Kansas State basketball once again saw its name receive acclaim for the upcoming CBB season.
And once again, it’s to a former player on his new team. CBS Sports did its top 25 postseason rankings, lauding former Wildcats’ forward Taj Manning as a piece that will help Iowa State next season. The popular news outlet ranked the Cyclones No. 12 on its early rankings, listing players like Manning, JaQuan Johnson (Bradley), and Leon Bond III (Northern Iowa) as key additions to a top conference contender.
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“This ranking is based on the Cyclones returning three of the top six scorers — specifically Killyan Toure, Blake Buchanan and Jamarion Bateman — from a team that finished 29-8 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2026 NCAA Tournament,” the article wrote.
College basketball rankings: Addition of fifth-year players gives new look to early preseason Top 25 And 1
The Cyclones were No. 8 in the country last season, third-best placement in the Big 12 behind Houston and Arizona.
As for the Wildcats, it’s another brutal reminder of their losses over the past few months. A devastating 2025-26 season ended as one of the worst years in recent memory. Kansas State fell way below its playoff expectations, dwindling from a guaranteed playoff team to a basement dweller. What was shaped to be a generational season became one of the biggest messes in the country. The Wildcats solely drew attention for their devastating losses and Jerome Tang’s postgame interviews.
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To make matters worse, all the stars from last season are gone. So instead of potentially building with a new coach and some roster chemistry, the program has to start over with no PJ Haggerty, David Castillo, or Abdi Bashir Jr. to lean on.
At least their football counterparts reeled in some key replacements and a coach with historical familiarity and success. Casey Alexander, even for his success, hasn’t coached in a league like the Big 12. He is also dealing with a completely new team, with one returner from last season and no former Belmont players on his roster. It’s a brand new affair for everyone involved.
Alexander has treated this as an advantage, giving everyone a similar starting point and building chemistry together from scratch.
“As I sit here today, I have no idea who our best player is, who our main scorer is gonna be, or who our rotational pieces are going to be,” Alexander said in a CBS Sports interview with Jon Rothstein. “Those things are to be determined, which is unnerving, but what you see on the floor will look the same way that it always has. Just new faces and new uniforms in Bramlage Coliseum, which I’m excited about.”
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Still, it’s a daunting task to shift the trajectory with so much shifting. The Wildcats still have just under three months until their season opener against South Dakota State.
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