Rapid Recap: Kansas State has good Signing Day, what's next

Thoughts on Kansas State signee David Castillo

“We got another dude” said Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang to open up his press conference on Wednesday to recap their day, their loss to USC and what’s ahead for the Wildcats when they take on Bellarmine on Friday.

They are clearly thrilled about inking four-star guard David Castillo. He picked K-State over Oklahoma State and Kansas when he made his decision. Obviously the entire staff played a role, but Tang and assistant Rodney Perry were very much involved in pursuing him.

What stands out the most about what he can do on the floor is just his basketball IQ. He understands the game exceptionally well and is incredibly unselfish. He has great basketball instincts but can also handle the ball and shoot from deep.

He has a knack for winning.

Welcome Home, David!! #EMAW pic.twitter.com/0rJB2fUtuS

— Jerome Tang (@CoachJTang) November 8, 2023

Bellarmine preview

I made sure to ask the Kansas State head coach about the next game. We had spoken with him following the USC loss in Las Vegas, but the upcoming matchup was not discussed. He had a lot of respect for Bellarmine because of how much they’ve won of late.

The Wildcats are likely to be an overwhelming favorite, but there is a great pedigree in that locker room. Where Tang believes they could stress his team the most is on the defensive end. Bellarmine runs very good offense with a lot of movement.

K-State will have to be as good defensively before the catches and passes as they are afterwards because of that style.

What Tang wants most from his guys

Remember when Tang brought up Chick-fil-a a few weeks ago as an example of consistency and still hoping to find it from his squad? That has not changed. In questions about Will McNair, he really hammered home the concept of needing to be count on guys and know what he’s going to get from them.

A lot of them make two very nice plays or contributions and then miss an assignment a minute later.

Because they haven’t had that kind of consistency yet, from play to play, half to half or game to game, it has made finding the right lineups a bit more difficult. He mentioned that Kansas State played 25 different lineups against USC, and that’s too many.

K-State recruiting plan

Why only one signee for K-State? Tang insists that they kept the pursuits and chase narrow. They didn’t feel like a ton of spots needed to be fulfilled with high school prospects. Thus, they honed in on just two or three prospects.

Of course in addition to Castillo the Wildcats also were after Patrick Ngongba and Derrion Reid. Though they came up empty on both, that is still an excellent hit rate that they feel good about. Tang called it a good job, not a great job.

They will not reinsert themselves into anymore high school recruitments, either. It will be onto the transfer portal the rest of the way.