Kansas State is officially the streakiest team in college basketball, and it will cost them a NCAA Tournament bid when the selection committee gets together in a couple of weeks.
After a 1-6 start in Big 12 play, the Wildcats found a ton of momentum and ripped off six consecutive wins, four of which came against ranked opponents: #23 West Virginia, #3 Iowa State, #16 Kansas, and #13 Arizona. It looked like Jerome Tang’s bunch had found something, and at 13-11 (7-6 Big 12), they appeared to have a clear path to the Big Dance.
Then, K-State suffered a 15-point loss at BYU—followed by a five-point loss at Utah. A week later, they’ve suffered four consecutive losses and sit at 13-15 (7-10 Big 12). On Wednesday, Kansas State saw the final nail in their tournament coffin with an 80-76 loss to UCF.
Tang has always been the kind of coach to shoulder the blame when his team falls short, but after their latest loss, he got rather candid on the postgame radio show.
“I normally take the blame for stuff and everything, but at some point some of these guys have got to take ownership of what’s going on out there,” Tang said. “This one is very frustrating.”
The fan base is upset, and rightfully so, after the expectations that were placed on this team in the preseason. With some huge NIL money being thrown around to bring in players like Coleman Hawkins Dug McDaniel, and Achor Achor, Kansas State was supposed to be a tournament team at their floor and a potential dark-horse Big 12 contender.
Instead, they’re in 12th place in the league standings and likely have just four games left on the season.
