CBS Sports’ Clark Kellogg breaks down K-State’s chances in NCAA Tourney’s East Region
The Kansas State men’s basketball team’s success this season hasn’t gone unnoticed by CBS Sports analyst Clark Kellogg.
Although they were ranked last in the Big 12 preseason poll, the Wildcats finished third in the conference with a 23-9 record.
“I’ll tell you what: Jerome Tang has done a remarkable job,” Kellogg said Monday in a conference call. “He was Big 12 Coach of the Year and he is in the running for some national Coach of the Year awards as well. But he’s done a phenomenal job in building that team the way he has.”
That strong season got the Wildcats the third seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region.
Purdue is the top seed in the region, followed by Marquette.
K-State may be the third seed, but PointsBet gives the Wildcats the sixth-best odds of winning the region. Fourth-seeded Tennessee, fifth-seeded Duke and sixth-seeded Kentucky all have better odds of making the Final Four than K-State.
Kellogg said the region is loaded.
“Clearly I think, you look at that region, Purdue was by numbers, the fourth No. 1 seed, yet you look at the teams ... Tennessee is working through the injury to (point guard) Zakai Zeigler, but the middle of that region is pretty thick,” he said. “I mean, Duke is playing as well as anybody in the country, Kentucky is capable, Michigan State, you’d never discount a Tom Izzo team. Memphis, I think, is the most dangerous eighth seed in the field, (ninth-seeded) Florida Atlantic, that’s going to be a heck of a game.”
Does that mean the Wildcats are doomed? Not at all, Kellogg said. He believes K-State could cut the nets at Madison Square Garden.
“They’re good enough (to win the East Region), but I wouldn’t make it as though it’s an easy journey,” Kellogg said of Kansas State. “Purdue is really good and playing well. But (the Wildcats) are good. They’re good and they earned their three seed. Now it’s a matter of can you build the kind of momentum you need within the tournament to keep playing? And that’s for every team in the field.”
