Winners and Losers: Kansas State and Big 12 trying to load up

KSO covers the biggest winners and losers in the world of Kansas State and college athletics.

Winners

1.) Shooters: Kansas State seems to have made a clear emphasis to improve the team’s shooting from beyond the arc. The coaches are recruiting shooters. Dug McDaniel shot 36 percent from outside last season. CJ Jones was 38 percent. Another potential addition for K-State is Brendan Hausen and he was a near 40 percent three-point shooter at Villanova.
2.) BYU: Probably the last Power Four school to lose their coach this cycle was BYU when Mark Pope chose to leave for Kentucky. That didn’t diminish their process, though. They just went out and hired an NBA assistant coach in Kevin Young that was going to be a candidate to be an NBA head coach next season. Well done, Cougars.
3.) Athletes: It is a good time to be a solid college football or college basketball player and probably some other sports as well. Just hit the transfer portal a couple times and you’ll start adult life with hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, no college debt and a degree.
4.) Tointon: The Bat Cats grabbed a much-needed series win at home this weekend over No. 15 Oklahoma State. Unfortunately, Kansas State couldn’t win the finale to secure the sweep but it was the first series win over the Cowboys since 2014.
5.) Big 12: Big 12 teams seem to be loading up after a bit of a disappointing year. We know that K-State is improving their roster and probably considerably. Baylor just landed Duke transfer Jeremy Roach and may nab Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo, and that’s on top of Scott Drew and company winning out for highly-touted high school recruit VJ Edgecombe. Kansas has made some real splashes in the portal already and signed Flory Bidunga. Houston is probably a top 10 team again by adding Milos Uzan to go with Emmanuel Sharp, J’Wan Roberts, Jojo Tugler and LJ Cryer. Most have Iowa State as a preseason top 10 team because they return essentially everyone. Arizona is now in the league.

Losers

1.) Scheduling: An announcement from Kansas State earlier in the week revealed that the Wildcats had made a home-and-home scheduling arrangement in football with Oregon State set for 2030 and 2031. The Beavers are no longer a Power Four club. I’m not the biggest fan, especially when Washington State is already on the docket.
2.) Michigan: Did Dusty May make the right decision when he picked Michigan over Louisville? I have questioned it ever since he did it, and one of the reasons just manifested itself when the Wolverines couldn’t get FAU transfer Johnell Davis into school.
3.) Calipari: Perhaps it was because he had already tabbed Kenny Payne as the associate head coach, but new Arkansas boss John Calipari couldn’t convince Orlando Antigua to follow him from Lexington to Fayetteville. Antigua is re-joining Brad Underwood at Illinois.
4.) In-state recruiting: Whiff after whiff for K-State on the in-state recruiting trail this cycle. They aren’t getting Andrew Babalola. They were eliminated early by both Jayden Woods and DaSaahn Brame. They aren’t competitive for Dawson Merritt. Bryson Hayes picked Nebraska. Iowa State just snagged Charlie Woleben. The hopes will lie with Linkon Cure, Brock Heath and Keiton Jones.
5.) Stanard: Kansas State has a clear hole at middle linebacker now that we know Jake Clifton won’t be on the roster this upcoming season. They’ll need rapid development from Austin Romaine and to not miss when recruiting one from the transfer portal.