Kam Cooper Makes It Official To Play For Casey Alexander At Kansas State

The Kansas State Wildcats basketball program is finally starting to hear more positive news than negative. 

On Thursday, top recruit Kam Cooper officially signed his national letter of intent to play for coach Casey Alexander and the Wildcats. A 6-foot-6, 190-pound swingman, Cooper is rated as a four-star recruit by 247 Sports. 

While Cooper is playing for Manhattan High School during his senior year, he earned his strong reputation while at Bishop Gorman Prep in Las Vegas. He chose the Wildcats over several top programs, including TCU, UNLV and Wichita State. 

He is also the son of longtime assistant, John, who was on the staff at UNLV before joining Alexander in Manhattan this season. The arrival of Kam Cooper next season is encouraging news for the program because it will help the rebuilding process. 

It was only four seasons ago when the Wildcats were trending in the right direction under former coach Jerome Tang. He took them to the Elite Eight in his first season before things took a turn for the worse. 

The Wildcats missed the NCAA Tournament for the next three seasons before Tang was fired last March. That opened the door for Alexander, who was at Belmont at the time. The late hiring made it difficult for him to put an immediate stamp on the program. 

Alexander was unable to keep any of Tang's holdovers in Manhattan. They chose to enter the transfer portal instead. The result was the Wildcats only having one returning player from last year (Andrej Kostic). 

Eventually, Alexander was able to complete a full roster. That included transfers Brandon Rechsteiner (Colorado State Rams) and Jaden Schutt (Virginia Tech Hokies). They have emerged as the leaders for this year's team, with Rechsteiner coming off back-to-back 26-point games in wins against Cal State-Northridge and Creighton. 

It's going to take recruits like Cooper to help Alexander rebuild the program. He was the first player to commit in the 2027 class. He could eventually lead to more top recruits coming to Manhattan. 

That is a priority considering the strength of the Big 12 conference, which is yet again one of the best in the country. While the Wildcats are unlikely to make the NCAA Tournament this season, the goal is to set a foundation in place for years to come. That is why this signing is so important for the future of the program. 

The Wildcats (2-1) return to action Monday at home against Montana.