Major change came to Manhattan this offseason as Casey Alexander took over as the new head coach for the Wildcats. Fresh off success leading Belmont, Alexander comes to the Big 12 hopeful to turn Kansas State back into a contending program. They’ve had some notable performances, with predecessor Jerome Tang leading the Wildcats to the Elite Eight just three years ago, but the hope is for much more consistency.
Inheriting a team that finished second from last in the Big 12, you won’t be shocked to hear that very little of the talent is returning for the Wildcats. Thanks to the transfer portal and other departures, PJ Haggerty, David Castillo, and the rest of last year’s talent have already found new homes. Only Anrej Kostic is back from last season, as the Serbian guard put up just over 5 points per game as a freshman.
With all those departures, it won’t be surprising to hear that Kansas State has a significant amount of new faces this season. The recruiting class features a pair of freshman, with Alexander largely leaning on the transfer portal to build this thing back up. Kansas State’s incoming transfer class had a few notable adds like Miami forward Timotej Malovec or New Mexico 7-footer JT Rock, but it wasn’t exactly the highest-ranked class in the country.
With ten names in that transfer class, it can be hard right now to differentiate talent and figure out roles, but Brandon Rechsteiner is the player we’re really keeping an eye on in Manhattan. A 6-1 guard originally from Georgia, Rechsteiner spent his first two seasons largely in a reserve role at Virginia Tech before shining last season at Colorado State. He averaged 12.0 points and 2.5 assists per game during a 21-win campaign for the Rams under new head coach Ali Farokhmanesh.
Rechsteiner now returns to power conference basketball and hopes to step into a prominent role in the Big 12. Let’s be clear; there are other new faces on Kansas State’s roster who have significant experience but we’re looking at Rechsteiner for a few reasons. He’s the only new piece who was a double-digit scorer last season and he’s more of a veteran presence than some of these others, like Montana Wheeler or Matt Gilhool, a pair of rising sophomores.
We’re not deep diving into the intricacies of this new lineup but Rechsteiner clearly should play an important role. He slides into what should be a significant role not only as a scoring guard but as a leader for this mish-mosh of a team. Kansas State struggled to 15th place in the Big 12 last season and it’s going to depend a lot on him to navigate the Wildcats to a better finish than that.
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