K-State Q&A: Keyontae Johnson, incoming transfers, Wildcats in 2024 NFL Draft and more

Keyontae Johnson surprised many when he announced there was a chance he might return to college basketball and play for the Kansas State Wildcats next season.

Most assumed that Johnson would declare for the NBA Draft and never look back. Instead, the senior forward who recently helped K-State win 26 games and reach the Elite Eight decided to retain his eligibility while he tests the professional waters this spring.

That means Johnson can work out for pro scouts and visit with NBA teams over the next month, gain valuable feedback about his basketball future and then choose between another year at K-State or a fresh start in the NBA by May 31.

The mere possibility of Johnson’s return is enough to make a K-State fan daydream about what the Wildcats might look like next season if the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and third-team All-American is back in the fold.

It is a fun thought. Before Markquis Nowell went nuclear in the NCAA Tournament I viewed Johnson as the best player on the roster. His ability to score from all over the court, while also grabbing rebounds, made him Mr. Consistency. He almost never had a bad game. Even when he did, they were still pretty good.

His return would significantly boost preseason basketball expectations in Manhattan.

So what are odds he returns for one more year?

Unfortunately, I think they are low. Very low. I only give it about a 10% shot of happening. After speaking to people close to Johnson and the K-State coaching staff, there isn’t much optimism that he will be back.

He has already left Manhattan to begin focusing entirely on the draft and he is ready to turn pro.

Johnson is currently projected as an early Round 2 pick. As long as that doesn’t change between now and the end of May, Johnson will almost certainly stay in the draft. He has worked his entire life to make it to the NBA. I don’t see him returning to college if he is a surefire draft pick.

But he was smart to leave his options open. This way, if he plays poorly during NBA workouts and his stock drops, or he gets injured, he has a pathway back to the Wildcats. Call it an insurance policy.

Nae’Qwan Tomlin is in basically the opposite situation of Johnson. This may have flown under the radar for some, but he also declared for the NBA Draft as an early entrant just like Jerome Tang said he would.

Tomlin will stay in Manhattan throughout the process, unless he gets invited to work out for a specific team. He is doing this mostly to receive feedback on his game and to see how he can improve his pro prospects next season with the Wildcats.

Unless he absolutely blows scouts away, he should be back.

Now it’s time for another K-State Q&A. There are lots of great questions to cover this week so let’s dive right into them. Thanks, as always, for your participation.

Kansas State’s best and only hope for an early draft pick in 2024 is Cooper Beebe.

The senior offensive lineman could have left for the NFL a year early and probably been a third-round pick this week, but he remained in college to earn some extra NIL money and play alongside his younger brother in Manhattan.

If he has another stellar season with the Wildcats it’s possible he could become a Round 1 pick in 2024.

I can also see Daniel Green, Kobe Savage and Khalid Duke emerging as draft picks, but it’s unlikely they will be good enough to sniff the first round.

The only other long shot would be Will Howard. If he has a dream season and enters the Heisman mix maybe he could generate some early-round buzz.

Of course I do!

That was one of the great things about Ernie Barrett. Everyone who met him had a fun story to tell about Mr. K-State.

His handshake alone was the stuff of legend.

I wrote a fun feature story about Barrett a few years back that detailed his love affair with the Wildcats and his place in K-State basketball history. I would definitely recommend giving it a read now that he has passed.

My favorite personal story, as you might expect, is the first time I met the guy. Rob Cassidy, who was working as a beat writer for Rivals at the time, introduced us in 2009 when we were all waiting for a basketball game to start at Bramlage Coliseum.

Cassidy told Barrett who I was and that I was the new K-State writer for the Wichita Eagle and the Kansas City Star. So we shook hands and I was immediately caught off guard by the firmness of his handshake. It felt like he was trying to break my right hand. Then he put me in a head lock and I struggled to escape.

After I got away, Cassidy laughed his head off as I tried to regain feeling in my right hand and wondered aloud why an elderly man just went WWE on me.

Barrett would have been 79 or so back then. I hope I’m that strong when I reach that age.

I was then told that’s how he greets everyone. Then I laughed as other people coming down the tunnel went out of their way to avoid him and his handshake.

Bruce Weber used to say his wife would walk the other way every time he saw Barrett coming in order to protect her hand.

Thing is, once you know what to expect his handshakes are much more enjoyable. I eventually learned how to match his firm squeeze and position myself in a way where he would merely pat me on the shoulder rather than give me a noogie.

That was a game-changer.

Beyond that, he was just a really nice guy who loved Kansas State. He was always first in line for alumni celebrations and he hated Kentucky with a passion. He also drank his favorite cocktail (rum and coke) until the day he died at age 93.

We should all be so lucky. He lived an incredible life.

Jerome Tang is a HEAVY favorite here.

The K-State basketball team is in the mix for North Texas transfer Tylor Perry. The talented guard visited Manhattan earlier this week and I think he favors the Wildcats over his other finalists of Florida, Mississippi and Texas Tech.

He is expected to announce his transfer destination on May 2. I think he will choose K-State, giving Tang a new transfer addition well before Chris Klieman.

Even if Perry goes elsewhere, it won’t take long for Tang to shift his focus and land someone else from the transfer portal.

The K-State football team needs to figure out if it even has enough roster space to take anymore incoming transfers this cycle.

Let me take things one step further when it comes to Tylor Perry.

My predecition: he will commit to K-State on Tuesday.

I don’t usually go that far with recruits and transfers, because they change their minds on a whim. But this seems like a done deal. He chose to visit K-State last and has a strong connection with assistant coach Jareem Dowling. He is also a good fit for Jerome Tang’s system and will have every opportunity to be an impact transfer during his final season of college basketball if he chooses the Wildcats.

I think it happens.

Bart Torvik lists Perry as the top available transfer in the country, so he would be a great addition for K-State.

As for Max Abmas, he felt like a coin flip heading into Thursday but he went ahead and ended the suspense by picking Texas.

The Oral Roberts point guard visited K-State first and then checked out Texas. There was also talk of Wichita State making a late run at him with an impressive NIL package. But he chose the Longhorns.

With Abmas out of that picture, that makes it even more likely that Perry chooses the Wildcats next week. He is looking at all the playing time he desires at point guard.

It’s fair to say the Kansas State baseball team is on the bubble.

The Bat Cats are listed as one of the first teams out of the field in the latest NCAA Tournament projection from DI Baseball. But they aren’t listed anywhere on Baseball America’s latest mock, not even in the “next teams out” category.

So they have work to do.

K-State sits at 26-16 heading into an important home series against Texas Tech. It has a good Big 12 record (9-6) but a mediocre RPI (65).

How the Wildcats perform this week could make a big difference on their chances of reaching a NCAA Regional.

The Red Raiders are ranked No. 14 in the current top 25, which means the Wildcats can get some quality wins at Tointon this weekend.

Future Big 12 series against Oklahoma State and TCU will also be important, but it K-State probably needs to win two of three against Texas Tech to give itself some momentum heading down the stretch of the season.

Right now, I would give K-State about a 40% shot at making the tournament. That number could rise significantly with a series win over Texas Tech.

The only time anyone complains about ESPN+ anymore is when one of Kansas State’s conference football games is selected for the streamer.

The stream is always delayed more than a usual broadcast and it can sometimes be hard to stream the game in HD on a Saturday afternoon when everyone and their dog is logged into the app trying to watch games at the same time.

And just about everyone would rather have K-State play on a broadcast or cable network where more viewers can easily watch its games.

But those aren’t really problems for any other sport.

People have been trained to turn to ESPN+ for men’s basketball. And it’s great for all of the non revenue sports, where things like ratings don’t matter.

The quality has improved drastically from where it was a few years ago and it gives fans a cheap way to watch more action.

It feels like most Big 12 administrators and fans have come around on ESPN+ ... so long as the football games they’re dying to watch don’t end up on it.

I have to be honest with you. I had never heard of Fairbury hot dogs until today when I read your question.

The company apparently makes red hot dogs in honor of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

That is kind of cool. Purple hot dogs would definitely stand out at a tailgate.

We should try to make it happen, so long as they end up tasting better than the silly Wabash Cannondog thing they sold at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City last month.