When Casey Alexander announced his coaching switch from Belmont to Kansas State, many anticipated his former stars would join him in Manhattan, KS.
Well, it looks like that won't be happening. With just one day left in the transfer portal, Wildcats fans were probably awaiting a splash move, especially with sophomore forward Drew Scharnowski. Unfortunately, he committed to Duke on Sunday, leaving Kansas State officially out in the search to acquire him.
After Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player of the Year Tyler Lundblade committed to Tennessee, many circled Scharnowski's name as the next potential option for Alexander to reel in. The growing defensive star was the hope many had for the future, to reunite him and Alexander and haul in a developmental player. Scharnowski averaged 10.7 points, six rebounds, and 1.3 blocks last season, shooting 68.1 percent from the field. He was selected to the All-MVC First Team and All-Defensive Team.
Scharnowski joins a Duke team that topped its conference last season and was just seconds away from going to the Final Four. He will join a team that lost a bit of its forward depth to the transfer portal.
As for Alexander, his team is slowly starting to solidify. He's added eight players through the portal, flipped two former Bruins commits, and retained forward Andrej Kostic. Alexander boasted a 166-60 (73.5%) record over seven seasons at Belmont, placing in the top four in the conference every season, including the top spot in 2026.
His winning culture and player development caught athletic director Gene Taylor's eye, especially to rebound after last season's disaster. It's unfortunate that Alexander won't have stars like Lundblade and Scharnowski for familiarity, but many are optimistic that his crowd will bring some much-needed program changes.
"Everything for me starts with style: style of play, style of player, style of program," Alexander said in his opening press conference. "The style of play kind of dictates everything else. We want to be a style that is fun to play, fun to watch, fun to cheer for, and leads to wins. Every coach wants to be high tempo, but not every coach can say they're typically in the top 25 in the country, in that category per year, or scoring per game."
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