year, K-State and Coach Jerome Tang took a step back this past season, missing the NCAA Tournament altogether. They’ll have new faces to lead the way, as the top two scorers, Tylor Perry and Camryn Carter, are now gone. Other departing rotation pieces include William McNair, Dai Dai Ames, and Jerrell Colbert.

The Wildcats do have a couple key guys coming back to build around. Arthur Kaluma (14.4 ppg and 7.0 rpg) was one of the better frontcourt players in the Big 12 and assuming he does indeed come back from the NBA Draft process, Kansas State will have their go-to guy. And David N’Guessan (7.8 ppg and 6.8 rpg) was an underrated contributor as well, shooting 58% from the field as a frontcourt contributor.

Revamping the backcourt is a trio of perimeter transfers. CJ Jones is a 6’5 guard from Illinois-Chicago, coming off averaging 11.4 ppg and 4.8 apg. Brendan Hausen is a 6’4 guard from Villanova, averaging 6.4 ppg on 38% shooting from deep on 18 mpg off the bench. The key guy is Dug McDaniel, a 5’11 point guard from Michigan. He led his team with 16.3 ppg and 4.7 apg, including a pair of 33-point games.

If Arkansas transfer center and former 5-star prospect Baye Fall breaks out as a sophomore contributor, then Kansas State should have enough depth to get back in the NCAAT mix. But we’ll have to see if McDaniel can be a leading piece on a winning team because this past season wasn’t a good case for that.