Dug McDaniel explains why he picked Kansas State

We shared that Kansas State was going to make a splash in the transfer portal. It was doubted by some, but Jerome Tang and the Wildcats came through by adding Michigan guard transfer Dug McDaniel after an official visit to Manhattan.

The other school to host the top 20 transfer was TCU but countless others also tried to convince him to make his way to their campus. According to sources and McDaniel, he was also recruited hard by Arkansas, NC State, Vanderbilt, SMU, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Miami, Oregon, Florida, San Diego State, St. John’s, Oklahoma, Houston, LSU, South Carolina, Alabama and Texas Tech.

Interestingly enough, two schools not on the list were Maryland and Georgetown despite McDaniel being from the Washington, D.C. area.

After just two visits, McDaniel knew in his heart that K-State was the choice. A wide-scale effort from the Kansas State coaches convinced him that there wouldn’t be another program that wanted him more or that prioritized him more.

“They just went all-in,” he said. “Every person in that building texted my phone, my mom’s phone, my trainer’s phone, whoever they needed to talk to. They all reached out and that alone just showed me how committed they were to this. Once I got down there and got a chance to put face to names, it felt like family from the jump.”

It wasn’t just head coach Jerome Tang on the visit. It wasn’t just K-State assistant Jareem Dowling. It really was everyone in the building.

“The crazy thing is that I was able to have great one-on-one conversations naturally throughout the day with each coach, and I can honestly say I have a different connection with every coach already and each has its own flow,” McDaniel explained.

Another dude @AyooFlyy #KStateMBB x EMAW pic.twitter.com/7Jn3gt0mrg

— K-State Men's Basketball (@KStateMBB) April 3, 2024

And the food provided to McDaniel and his family while visiting Manhattan wasn’t bad, either. He gave the steaks a sensational grade.

“11 out of 10,” he noted. “Shout out to Coach Reem (Jareem Dowling) and his family. They throw down.”

When returning to Manhattan last year after being tripped up in the Elite Eight by FAU and being greeted at the airport by a huge crowd of fans, Tang said he wanted to win a national championship at Kansas State and deliver a winning parade to the community.

That goal is still front and center, even when speaking with recruits and potential Wildcats. It was the vision and goal laid out by the K-State coaching staff in conversations with their newest guard.

“They see us playing in the Final Four,” McDaniel shared. “So do I. But in order to do that, we have to be committed to making practice harder than the games. We have to be fierce competitors. All the guys we have coming back and the guys we’re going after all have the same mindset. We’re hungry and losing is not an option.”