K-State Enters Tang’s Second Year with High Expectations
Oct 19, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Want to know about the man of the hour? There he sits in his white silk CATS bomber jacket. Nine, no, 10 TV cameras around him. A hoard of reporters. And, of course, the Blenders Prime 21 sunglasses sitting on the table. Except this isn't Deion Sanders holding court. This is Jerome Tang, who is embarking upon his second year as Kansas State head coach, fire in his belly, passion in his eyes, covering the gamut of anything and everything at Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Days at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
One moment he's talking about his personalized coffee at Starbucks "The Tang Special" (My staff tells me my Starbucks order is too complicated," he laughs) and the next moment he's talking about Deion's shades ("I like them, they're very sturdy and they have some weight to them"). One moment he's talking about the recruiting advantage at K-State home football games ("It's huge. When we walk from the basketball office to The Bill with a recruit, I don't have to say a word") and the next moment he's talking about his social media hit "Hanging with Tang" ("When I got to K-State I wanted to do something with the students").
The T-Mobile Center, of course, is the place where it all began last year — with the Big 12 Media Days. Except there was no hanging around Tang. Few people wanted to talk with a first-year head coach whose team was preseason picked dead last in the Big 12. The world had no idea what Tang, the former longtime Baylor associate head coach, and the Wildcats could do and would do. Tang said it was coming. He said it to anybody who'd listen. And it arrived. And it was wonderful. And the new culture flooded the Manhattan streets and the fruits of labor flooded the streets of New York City. And after a while, we didn't know exactly how it began, or where it began, but we knew one thing: We didn't want for it to end.
"There were no expectations except for what we had inside our office," Tang says.
It did end. In the Elite Eight. Tang was named National Coach of the Year. K-State was the only school in America to have two All-Americans in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson. K-State was back on the college basketball map.
And here we are, preparing to witness K-State 2.0 — the second year of the Tang era. K-State is picked sixth in the preseason Big 12 poll, and Tang is talking about "getting 1% better to be the toughest, grittiest, most connected team in the country" because — and this is very important — "it gives you a chance every night." And his eyes, the ones that saw Nowell toss and alley-oop to Johnson against Kansas, do not blink at the sentiment.
As for preseason predictions?
"We're approaching it the same way," Tang says. "It doesn't matter what the outside expectations are, we have really high expectations, and we understand it's a blessing to do what we do, and we're going to be thankful and enjoy every moment."
K-State returns three players from a year ago — Cam Carter, David N'Guessan and Nae'Qwan Tomlin. K-State returns three redshirt players — Jerrell Colbert, Dorian Finister and Taj Manning. K-State brings in four graduate transfers — Ques Glover, Taymont Lindsey, Will McNair Jr., and Tylor Perry. And K-State welcomes junior transfer Arthur Kaluma, and three freshmen — Dai Dai Ames, R.J. Jones and Macaleab Rich.
There's a young man who takes Tang's seat after he leaves his chair. It's Perry, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound point guard, who Tang calls "the best shooter in America."
Perry, a native of Fort Coffee, Oklahoma, once played ball at Coffeyville Community College, then he transferred to North Texas. He averaged a team-leading 22.7 points during the Wildcats' summer international tour. So much already can be said and written about Perry, who grew up with 13 other family members in Aunt Paula's home in Fort Coffee, who was the third-best point guard in the state of Oklahoma, and who led Coffeyville and North Texas to a 109-25 record with four straight 20-win seasons, one NJCAA National Championship, one NIT Championship and two conference titles.
Today, Perry is a 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection.
"A couple years ago I used to pray to be here," he says. "I used to dream one day of sitting in this chair right now and wishing I could be in front of these bright lights. Life has come full circle. I've been so blessed."
Same goes for Kaluma, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound Creighton transfer, who is also a 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. Kaluma applied for early entry into the NBA Draft before withdrawing in late May. He was working out with Tomlin and the Boston Celtics. Tomlin told him about K-State. He took a visit. Boom.
"I just knew this was the place to be," Kaluma says. "What Coach Tang was preaching, this is a great place to be."
N'Guessan returned home to the Netherlands this summer to represent his country in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament. N'Guessan had a near double-double — 17 points and nine rebounds — in his debut performance on the Dutch National Team. N'Guessan arrived at K-State last summer after transferring from Virginia Tech. He chose K-State over Maryland, Georgetown, St. Joseph's, George Washington, UMass and Rhode Island. Among K-State returners this season, he ranks third in points (6.4), third in rebounds (3.5), second in blocks (15 total), third in steals (20 total), and third in minutes (19.4).
How far can K-State go this year?
"National champs," N'Guessan says. "That's the goal. That's the plan. Being on the team, you learn from last year, and take it into the next year. But last year is last year and we have to come back and do it again. Our goal is to go to Phoenix and win it all. That's what we're trying to build right now."
Later, another Tang sighting. There he is, in the innards of T-Mobile Center, standing outside the team personnel dining area, and the cameras are around him again, and he means it, he genuinely means it when he says "not a lot" has changed from this time a year ago.
"We have three new freshmen and four transfers," he says. "We're living life. We're plugging away trying to build a program that can consistently compete for a national championship. Our theme this year is 'All In.' We want everybody from the custodian to the athletic director to be all in that we can win the national championship."
In the next breath, Tang is discussing offensive philosophy — and how a change might best benefit the Wildcats this season.
"I tell the staff all the time you need size," he says. "You need great guards but you also need size. Last year we got outrebounded 44-22 in the last game. They were just tougher than us. They were bigger. That center, we couldn't contain him. I want to be able to recruit talented size and in the NBA everybody is playing more of a five-out system and guys want to have a chance to go there.
"To be able to recruit elite bigs who have NBA type skill, you have to play a system that attracts them. I want it to be that way for this year as far as we'll be more unpredictable but also moving forward to show the bigs out there that we play a style that translates to the NBA."
It's coming.
But first, a story. It's a quick story. It's a truthful story. And it's a real story that Tang likes tell. Last year, K-State recruited 75 guys. The K-State coaching staff performed 75 video zoom calls and 61 guys told them no.
"During the NCAA Tournament, I got a lot of text messages from 61 guys who said, 'Coach, I messed up,' or 'Congratulations,'" Tang says. "My message to the new guys is, 'You can either send me congratulatory texts or you can enjoy it with me."
He pauses.
"I'm thankful for the ones who've chosen to enjoy it with us."
And there he is, Tang, the man of the hour, hugging and handshaking players and friends and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark by a photo shoot at the T-Mobile Center. There Tang is, grabbing coffee, that look in his eye, ready for that first sip, when he runs into Baylor graduate forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua. They embrace.
"I'm proud of you," Tang says.
Tchamwa Tchatchoua hugs him again.
"I'm proud of you, too."
Want to know about the man of the hour? There he sits in his white silk CATS bomber jacket. Nine, no, 10 TV cameras around him. A hoard of reporters. And, of course, the Blenders Prime 21 sunglasses sitting on the table. Except this isn't Deion Sanders holding court. This is Jerome Tang, who is embarking upon his second year as Kansas State head coach, fire in his belly, passion in his eyes, covering the gamut of anything and everything at Big 12 Men's Basketball Media Days at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
One moment he's talking about his personalized coffee at Starbucks "The Tang Special" (My staff tells me my Starbucks order is too complicated," he laughs) and the next moment he's talking about Deion's shades ("I like them, they're very sturdy and they have some weight to them"). One moment he's talking about the recruiting advantage at K-State home football games ("It's huge. When we walk from the basketball office to The Bill with a recruit, I don't have to say a word") and the next moment he's talking about his social media hit "Hanging with Tang" ("When I got to K-State I wanted to do something with the students").
The T-Mobile Center, of course, is the place where it all began last year — with the Big 12 Media Days. Except there was no hanging around Tang. Few people wanted to talk with a first-year head coach whose team was preseason picked dead last in the Big 12. The world had no idea what Tang, the former longtime Baylor associate head coach, and the Wildcats could do and would do. Tang said it was coming. He said it to anybody who'd listen. And it arrived. And it was wonderful. And the new culture flooded the Manhattan streets and the fruits of labor flooded the streets of New York City. And after a while, we didn't know exactly how it began, or where it began, but we knew one thing: We didn't want for it to end.
"There were no expectations except for what we had inside our office," Tang says.
It did end. In the Elite Eight. Tang was named National Coach of the Year. K-State was the only school in America to have two All-Americans in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson. K-State was back on the college basketball map.
And here we are, preparing to witness K-State 2.0 — the second year of the Tang era. K-State is picked sixth in the preseason Big 12 poll, and Tang is talking about "getting 1% better to be the toughest, grittiest, most connected team in the country" because — and this is very important — "it gives you a chance every night." And his eyes, the ones that saw Nowell toss and alley-oop to Johnson against Kansas, do not blink at the sentiment.
As for preseason predictions?
"We're approaching it the same way," Tang says. "It doesn't matter what the outside expectations are, we have really high expectations, and we understand it's a blessing to do what we do, and we're going to be thankful and enjoy every moment."
K-State returns three players from a year ago — Cam Carter, David N'Guessan and Nae'Qwan Tomlin. K-State returns three redshirt players — Jerrell Colbert, Dorian Finister and Taj Manning. K-State brings in four graduate transfers — Ques Glover, Taymont Lindsey, Will McNair Jr., and Tylor Perry. And K-State welcomes junior transfer Arthur Kaluma, and three freshmen — Dai Dai Ames, R.J. Jones and Macaleab Rich.
There's a young man who takes Tang's seat after he leaves his chair. It's Perry, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound point guard, who Tang calls "the best shooter in America."
Perry, a native of Fort Coffee, Oklahoma, once played ball at Coffeyville Community College, then he transferred to North Texas. He averaged a team-leading 22.7 points during the Wildcats' summer international tour. So much already can be said and written about Perry, who grew up with 13 other family members in Aunt Paula's home in Fort Coffee, who was the third-best point guard in the state of Oklahoma, and who led Coffeyville and North Texas to a 109-25 record with four straight 20-win seasons, one NJCAA National Championship, one NIT Championship and two conference titles.
Today, Perry is a 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection.
"A couple years ago I used to pray to be here," he says. "I used to dream one day of sitting in this chair right now and wishing I could be in front of these bright lights. Life has come full circle. I've been so blessed."
Same goes for Kaluma, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound Creighton transfer, who is also a 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. Kaluma applied for early entry into the NBA Draft before withdrawing in late May. He was working out with Tomlin and the Boston Celtics. Tomlin told him about K-State. He took a visit. Boom.
"I just knew this was the place to be," Kaluma says. "What Coach Tang was preaching, this is a great place to be."
N'Guessan returned home to the Netherlands this summer to represent his country in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament. N'Guessan had a near double-double — 17 points and nine rebounds — in his debut performance on the Dutch National Team. N'Guessan arrived at K-State last summer after transferring from Virginia Tech. He chose K-State over Maryland, Georgetown, St. Joseph's, George Washington, UMass and Rhode Island. Among K-State returners this season, he ranks third in points (6.4), third in rebounds (3.5), second in blocks (15 total), third in steals (20 total), and third in minutes (19.4).
How far can K-State go this year?
"National champs," N'Guessan says. "That's the goal. That's the plan. Being on the team, you learn from last year, and take it into the next year. But last year is last year and we have to come back and do it again. Our goal is to go to Phoenix and win it all. That's what we're trying to build right now."
Later, another Tang sighting. There he is, in the innards of T-Mobile Center, standing outside the team personnel dining area, and the cameras are around him again, and he means it, he genuinely means it when he says "not a lot" has changed from this time a year ago.
"We have three new freshmen and four transfers," he says. "We're living life. We're plugging away trying to build a program that can consistently compete for a national championship. Our theme this year is 'All In.' We want everybody from the custodian to the athletic director to be all in that we can win the national championship."
In the next breath, Tang is discussing offensive philosophy — and how a change might best benefit the Wildcats this season.
"I tell the staff all the time you need size," he says. "You need great guards but you also need size. Last year we got outrebounded 44-22 in the last game. They were just tougher than us. They were bigger. That center, we couldn't contain him. I want to be able to recruit talented size and in the NBA everybody is playing more of a five-out system and guys want to have a chance to go there.
"To be able to recruit elite bigs who have NBA type skill, you have to play a system that attracts them. I want it to be that way for this year as far as we'll be more unpredictable but also moving forward to show the bigs out there that we play a style that translates to the NBA."
It's coming.
But first, a story. It's a quick story. It's a truthful story. And it's a real story that Tang likes tell. Last year, K-State recruited 75 guys. The K-State coaching staff performed 75 video zoom calls and 61 guys told them no.
"During the NCAA Tournament, I got a lot of text messages from 61 guys who said, 'Coach, I messed up,' or 'Congratulations,'" Tang says. "My message to the new guys is, 'You can either send me congratulatory texts or you can enjoy it with me."
He pauses.
"I'm thankful for the ones who've chosen to enjoy it with us."
And there he is, Tang, the man of the hour, hugging and handshaking players and friends and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark by a photo shoot at the T-Mobile Center. There Tang is, grabbing coffee, that look in his eye, ready for that first sip, when he runs into Baylor graduate forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua. They embrace.
"I'm proud of you," Tang says.
Tchamwa Tchatchoua hugs him again.
"I'm proud of you, too."
Players Mentioned
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