K-State Q&A: New basketball uniforms, football recruiting, the Pop-Tarts Bowl and more

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

No need for a lengthy introduction this week. Let me just say happy holidays to you and yours. Now, let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

Will the Fighting Jerome Tang’s return to the NCAA Tournament this season? Or could this team slip to the NIT? - Jeff M. via e-mail

I am proud of you for acknowledging that this team is no lock for March Madness.

Most of my friends seem to think it’s a foregone conclusion that the Wildcats will make the field of 68. While that is a definite possibility, that confidence ignores the fact that they currently rank 86th in the NET rankings, 67th at Ken Pomeroy and 64th at Bart Torvik.

Teams don’t usually make the NCAA Tournament with those numbers. If the regular season ended today K-State would be a bubble team.

But it’s not the end of the regular season. We still have several months to go. So the Wildcats can easily improve their situation, especially with Big 12 play around the corner. K-State’s basketball resume will improve simply by playing a harder schedule against the always challenging Big 12.

Question is: How many games do the Wildcats need to win to feel comfortable about their tournament chances come March?

Let’s assume they beat Chicago State and enter conference play at 10-3. An even split in their final 18 games will likely be good enough for an at-large berth. That would give them 19 wins with a chance to reach 20 in the Big 12 Tournament. That sounds like a tourney team.

Anything less than that will put them right on the bubble. In most years, 8-10 is good enough so long as you have a few marquee wins to your name. I don’t think the Wildcats will get in with anything lower than that, because they only have two notable wins at the moment. K-State will be rooting hard for Villanova and Providence to overachieve in Big East play.

Back to your original question: I do lean toward K-State being able to win enough Big 12 games to make it to the NCAA Tournament. Nae’Qwan Tomlin may be gone, but Ques Glover is about to return from an injury, and he will give the Wildcats a nice scoring boost.

Still, fans may never feel comfortable. K-State has work to do in order to reach March Madness.

What did you think of the new basketball uniforms? - Kevin G. via e-mail

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give them a 7.5.

The official color of the new uniforms (anthracite) is fun to say, but I’m not the biggest fan of gray when it comes to basketball jerseys. They would have looked better in black.

But I do like the script “Wildcats” on the chest and I also like the secondary color of lavender with a touch of white. They are an upgrade over the standard home and away uniforms.

My biggest complaint is that they used the powercat logo on the shorts instead of the older Willie logo that they wore on their warm-up shirts. Those looked amazing. Change the logo on the shorts and the uniforms move up into the 8.5 range.

These uniforms are a solid, if not spectacular, addition to the rotation.

I’m glad that Jerome Tang is willing to show off new looks from time to time. New uniforms are always a good idea.

You can pick one K-State-related Christmas gift, no matter how unreasonable.What are you asking for? - @BrennanMense via X

I feel like I need to break this down into three categories.

1. If we’re talking about the gift of K-State accomplishing something special in the world of sports, then I would very much like to cover the Wildcats in the Final Four. Would you believe I have been on press row for the Elite Eight five different times since I started this job (twice with KU and thrice with K-State) and the team I was there to write about lost all five times? Just once I want to experience the Final Four with a media credential hanging around my neck.

2. If you’re asking about K-State gear, then I will give my gift away to the football team and let them have new uniforms for a change. It’s ridiculous that we’re in Year 5 under Chris Klieman and we still haven’t seen alternative uniforms (the two times they wore white helmets and pants doesn’t count).

3. I would also settle for access to the K-State plane that the Wildcats use for recruiting.

Does the media get any swag at bowl games? Just Pop Tarts in the press box? - @kstatefanfirst via X

Bowl games don’t devote many resources to bowl gifts anymore. Nor should they.

Wining and dining the teams is the priority. Not us.

By the way, the Pop-Tarts Bowl has some nice gifts lined up for K-State players. I didn’t know they made cups with portable speakers built into them. But they sound fun.

I do have some good stories about eating a bunch of Buffalo Wild Wings at ... the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. The Texas Bowl once gave us a charcuterie board that was shaped like the state outline of Texas. That was pretty cool.

Over the years, I have picked up random items like a duffel bag and a wallet and a charging station but I’ve never come home with something like a new car.

Too bad.

I do hope they have a nice assortment of Pop-Tarts for the media to taste in Orlando, though. It would be a real shame if they didn’t.

Will Avery let his locks flow for the bowl game or are we getting braided Avery? - @superksufan99 via X

I’m expecting the long, flowing locks like we’ve seen all season.

But it would be amazing if he could somehow braid the outline of a Pop-Tart into his hair. Talk about a NIL opportunity.

Did you break your Christmas spending budget on the kiddos? Or - did you make it impossible to break by not having a Christmas budget? If your kids are kind enough to give you a gift - what did you ask for????! - @ChadFullington via X

Unfortunately, the terms “naughty” and “nice” don’t have much meaning in our household.

The Robinett boys are going to wake up to way more presents than they deserve every Christmas morning, regardless of how good or bad they have behaved that year. Even if I stick to a tight budget or instruct Santa to give them coal their grandparents will more than make up for it.

Fortunately, my oldest son mowed lawns over the summer and used the cash he made to buy himself a PlayStation 5 a few months back. So now he’s asking for affordable games instead of an expensive system. Victory!

As for me, I’m pretty easy to shop for.

Give me a nice bottle of bourbon or a six-pack of craft beer and I will have a Merry Christmas.

Two things Kellis ... Seems that many K-Staters are unhappy with the Cats signing only 15 for 2023 .... Don’t they usually pick up several more quality needs in Feb? Also, I’ve seen nothing on ticket sales for Pop Tarts Bowl. What are turnout projections for Wildcats?

I’m not too concerned about the size of Kansas State’s recruiting class.

Chris Klieman wanted to save some scholarships so he could use them on incoming transfers, which is a smart approach. The Wildcats typically wait until after the bowl season is complete to really dive into the portal and they are going to want at least a handful of scholarships at their disposal in January and February.

The Wildcats will also sign a few more high school recruits during the February signing period.

One more thing: Klieman wanted to give at least a few scholarships to walk-ons that performed at a high level this season.

You can’t do all of those things if you use every single one of your scholarships now.

As for ticket sales in Orlando, I am expecting a strong crowd of purple to be on hand at Camping World Stadium for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Not as many as we saw last year in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. But a strong number all the same, considering this game will be played quickly after Christmas.

I’m guessing the crowd will rival what we saw at the Texas Bowl two years ago.