"We want to compete for a national championship" — Kansas State HC Jerome Tang bullish on team's future ahead of 2024 season

Kansas State Head Coach Jerome Tang has high hopes for the team in the coming season. In the first appearance at the Catbacker Tour, Tang was confident about the recruits and the direction the team is heading toward as he addressed the fans.

Heading into the 2024-25 season, the Wildcats retained only three players (Macaleab Rich, Taj Manning and David N’Guessan). The rest of the roster left, including three players graduating, six transfers, and one declaring for the NBA Draft.

“We want to compete for a national championship, and I think we have a great group that starts that, just not a lot of margin for error,” Tang said. “The goal is to add to that so we can have a margin for error and be one of the 10 best teams in the country.”

However, Jerome Tang remained confident about his squad, and when questioned if he was surprised by any transfers, he said "no." He also stated that retaining players is not a problem for a program like Kansas.

“Once a young person gets here they really don’t want to leave,” Tang said. “Sometimes it’s in their best interest for them to leave, which is what happened this year. But the ones we wanted to stay, stayed.”

Tang also said that the timeline is harsh for the players as well as coaches.

“It’s hard on the fans, because they want to get to know kids and watch them grow,” Tang said. “But we have got impatient parents and impatient administration. It is what it is. Coaches are out here getting fired after two years, even when they win. That’s tough. We are all on year-to-year contracts.”

Kansas Wildcats' recruits under Jerome Tang

While the Wildcats were only able to retain three players, they have added eight new players for the new season.

Dug McDaniel from Michigan, CJ Jones from Illinois-Chicago, Fullerton wing Max Jones, sharpshooter Brendan Hausen from Villanova, big man Baye Fall from Arkansas, Samford forward Achor Achor, junior-college transfer Chimobi Ikegwuruka, and high school senior David Castillo make the list of the new additions for the Wildcats.

The new team will come together for the first time when student-athletes arrive on campus in early June. It will be exciting to see how Head Coach Jerome Tang and the new Wildcats team will play this season.

What do you think of this new Kansas team under Jerome Tang?