The Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball team represents

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

competition. The program is classified in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

, and is a member of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. The head coach is Jerome Tang. The program began competition in 1902. The first two major-conference regular season titles won by the school were won by the men's basketball team, in 1917 and 1919 (in the

Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) was a college athletic conference and the second college conference formed upon its foundation on January 12, 1907.David A. Campaigne and John R. Thelin, "Big Twelve Conference", ...

). Kansas State has gone on to win 19 regular season conference crowns. The Wildcats have appeared in the NCAA tournament 32 times, most recently in 2023. Kansas State's best season finish came in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

, losing the national final to Kentucky. Jeff Sagarin listed the program 27th in his all-time rankings in the ''ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia''. Following the 2022-23 season, the Wildcats have a record of 1,717–1,222.

History

Kansas State University has appeared in 32 NCAA basketball tournaments, most recently in

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. The team's all-time record in the NCAA tournament is 39–35 (). Kansas State's best finish at the tournament came in

, when it lost to

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

in the national championship game. The school has reached the Final Four 4 times, the Elite Eight 14 times, and the Sweet Sixteen 18 times. Included among K-State's tournament wins are some all-time classics, including an 83–80 win over

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

team in 1958, which ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' called "the most exciting game of the 1958 season," and a 50–48 win over second-ranked Oregon State in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, which ''

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'' listed as one of the greatest games in NCAA tournament history. The team also had some notably successful seasons before the creation of the NIT (1938) and the NCAA tournament (1939), including conference titles in 1917 and 1919 under coach Zora G. Clevenger. The

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

named Frank Reynolds the program's first All-American player in 1917, and the

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

retroactively ranked Kansas State #12 in 1910, #18 in 1916, #8 in 1917 and #7 in 1919. Kruger Hartman

The best season in the school's history may have been 1959, when the team finished the season ranked #1 in the final Associated Press poll and Coaches poll. K-State has finished ranked in the Top 10 of one of the two polls on eleven total occasions (most recently in

), and in the final top 25 polls 22 total times. The team has also posted a winning record at home every year since 1946. After a lengthy period with little success during the 1990s and 2000s, the team returned to prominence under head coach Frank Martin. Following a twelve-year absence, the team returned to the NCAA tournament after the 2007–08 season. Following that season, Kansas State freshman

Michael Beasley Michael Paul Beasley Jr. (born January 9, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for Kansas State University for one ...

was named an All-American and Big 12 Conference Player of the Year. In the 2009–10 season, the team spent much of the year ranked in the Top 10 of the AP poll and finished second in the Big 12. The team received a #2 seed in the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight. Along the way, the Wildcats defeated Xavier in a double-overtime thriller, which CBSSports.com called "one of the best games in the history of the Sweet 16." Bramlage Coliseum

On March 31, 2012, Bruce Weber was announced as head coach after Frank Martin left for

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. During the 2012–2013 season, Weber's first in Manhattan, Kansas State won its first regular season conference title since 1977 and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Weber's team won the conference title again in the 2018–2019 season. K-State appeared in the NCAA tournament five times in Weber's seven seasons, including advancing to the Elite Eight in 2018. After three consecutive losing seasons, Weber resigned under pressure in March 2022. He was succeeded by longtime Baylor assistant coach Jerome Tang. In Tang's first season, he guided a KSU team picked to finish last in the Big 12 to a third-place finish and to the NCAA Tournament, the first NCAA appearance since 2019. With wins over Montana State,

, and Michigan State, Tang brought the Wildcats to its first Elite Eight appearance since 2018 and its fourteenth Elite Eight appearance in program history.

Achievements

Kansas State has a total of 36 All-Americans, 19 regular-season conference championships and nine conference tournament championships. The program ranks in the top 25 nationally in the following categories: The program also ranks in the top 50 nationally in the following categories:

Top 25 rankings

Kansas State University has finished in the final rankings of the AP poll or Coaches poll on 22 occasions throughout its history, including one season at #1 in the final polls (pre-NCAA Tournament). The AP poll first appeared in 1948, and has been published continuously since 1950–51. The Coaches poll began in the 1950–51 season. Currently, the final AP poll is released before the tournament and the final Coaches poll is released after the tournament.

Rivalries

Kansas: Sunflower Showdown

Kansas State's main rivalry is with the

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Jayhawks. The rivalry peaked in the 1950s when both teams were annually national title contenders. The 1987–88 season also proved to be momentous in the rivalry. In the first matchup of the season, on January 30, 1988, Mitch Richmond scored 35 points to lead Kansas State to a 72–61 win to halt KU's then-record 55-game home winning streak. On February 18, KU turned the tables, prevailing 64–63 at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan to deny K-State a victory over KU in the old field house's last year. In what was supposed to be the rubber game, in the 1988 Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament, Kansas State won a decisive victory by a 69–54 score. However, the biggest was yet to come. Both teams qualified for the NCAA tournament, and after three wins each in the tournament they faced each other on March 27 in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, Pontiac is part of the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area, and is vari ...

, for the right to advance to the Final Four. Led by

Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.🖾🖾 People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...

's 20 points, KU turned a tight game into a runaway and prevailed 71–58. Kansas would go on to win the national championship. The rivalry slipped in significance after the 1988 season, and from 1994 to 2005 KU won 31 straight games against K-State, the longest streak for either school in the series. KU also posted a 24-game win streak against the Wildcats in Manhattan, which ended on January 30, 2008, when #22 Kansas State upset #2 Kansas 84–75. Jeff Sagarin's rankings of the nation's top programs by decade in the ''ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia'' nicely track the history of the rivalry. In the 1950s, when the rivalry was at its peak, Kansas State finished the decade ranked as the #3 program in the nation and KU was ranked as #4. In the 1960s KU was ranked #9 for the decade and KSU was ranked #11. In the 1970s, the programs were again nearly even, with Kansas State ranked at #24 and KU at #25. In the 1980s some separation appeared, as KU finished the decade ranked at #19 and Kansas State at #31. The big difference appeared in the 1990s and 2000s when KU was ranked at #4 and #2 for the decades, while Kansas State does not appear anywhere in the top 40. The rivalry has become more relevant again in recent years, with both teams ranked in the AP Top 25 for many of their match-ups.

Missouri

As of the 2022–23 season,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

is Kansas State's second most-played rival, with 237 games dating back to 1907. Kansas State leads the series 121–116. The series was last played regularly in the 2011–12 season, before Missouri moved to the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

. For nearly a century beforehand, the two schools shared conferences, beginning in the 1913–14 season in the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

, then in the Big Eight Conference and its predecessors from 1928 to 1996, and finally the Big 12 Conference from 1996 to 2012. Since Missouri's move to the SEC, the two teams have matched up twice, meeting on neutral floors in 2015 and 2018, both Kansas State victories.

Wichita State

Kansas State had an ongoing in-state, out-of-conference rivalry with

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 ...

, dating back to 1932 and last played in 2022. Kansas State leads the series 22–11. The series had six games from 1932 to 1964, then six games on a home-and-home rotation from the 1969–70 to 1971–72 seasons, and most recently 19 home-and-home games every season from 1985–86 to 2003–04. When Wichita State became a Top 25 regular in the early 2010s, there came interest in reviving the series. In February 2013, Kansas state senator Michael O'Donnell introduced a bill requiring Kansas and Kansas State to schedule Wichita State. The series was renewed in 2021, with a four-game series calling for games at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita that year, at Bramlage Coliseum in 2022, T-Mobile Center in Kansas City in 2023, and finally at

Charles Koch Arena Charles Koch Arena is a 10,506-seat multi-purpose arena in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located on the southeast corner of 21st and Hillside on the campus of Wichita State University in northeast Wichita. The arena is home to the Wic ...

in 2024.

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Wildcats have appeared in the NCAA tournament 32 times. Their overall record in the NCAA Tournament is 40–36 () through the 2023 tournament. From 2011 to 2015 the round of 64 was known as the Second round, round of 32 was Third Round

NCAA tournament seeding history

''The

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

began seeding the tournament with the 1979 edition.''

NIT results

The Wildcats have appeared in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT) seven times. Their combined record is 6–9.

NCIT results

The Wildcats appeared in one of the only two ever

National Commissioners Invitational Tournament The National Commissioners Invitational Tournament was an eight-team postseason men's college basketball tournament run by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It was introduced in 1974 as the Collegiate Commissioners Association T ...

s. Their record is 0–1.

Individual awards and accomplishments

Retired jerseys

The following players' jerseys have been retired by Kansas State, though their respective jersey numbers remain available for use. They represent the finest basketball players to come through Kansas State. The criteria for determining the honor includes statistical achievement, conference and national records, honors received (such as all-conference, All-American, Academic All-American), character and sportsmanship.

National honors

The following Kansas State players and coaches are in the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

(with induction year): * Bob Boozer (2010) (''as member of 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team'') * Cotton Fitzsimmons (2021) * Jack Gardner (1984) * Mitch Richmond (2014) *

Tex Winter Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter (February 25, 1922 – October 10, 2018) was an American basketball coach and innovator of the triangle offense, an offensive system that became the dominant force in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and res ...

(2011) The following Kansas State players and coaches are in the

National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the Nation ...

(with induction year): * Bob Boozer (2016) * Rolando Blackman (2015) * Jack Gardner (2006) *

(2010) Kansas State players and coaches have won the following national awards: ''Player honors'' * USBWA National Freshman of the Year
Best freshman ::

– 2008 *

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor players who excelled on the court in spite of their height. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter-in-law, was establi ...

Outstanding undersized senior :: Jacob Pullen – 2011 *

Pete Newell Big Man Award The Pete Newell Big Man Award has been awarded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) since 2000. It is presented to the best low-post player each season. The award is named after Pete Newell, the coach who ran the Pete Newell ...

Top low-post player ::

– 2008 *

Bob Cousy Award The Bob Cousy Award, sponsored by the College of the Holy Cross, is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate point guard. It is named after six-time National Basketball Assoc ...

Top point guard :: Markquis Nowell - 2023 ''Coaching honors'' * NABC Coach of the Year Award
Coach of the year :: Jack Hartman – 1981 * UPI College Basketball Coach of the Year
Coach of the year ::

– 1958 * Naismith College Coach of the Year
Coach of the year :: Jerome Tang – 2023

All-Americans

The following players were named first, second or third-team All-Americans by one of outlets used by the NCAA to determine consensus selections

Conference honors

The

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

established the Conference Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards in 1957. These awards have continued into the Big 12 Conference era. * Player of the Year :: Bob Boozer – 1958, 1959 ::

Lon Kruger Lonnie Duane Kruger (born August 19, 1952) is an American former college and professional basketball coach (sport), coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of the University of Oklahoma. Kruger played college basketball for K ...

– 1973, 1974 :: Mike Evans – 1978 :: Rolando Blackman – 1980 ::

– 2008 * Coach of the Year ::

– 1958, 1959, 1960 :: Cotton Fitzsimmons – 1970 :: Jack Hartman – 1975, 1977 :: Dana Altman – 1993 :: Frank Martin – 2010 :: Bruce Weber − 2013 :: Jerome Tang − 2023

Wildcats to pros

The following former Wildcats have gone on to play professionally, either in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

or elsewhere. Kansas State University has had two overall #1 draft picks in the NBA since the draft began in 1947:

Howie Shannon Howard Shannon (June 10, 1923 – August 16, 1995) was an American basketball player and coach. He played professionally in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the early years of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He later co ...

(1949) and Bob Boozer (1959). * Tyrone Adams * Curtis Allen * Ron Anderson * Freddy Asprilla * Ernie Barrett * Danny Beard *

* Rolando Blackman * Brandon Bolden * Bob Boozer * Barry Brown Jr. * Jack Carby * Norris Coleman * Luis Colon * Denis Clemente * Larry Comley * Les Craft * Cartier Diarra * Adrian Diaz * Roy DeWitz * Justin Edwards * Corlbe Ervin * Mike Evans * Marcus Foster * Wally Frank * Carl R. Gerlach * Cortez Groves * Thomas Gipson * David Hall * Rick Harman * Ed Head * Jordan Henriquez * Steve Henson * Lew Hitch * Steve Honeycutt * Stephen Hurt * Martavious Irving * Jim Iverson * Wes Iwundu * D.J. Johnson * Keyontae Johnson * Mike Johnson * Nigel Johnson * Askia Jones * Wally Judge * Jerry Jung * Curtis Kelly * Darren Kent * Dick Knostman *

* Ernie Kusnyer * Don Matuszak * Cartier Martin * Jeremiah Massey * Don Matuzsak * Makol Mawien * Mike McGuirl * Rodney McGruder * Pat McKenzie * Steve Mitchell * Willie Murrell * Juevol Myles * Ed Nealy * Markquis Nowell * Michael Orris * Jack Parr * Pervis Pasco * Fred Peete * Nick Pino * Cedrick Price * Jesse Prisock * Jacob Pullen * Randy Reed * Mitch Richmond * Ángel Rodríguez * Bob Rousey * Nick Russell * Jamar Samuels * Matt Siebrandt * Earl Seyfert *

* David Sloan * Mark Smith * Roy Smith * Xavier Sneed * Shane Southwell * Jack Stone * Kamau Stokes * Dominique Sutton * Roger Suttner * Austin Trice * Jerry Venable * Dean Wade * Bill Walker * Jeff Webb * Chuckie Williams * Gene Williams * Larry Williams * Nino Williams * Jari Wills * Akeem Wright * Mike Wroblewski * Deilvez Yearby

Draft history

Former players as coaches

A number of former Wildcat players have gone to successful careers as head basketball coaches, including: * Bob Chipman – finished career as 21st-winningest coach in college basketball history * Mike Evans * Bill Guthridge – National college coach of the year (1998) * Steve Henson * Tim Jankovich * Gene Keady – 4x national college coach of the year;

– Coached five Division I schools to the NCAA tournament * Jim Molinari * Brad Underwood * Josh Eilert

Coaches

Kansas State has had 23 head coaches. A number of notable and successful coaches have led the Wildcats through the years. Following are all the coaches that have been at Kansas State.

Conference membership history

*?–1912: Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association *1913–1927:

*1928–1947: Big 6 Conference *1948–1957: Big 7 Conference *1958–1995: Big 8 Conference *1996–Present:

Series records

Record vs. Big 12 opponents

Record vs. former Big 12 opponents

References

External links

* {{Big 12 Conference men's basketball navbox Basketball teams established in 1902