K-State Q&A: Jerome Tang’s basketball rotation, Big 12 predictions, forfeits and more

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

There is plenty going on this week, so let’s dive right into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

How many wins will it take to win the Big 12? - @bfullingt via X

Thirteen seems like the magic number.

Maybe Baylor, Houston or Kansas can heat up to the point where one of them goes 14-4 in conference play, but I doubt it. The Big 12 is just too strong this season for anyone to run away with the championship race. Home teams are off to a 20-8 start, despite both Oklahoma State and Texas starting 0-2 at home. Winning on the road has never been harder.

This is not the time for a dominant team to emerge.

If any team gets to 14, that will definitely be good enough to win the league solo. It could be the same story with 13, but two teams could share the trophy at that number. If 12-6 wins the conference then it’s definitely going to be a shared title.

Bart Torvik currently makes Houston (72.6%) a heavy favorite, followed by BYU (18%) and then Kansas (11%).

Personally, I would favor KU because betting against Bill Self winning the Big 12 is never a good idea and Houston hasn’t won a road game in conference play yet.

K-State is currently in a tie for first place at 3-1, so you can’t rule out the Wildcats either. But their schedule is about to get a lot harder after Saturday’s home game against Oklahoma State. Road games against Iowa State and Houston in the same week sounds like torture.

I don’t think the Wildcats can win enough games to keep pace in the Big 12 race, but I do think they will win enough to get into the NCAA Tournament.

What is K-State’s predicted conference record/path to make the NCAA Tournament? - @BrianBookwalter via X

The analytical sites say the Wildcats are currently projected to finish the season 19-12 overall and 9-9 in the Big 12.

I project them at 10 wins in conference play.

Either one of those scenarios should result in a trip to March Madness.

What seed will K-State be in the NCAA tournament. If they make it? - @0Mantz via X

At the moment, ESPN has the Wildcats as the last team in the projected field. If the season ended today, they would be a No. 11 seed and they would start the NCAA Tournament with a play-in game at the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

That is far from ideal.

The good news is that if K-State keeps beating quality Big 12 teams then it could easily move up a few lines on the bracket.

Do you see the starters averaging the current minutes they are playing for the rest of the season. What will it take to get them fewer minutes without the team losing more? - @ChadFullington via X

Jerome Tang has been relying on his starters too much in recent games, and I don’t think that is sustainable.

Tylor Perry averages 36.7 minutes per game, but he was on the floor for 43 minutes during an overtime win against Baylor.

Cam Carter is at 36.1 minutes per game, followed by Arthur Kaluma at 34.9 and David N’Guessan at 29.2. Will McNair rounds out the starting five at 22.5 minutes per game, but he has seen at least 27 minutes of action in every Big 12 game.

The Wildcats need to lower those numbers. Simply getting an extra three minutes of rest for every starter could make a big difference as the season goes on.

Maybe the way K-State beat Baylor, with Jerrell Colbert and RJ Jones coming off the bench to make big plays, will help convince Tang that he can play his reserves more than he has in the first four conference games.

Why Haven’t we seen more of Taj Manning? I thought he looked really good the other night. - Jim G. via e-mail

Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to make sense of Jerome Tang’s substitution patterns.

That isn’t a knock on him or his coaching style. But he definitely puts his trust in different players in different games. After you get past Dorian Finister and the starting five, it’s almost impossible to predict who will play spot minutes on any given night.

Sometimes it’s Taj Manning or Jerrell Colbert. Sometimes it’s RJ Jones or Macaleab Rich.

Don’t forget that Arthur Kaluma and Will McNair were both glued to the bench at times early in the season.

I can’t explain why there isn’t much consistency there, other than to say that Tang prefers an all-hands-on-deck approach in which all of his players are ready to go at every single practice and every single game. What better motivation than seeing a spike or drop in your minutes at any given moment?

In the case of Manning, I think there is a big dropoff from David N’Guessan and Will McNair to him at the moment and that’s why he isn’t seeing minutes, even after he played well against Chicago State and opened the season in the starting lineup.

Colbert also seemed to pass him this week by playing well against Baylor.

Still, we are sure to see Manning from time to time as the season goes on. Tang switches up his rotation too often for him to stay on the bench forever.

Are you Horns down or up if KSU beats Texas? - @seanopcity via X

Horns down is such a cliche at this point that I’m surprised Texas coach Rodney Terry got so upset about it earlier this week when the Longhorns lost a home game against UCF.

Maybe mocking them with horns up would be a better way to go at this point.

In any case, the best way to celebrate a win over Oklahoma or Texas these days is to sarcastically chant SEC.

Where do you find the look ahead lines for games? I can never find lines more than 24 hrs in advance. I’m wondering about OU/Cincy in particular, so I can make some easy money betting against Moser on the road! - @Marbles1637 via X

Both Ken Pomeroy and Bart Torvik both have fantastic web sites that project point spreads and totals for every single college basketball game that will be played this season.

They aren’t look-ahead lines, exactly. But they are accurate enough that the Vegas lines are usually very close to them.

And when there are big differences, that’s usually a sign that there’s value on a particular team.

The specific game you asked about (Oklahoma at Cincinnati) is projected as Cincinnati -2. Enjoy!

Do you think Avery Johnson is the key we’ve been missing and we will make the 12 team playoff next year? - @kstatefan16 via X

Well, K-State would have been in an expanded playoff if it was around in 2022 when the Wildcats won the Big 12 with Will Howard at quarterback. So I’m not sure we can describe Avery Johnson as some kind of missing piece for the Wildcats.

But I do expect big things from K-State with Johnson leading the offense.

He’s only a freshman and he already holds one program record and has also been named MVP of a bowl game. There is no doubt he is going to have a terrific career in Manhattan.

If K-State can surround him with some quality receivers and replace some of its losses on the offensive line and defensive side of the ball then the Wildcats can certainly be in the mix for a playoff berth next season.

Can you list the top three foods that you think could rival the Pop-Tarts Bowl in fun-ness? Mine: Totino’s Pizza Rolls Bowl, Doritos Bowl, Snicker’s Bowl. - @garretts_myth via X

It’s not a food, and Adam Sandler already thought of it, but the Bourbon Bowl would be hard to top, with our without The Waterboy playing in the game.

Your list is pretty strong.

Mine: Fruit by the Foot, Funyuns and oatmeal cream pies.

Any idea when the football schedule will be released? - @JaredSaatela via X

That should happen at some point this month or early in February at the latest.

The Big 12 waited to announce its football schedule for the 2023 season until Jan. 31 last year. I’m sure things are probably a bit more complicated with the schedule now that 16 teams are going to be in the conference.

At least we already know who the Wildcats will play.

Home: Tennessee-Martin, Arizona (non-conference), Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Cincinnati.

Road: Tulane, BYU, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State and West Virginia.

What REALLY happened to TCU? - @ksuwildkat via X

First, let me say I’m surprised that some K-State fans seem upset about the women’s team winning a game by forfeit at TCU earlier this week.

Unless you live in the DFW metroplex or had plans to travel to the game, what does it matter?

Gabby Gregory and Ayoka Lee are both banged up and could use some rest. Well, they got rest and a win this week. Sounds pretty good to me. I can see K-State complaining about traveling to Fort Worth for no reason. If TCU had too many injuries to play on Wednesday, why was that not communicated before the Wildcats left Manhattan?

Maybe the Horned Frogs should have to pick up the tab on the Wildcats’ flight.

Outside of that, though, this seems like a good thing for K-State.

Still, I will say it was disappointing to see that TCU had to forfeit not one but two games because of injuries and or illnesses within the program. Women’s basketball teams are allowed to roster 15 scholarship players. Every team has walk-ons and scout players. I have a hard time believing that there was no way the Horned Frogs could have cobbled together eight players and fielded a team.

Based on what insiders have told me about the situation, TCU had a freak situation at a practice this week in which two important players suffered significant injuries. The Horned Frogs were already down nearly half their scholarship players. Subtract two more from the equation and TCU simply felt it wasn’t safe to play its next two games.

Apparently some of its “healthy” players have been operating at far less than 100% as they work their way back from injuries. Coaches felt comfortable playing them spot minutes but not 40.

The situation is dire enough that TCU is holding open try-outs on campus to try and make it through the rest of the season. I don’t think there is anything sinister going on in Fort Worth. How do they benefit from forfeiting games?

Still, there is no doubt that it’s a bad look for any team to have to cancel a game for any reason.

When is the Eagle/Star going to start covering KSU women’s games? They deserve more attention. - Jim G. via e-mail

Assigning a writer to K-State women’s basketball games is tricky for us, because it’s just me here in Manhattan.

I go to every football game and men’s basketball game, both home and away, so that doesn’t leave much time to also watch the women live.

But there is no doubt that Jeff Mittie’s team is having a tremendous season and the Fighting Gap Goats (can I call them that?) will be interesting to watch the rest of the season. I will do my best to write some fun stories about them and maybe even cover a few games.

If you’re looking for stories on the women’s team, can I interest you in two from this week?

Click here if you want to read about the story behind K-State’s “Gap Goat,” which has been amazing for the team and its defense. Click here if you want to read about the Wildcats crashing the top 10 for the first time in two decades.