March Madness: Has Kansas State ever made the Final Four?
True to his signature t-shirt, Jerome Tang and Kansas State have ‘got it out the mud’ this season, advancing to the Elite Eight. Another victory puts the Wildcats in the Final Four. Today, we answer the question — has Kansas State ever reached the Final Four?
From last to first. Literally.
Five months ago, when the Big 12 Preseason Poll dropped, the Kansas State Wildcats found themselves in an unenviable position — picked last. Sure, polls are just a projection, but the Wildcats were coming off their third-straight losing season, a ninth-place finish in the conference and had parted ways with longtime head coach Bruce Weber.
Enter Jerome Tang.
Tang had spent all of his 19 seasons in DI basketball as an assistant at Baylor under Scott Drew. Aside from four games he served as interim coach, the Trinidad native had never been a collegiate head coach.
Regardless, he’d always been viewed as one of the hottest coaching candidates during the last few hiring cycles and K-State hiring him, especially considering they share a conference with Baylor, was viewed as a massive coup.
Fast forward to March and Tang’s swagger, ability to get the most out of his players and knowledge of X’s and O’s has the underdog Wildcats on a heater. Their 26 wins are the third-most in a single season and the second-most by a first-year head coach in school history. It also puts them in a place they have not been in some time — the Elite Eight, their first since 2018 and one win away from the Final Four.
Has Kansas State ever made the Final Four?
While success has been few and far between recently, Kansas State does have a proud basketball history. 32 NCAA Tournament appearances, 21 conference titles, 41 (and counting) All-Americans. The numbers speak for themselves.
However, a deep postseason run has eluded them as of late.
The Wildcats have made four trips to the Final Four in their history, but none since the turn of the century. The last time K-State appeared in a Final Four, Florida Atlantic (their upcoming opponent) wasn’t even open officially. That trip came all the way back in 1964.
Prior to that, the Wildcats played in the Final Four in 1948, 1951 and 1958. The 1951 campaign is especially significant; it still stands as the deepest run Kansas State has ever made, finishing as national runners-up to Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats after losing, 68-58. That Kansas State team, coached by legend Tex Winter, featured players like All-American guard Ernie Barrett and All-Big Seven Conference selections Lew Hitch and Jack Stone.
If the Wildcats can get past FAU on Saturday night, the ‘Tang Gang’ will have more history to re-write. Fitting that a team slept on all those months ago can do it in the ‘City the Never Sleeps.’
From Manhattan, Kansas to Manhattan, New York, Jerome Tang and Kansas State continue to get it ‘out the mud.’
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