K-State Q&A: Why Markquis Nowell, Jerome Tang and Wildcats aren’t missing Nijel Pack
The decisions are in.
Just in case you haven’t been paying attention, all of Kansas State’s veteran football players with potential futures in the NFL have announced whether they intend to remain in college for one more year or to turn pro. Star pass-rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah was the final piece of the puzzle, and he shared his choice publicly on Thursday.
Here is a quick rundown of what everyone else decided.
NFL Draft: Deuce Vaughn, Malik Knowles, Ekow Boye-Doe, Julius Brents, Felix Anudike-Uzomah.
One more Year: Cooper Beebe, Phillip Brooks, Christian Duffie, KT Leveston, Hayden Gillum.
I have two reactions to that news.
First, I am expecting the Wildcats to be very good at blocking next season with all five starters (and a few key reserves) returning on the offensive line. Second, K-State should put quite a few players on NFL rosters next season.
Add departing seniors like Daniel Green*, Eli Huggins, Kade Warner and Ty Zentner to the list and you’re looking at maybe 10 players from K-State’s 2022 team showing up on preseason rosters in the summer.
*It’s technically possible that Green could elect to return as a “super senior.” But I am expecting the opposite.
I am going to set the over/under at 2.5 for the NFL Draft. Anudike-Uzomah and Vaughn both seems like locks. Can anyone else impress NFL scouts enough over the next few months to be worthy of a draft pick? I imagine Brents and Knowles will have a shot.
OK, enough looking ahead on that topic. We’ve got basketball to discuss. So let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
It’s time for another K-State Q&A!
You could argue that every member of the K-State rotation is of critical importance to the Wildcats, because Jerome Tang only uses a small group of players on most nights.
Foul trouble, injuries and off nights put a strain on everyone else.
Everyone from Abayomi Iyiola to Cam Carter to Ismael Massoud have stepped up big at times this season.
That being said, my answer is Desi Sills. He plays such an important role on offense. The Arkansas State transfer is the sixth man who comes into the game without complaint and microwaves up some points for his team. And he does his job well.
Sills is averaging 8.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He is also difficult for other teams to defend because he plays at 100 mph whenever he is on the court.
He reminds me of a closer in baseball. Every good baseball team needs a pitcher to come in and throw nothing but fastballs for an inning or two. That is what Sills is doing on the basketball court right now.
Maybe I am oversimplifying things here, but there doesn’t seem to be anything all that complicated about the sudden rise of K-State basketball.
Markquis Nowell is on the heater of all heaters. Keyontae Johnson is really good. And they are surrounded by a solid supporting cast. That is more than enough to win at a high level in college hoops.
In four Big 12 games, Nowell has produced the following stat lines:
- 20 points and 7 assists
- 32 points and 14 assists
- 36 points and 9 assists
- 23 points and 10 assists
If you go only by conference games, he currently leads the Big 12 in scoring, assists and steals.
Put a player like Keyontae Johnson (18.4 points and seven rebounds) by his side and you’ve got yourself a winning team. Seriously, any squad with two all-conference players should be one of the best teams in its league.
Everyone else on the roster has done a good of helping them on an alternating basis.
I agree with what you’re saying, but I am also not about to tell Markquis Nowell to stop shooting. From anywhere. He is so hot right now that he could probably heave a shot one-handed across the entire length of the court and make it.
Heck, maybe he should try that next game. It would reduce all risk of a turnover.
Probably Keyontae Johnson.
He managed to score 12 points and grab six rebounds in his WORST game of the season. And he’s built like a linebacker.
Somehow I doubt Nijel Pack is missing Manhattan right now.
The junior guard is averaging 11.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists for No. 16 Miami. He’s also getting paid more than me and probably you and just about everyone else reading this mailbag right now to play college basketball in south Florida.
This question reminds me a little of an old episode of The Simpsons where Jay Sherman asks Rainier Wolfcastle how he sleeps at night. His reply: “On top of a large pile of money with many beautiful ladies.”
I’m guessing Pack feels just fine about how everything worked out.
I suppose his numbers are down from where they were at K-State last season (17.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists), but it’s not like they have fallen off a cliff.
K-State fans should feel fine, too. Had Pack stayed, the Wildcats might not have been able to land Keyontae Johnson out of the transfer portal. I also wonder if Markquis Nowell would have turned into the player we’re seeing right now if he was still sharing the ball with Pack.
I mean, K-State had both Nowell and Pack last season and only won 14 games. Swapping him and Johnson is looking like a good trade.
Things unexpectedly seem to have turned out for the best. Just look at the scoreboard.
Now, it is fun to think about how much better this K-State team could be with Pack on the roster. If he completely bought into Tang’s system, he would give the Wildcats a lethal scoring threat on the perimeter.
But Cam Carter and Desi Sills have played well in his place and they seem to better fit the long, athletic mold that Tang covets in his players.
Both sides seem to be doing well. It would really be something if they meet in the NCAA Tournament, though.
All I can really say about this topic is that K-State’s frontcourt is what it is.
The Wildcats are skinny and undersized inside. Some teams are able to take advantage of that. Many teams are not.
K-State’s lone loss of the season came against a Butler team that was scoring at will inside on the Wildcats. But that hasn’t cost them in their other 15 games. Sure, it’s a weakness, especially without David N’Guessan in the lineup. But there aren’t a ton of teams out there with massive frontcourts anymore. Even Kansas plays smaller than it used to.
Maybe it’s not as big a weakness as some may think.
The Wildcats are trying to create mismatches inside with their speed and length. They aren’t really trying to change their approach down low.
It will be interesting to see how that holds up against TCU and 6-foot-11 center Eddie Lampkin on Saturday.
I’ve got a few ideas for new basketball uniforms.
My favorite proposal is a simple throwback design. The Wildcats already have all-lavender uniforms, so let’s try the other half of the classic two-tone look and go with some all-dark purple uniforms. I don’t need much on them. Just put the classic Willie or the old Sailor Willie on the front along with a white number.
I think those would look great.
But I could also get behind a reboot of the old cat scratch fever uniforms that K-State wore during the Michael Beasley season. Those would look great if they weren’t so baggy.
Or if you really wanted to think outside the box you could go with a Tang Gang uniform. K-State could use the shark logo he sometimes wears at practice instead of a Wildcat and the words “Tang Gang” instead of K-State.
I’m not really picky, though. I’m all for trying out new looks.
The only color I’m not crazy about is gray. I know Jacob Pullen won some big games in gray, but I refuse to give credit for them to those sweat-stained jerseys.
The bolder the better.
I propose copying what Boise State has done in football and go with a mostly purple court.
Somehow adding the outline of the state around the Wildcat at midcourt would also be a welcome addition.
Well, I’m crossing my fingers that it won’t be on Saturday when K-State plays at TCU.
I am also crossing my fingers that K-State gets sent to Des Moines along with KU for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament so we won’t have to worry about air travel.
But there is no getting around the Wildcats’ final road trip of the regular season at West Virginia. Something goofy will almost definitely happen while we’re away for that one.
I’ve got three areas of improvement for you.
1. Reduce turnovers. The Wildcats give the ball away on 18.8% of their possessions, which ranks 175th nationally.
2. Shot selection. Certain players attempt more three-pointers than they should.
3. Paint defense. A few opposing big men have produced some scintillating stat lines against the Wildcats.
As long as networks are paying conferences to broadcast college basketball games at 6 p.m. there are going to be games that begin at that time.
I don’t mind them. But I also live a short, 5-minute drive from Bramlage Coliseum and I get paid to attend every home game. It’s hard for most schools to attract good crowds for those games.
Kudos to K-State fans for turning the arena into The Octagon of Doom anyway.
But the same can be said about morning football games and late-night football games. They are necessarily evils.
It’s too bad every basketball game doesn’t start at 7 p.m. and every football game doesn’t start at 2:30 p.m.
Yes, I think Jerome Tang has started a new postgame tradition by dancing at midcourt after wins.
Unfortunately, I’m a little busy writing after games to join him.
A football question!
Phillip Brooks deciding to come back to school as a “super senior” was welcome news for the Wildcats. He will give Will Howard a familiar target in the passing game and he will provide valuable experience as an underneath route-runner and as a kick returner.
But he will need to be better than he was this past season to be a true difference maker. Brooks only caught 41 passes for 543 yards and four touchdowns in 2022. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I thought he would have been much closer to 1,000 yards.
What the Wildcats really need at receiver as a deep threat who can open things for players like Brooks and the running game.
Treshaun Ward transferring in from Florida State was probably bigger football news. You can’t replace a running back like Deuce Vaughn, but the combination of DJ Giddens, Ward and an experienced offensive line is very nice.
The last thing on Chris Klieman’s offseason wish list is a transfer defensive tackle. We will see if the Wildcats can land one before the end of the month.
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 6:30 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Why Markquis Nowell, Jerome Tang and Wildcats aren’t missing Nijel Pack."