Focusing on What’s Next
Jan 24, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Today, Kansas State, picked 10th in the Big 12 Conference, is the No. 5 team in America, alone atop the league, and off to its best start since 1961-62.
The memories already run thick regarding what outsiders consider to be arguably the biggest Cinderella team in college hoops. There are simply too many wonderful stories to pick one from this team and there are so many more stories still to be told, yet we'll forever recall the vision of first-year K-State head coach Jerome Tang climbing onto the scorer's table after the Wildcats' 83-82 overtime victory against Kansas in sold out Bramlage Coliseum, grabbing the microphone, and saying, "From here on out, expect to win." Then he led K-State students in the K-S-U chant on a magical night locked away in K-State basketball lore.
Then came the statement, which might not replace Tang's trademark, "It's a great day to be a Wildcat!" or "We didn't come to rebuild, we came to elevate!" yet is woven in the same purple fabric strong with championship aspirations.
"We need our student body, we need our community to support us and to make this program what it's capable of being," Tang says, "and it's capable of being one of the top 5 programs in America night in and night out every year. That's why I came here."
K-State's No. 5 ranking in the AP Top 25 Poll is its highest since it was also being ranked fifth in the poll on December 6, 2010 — a small lifetime ago when Frank Martin patrolled the coach's box and Jacob Pullen enjoyed a remarkable senior season.
Tang, who won the 2021 National Championship while serving as associate head coach at Baylor, won't allow the Wildcats to become complacent underneath the glare of the national spotlight.
"The rankings don't matter," Tang says. "It matters to our fans, and it's good for recruiting and stuff like that, but for this team, that's not what we're about. It's the ranking at the end of the season that matters."
Tonight, the Wildcats, 17-2 and 6-1 are underdogs, as they travel to face No. 12 Iowa State, 14-4 and 5-2, at 8:05 p.m. (ESPNU) at raucous Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
"They're really good and really tough and TJ (Otzelberger) is doing an unbelievable job with them," Tang says. "It's going to be another Big 12 battle."
Yes, the Big 12 is a dogfight every night. But the Wildcats have proven they aren't afraid of anything. It wasn't too long ago that they beat No. 24 West Virginia (82-76 in overtime), then traveled to No. 6 Texas (116-113) and No. 19 Baylor (97-95 overtime) to defeat three ranked teams in three consecutive games for the first time in K-State history. They bounced back from their lone Big 12 loss (82-68 at No. 17 TCU) to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Jayhawks, and outlasted Texas Tech (68-58) on Saturday.
"You've got to be a dog," said K-State senior guard Markquis Nowell, a Midseason All-American by the Sporting News and ESPN. "You've got to be fierce if you want to be in this league and win."
It's a dogfight, all right. Six Big 12 teams are ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll this week — No. 5 K-State, No. 9 Kansas, No. 10 Texas, No. 11 TCU, No. 12 Iowa State and No. 17 Baylor. The Big 12 features nine teams with a NET of 57 or better. If the Big 12 gets eight teams into the NCAA Tournament, it would beat the Big East (1991) for the highest percentage of teams to ever make March Madness, according to ESPN.
"When we were picked 10th in the league, I said, 'Heck, all 10 teams in the conference are going to the NCAA Tournament,' because I thought we were a NCAA Tournament team," Tang says. "There are 10 teams in our conference that are good enough to go to the NCAA Tournament."
For now, K-State is alone atop the best basketball conference in Division I hoops. Spend a moment with Nowell and it becomes apparent Tang has hammered home one of many truths.
"Our motto," Nowell says, "is to focus on the next right thing and to focus on what's next."
"It feels pretty good to be No. 1 in the conference," Nowell adds, "but it's just taking it one day and one game at a time. Being first in this conference could come and go and we have a long season ahead of us.
"We just try to focus on one day at a time."
Tang admits that K-State suffered a "little hangover" in its first practice back after defeating KU. He halted practice. Allowed his players to regroup. "The next day we had a really good practice," he says.
The question becomes this: How hungry is K-State?
Tang pauses.
"Man, I don't know how to answer that question or gauge it," he replies. "What I do know is they're not satisfied. They don't think we're as good as we can be. They understand every day we get a little better."
And Tang is quick to emphatically recall previous experiences at Baylor that he's no doubt drawing upon as the Wildcats move forward.
"One year we were 2-8 at Baylor and won eight of the next nine games and went to the NCAA Tournament," Tang says. "Another year we were like 4-1 and then lost 10 of 11 or something. Where you're at right now doesn't matter. It's what you're going to do next and the next thing. But the fact that other teams prepare for us differently (at No. 1 in the Big 12), their players are more focused. We talk about that all the time — how focused we were going into game X, game Y or game Z. They say, 'Very focused.' Now other teams are doing that for us, and we have to raise our level of focus.
"Coaches don't have to motivate players when you have a number in front of your name."
But remember the name: Kansas State, the team everybody counted out, the team that is now the No. 5 team in America, and the feel-good team that is focused on doing the next right thing.
Today, Kansas State, picked 10th in the Big 12 Conference, is the No. 5 team in America, alone atop the league, and off to its best start since 1961-62.
The memories already run thick regarding what outsiders consider to be arguably the biggest Cinderella team in college hoops. There are simply too many wonderful stories to pick one from this team and there are so many more stories still to be told, yet we'll forever recall the vision of first-year K-State head coach Jerome Tang climbing onto the scorer's table after the Wildcats' 83-82 overtime victory against Kansas in sold out Bramlage Coliseum, grabbing the microphone, and saying, "From here on out, expect to win." Then he led K-State students in the K-S-U chant on a magical night locked away in K-State basketball lore.
Then came the statement, which might not replace Tang's trademark, "It's a great day to be a Wildcat!" or "We didn't come to rebuild, we came to elevate!" yet is woven in the same purple fabric strong with championship aspirations.
"We need our student body, we need our community to support us and to make this program what it's capable of being," Tang says, "and it's capable of being one of the top 5 programs in America night in and night out every year. That's why I came here."
K-State's No. 5 ranking in the AP Top 25 Poll is its highest since it was also being ranked fifth in the poll on December 6, 2010 — a small lifetime ago when Frank Martin patrolled the coach's box and Jacob Pullen enjoyed a remarkable senior season.
Tang, who won the 2021 National Championship while serving as associate head coach at Baylor, won't allow the Wildcats to become complacent underneath the glare of the national spotlight.
"The rankings don't matter," Tang says. "It matters to our fans, and it's good for recruiting and stuff like that, but for this team, that's not what we're about. It's the ranking at the end of the season that matters."
Tonight, the Wildcats, 17-2 and 6-1 are underdogs, as they travel to face No. 12 Iowa State, 14-4 and 5-2, at 8:05 p.m. (ESPNU) at raucous Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
"They're really good and really tough and TJ (Otzelberger) is doing an unbelievable job with them," Tang says. "It's going to be another Big 12 battle."
Yes, the Big 12 is a dogfight every night. But the Wildcats have proven they aren't afraid of anything. It wasn't too long ago that they beat No. 24 West Virginia (82-76 in overtime), then traveled to No. 6 Texas (116-113) and No. 19 Baylor (97-95 overtime) to defeat three ranked teams in three consecutive games for the first time in K-State history. They bounced back from their lone Big 12 loss (82-68 at No. 17 TCU) to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Jayhawks, and outlasted Texas Tech (68-58) on Saturday.
"You've got to be a dog," said K-State senior guard Markquis Nowell, a Midseason All-American by the Sporting News and ESPN. "You've got to be fierce if you want to be in this league and win."
It's a dogfight, all right. Six Big 12 teams are ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll this week — No. 5 K-State, No. 9 Kansas, No. 10 Texas, No. 11 TCU, No. 12 Iowa State and No. 17 Baylor. The Big 12 features nine teams with a NET of 57 or better. If the Big 12 gets eight teams into the NCAA Tournament, it would beat the Big East (1991) for the highest percentage of teams to ever make March Madness, according to ESPN.
"When we were picked 10th in the league, I said, 'Heck, all 10 teams in the conference are going to the NCAA Tournament,' because I thought we were a NCAA Tournament team," Tang says. "There are 10 teams in our conference that are good enough to go to the NCAA Tournament."
For now, K-State is alone atop the best basketball conference in Division I hoops. Spend a moment with Nowell and it becomes apparent Tang has hammered home one of many truths.
"Our motto," Nowell says, "is to focus on the next right thing and to focus on what's next."
"It feels pretty good to be No. 1 in the conference," Nowell adds, "but it's just taking it one day and one game at a time. Being first in this conference could come and go and we have a long season ahead of us.
"We just try to focus on one day at a time."
Tang admits that K-State suffered a "little hangover" in its first practice back after defeating KU. He halted practice. Allowed his players to regroup. "The next day we had a really good practice," he says.
The question becomes this: How hungry is K-State?
Tang pauses.
"Man, I don't know how to answer that question or gauge it," he replies. "What I do know is they're not satisfied. They don't think we're as good as we can be. They understand every day we get a little better."
And Tang is quick to emphatically recall previous experiences at Baylor that he's no doubt drawing upon as the Wildcats move forward.
"One year we were 2-8 at Baylor and won eight of the next nine games and went to the NCAA Tournament," Tang says. "Another year we were like 4-1 and then lost 10 of 11 or something. Where you're at right now doesn't matter. It's what you're going to do next and the next thing. But the fact that other teams prepare for us differently (at No. 1 in the Big 12), their players are more focused. We talk about that all the time — how focused we were going into game X, game Y or game Z. They say, 'Very focused.' Now other teams are doing that for us, and we have to raise our level of focus.
"Coaches don't have to motivate players when you have a number in front of your name."
But remember the name: Kansas State, the team everybody counted out, the team that is now the No. 5 team in America, and the feel-good team that is focused on doing the next right thing.
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