Here Casey Alexander sits and 199 days have passed since he began this journey as head basketball coach at Kansas State. The 54-year-old Alexander wears a purple hoodie as he glides into an awaiting chair at the front of the team meeting room in the Ice Basketball Center, and he smiles and shakes hands, and Monday, September 28, has basically been like the rest since May 31, when he addressed his Wildcats as a team inside this same team meeting room for the first time. Alexander talked to his team about expectations and "who we want to be," and about accountability, and representing K-State well, and not being entitled, and not lacking self-discipline, and "making sure we get all that stuff right."
Collin Klein, who was the quarterback to lead Kansas State to its last 4-0 start in 2012, will try to duplicate the feat for the Wildcats — this time as their head coach — as they visit Cincinnati for their Big 12 Conference opener at 6:00 p.m. Saturday at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Nearly 10 months after Jordan Peterson slapped on a purple quarter-zip with a silver Powercat and a gray ballcap that read "CATS" and sat at a table at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, many of the characteristics that the 39-year-old first-year Kansas State defensive coordinator envisioned for the Wildcats' defense are coming together, as K-State nears its first Big 12 Conference season of the Collin Klein era.
Kansas State enters the Big 12 Conference season unscathed and rides ample momentum as the Wildcats embark upon their first road test of the Collin Klein era at unbeaten Cincinnati on Saturday night at Nippert Stadium.
Newsletter
Love K-State?
Join the K-State newsletter to receive Sports Extra stories, updates, ticket information, special offers and more!