As Casey Alexander transitions to his new position at Kansas State, his former Belmont stars and assistants are all going to be under a microscope to follow him.
Well, at least one is definitely out of the loop for the Wildcats. Tyler Lundblade, the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player of the Year, has committed to Tennessee. He averaged 15.6 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists last season, leading the conference's top offense and regular-season winner.
Lundblade would have been a great addition to Kansas State, as the program will need star guards in the next few months. As the transfer portal opens up, Jerome Tang's crew is likely to exit after he was fired during the season. The star trio of Abdi Bashir Jr., Nate Johnson, and PJ Haggerty didn't mold like expected, and without the man who brought them to Manhattan, KS, there's little to no reason for them to stay.
Lundblade shot 40.6 percent from 3-point range last season, one of the few positives the Wildcats would want to replicate again next year. A solid free-throw shooter who limits turnovers and fouls, he would have been the ideal choice to reciprocate the team's recent trend of ball-handlers who have been vulnerable to carelessness with poor ball security.
But alas, the show goes on. Alexander has been reaching deep into his recruitment bag for his next unit, which has already resulted in some of the former Belmont recruits flipping to Kansas State. Three-star prospects Jaylen Alexander (Oxford High) and Devin Hutcherson (Holy Innocents Episcopal School) followed coach Alexander to the Wildcats last month.
They're also still in the mix for sophomore forward Drew Scharnowski, a player Alexander can continue working with to build a more developmental Kansas State program than a revolving door every season. Scharnowski averaged 10.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.6 assists last season, earning First-Team All-MVC and MVC All-Defensive Team honors.
"I think we need to broaden. We gotta have some more experience at this level, and that’s a given," Alexander said in his opening radio interview. "We’ll have a really good staff, and one thing they’ll be is like-minded. We'll all be on the same page and pulling in the same direction, and all about the same thing."
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