Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Kansas State Wildcats

The Big 12 had a successful year in men’s college basketball in 2020 as the Baylor Bears closed out the season as the national champs. It was a dominant run, and they truly were the best team in college basketball.

The conference comes into the new year looking strong from top to bottom, but there was some drama in the offseason with a few teams planning to leave for the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma will be headed to the SEC in the near future, but for this year at least it’ll be business as usual.

Like many other conferences around the country, Big 12 teams took advantage of the expanded transfer portal and loaded up with all sorts of new faces. Figuring out rotations will be especially important for this group so let’s dive in and take our best crack at deciphering the best players for each squad.

In this one, Kansas State.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Kansas State Wildcats 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 9-20 (4-14 Big 12), ninth in Big 12
Postseason: None

Key Departures | Kansas State Wildcats

Montavious Murphy (transfer portal)

Key Additions | Kansas State Wildcats

Mark Smith (transferred from Missouri)
Markquis Nowell (transferred from Little Rock)
Ismael Massoud (transferred from Wake Forest)

Returners | Kansas State Wildcats

Nijel Pack (12.7 PPG/3.7 RPG/3.8 APG/1.2 SPG)
Davion Bradford (7.7 PPG/4.3 RPG)
Mike McGuirl (11.8 PPG/3.8 RPG/3.6 APG)
Selton Miguel (7.2 PPG/3.1 RPG/2.2 APG)

Kansas State Wildcats Outlook for 2021-2022

Nijel Pack is on breakout watch, and the sophomore should be the alpha on this roster. He was a 42% shooter from long range with a 26.4% assist rate. I like him a lot this season. Mike McGuirl is back for his super senior season to terrorize us as he has been one of those guys that busts when you use him but goes bonkers when you fade for most of his career.

Markquis Nowell (14.3 PPG), Mark Smith (9.7 PPG) and Ismael Massoud (8.3 PPG) are the transfers to watch as they’re expected to play heavy minutes on a team with a surprisingly short bench on paper. For fantasy purposes, this team could be a sneaky target for us all season long.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Nijel Pack is going to flirt with an All-Conference type of season while the secondary options present viability depending on their pricing. Markquis Nowell can score in bunches and will be a fun tournament target. This team won’t win many games but sometimes that makes for the best DFS targets.