Times are tough in Manhattan, Kansas. 

K-State suffered its third-worst home loss in school history on Sunday, getting drilled 95-61 by Iowa State. The Cyclones were up 29 in the first half, pushed the lead to 39, and spent the final stretch essentially calling off the dogs.

And honestly, I can’t imagine how satisfying that felt for Iowa State fans. Not only do they genuinely dislike their Farmageddon rival, they hate Jerome Tang. That’s the residue from “Cygate,” when Tang accused TJ Otzelberger of spying on K-State huddles two seasons ago in Ames.

Sunday’s on-court embarrassment somehow wasn’t even the biggest storyline. That honor went to Tang’s postgame press conference. Nothing is going to land well after you lose by nearly 40 to a rival, but he did not make things easier on himself.

Here’s a good summary of the back and forth. 

I’m not sure anything in that clip was even the most frustrating thing he said behind a microphone last week. Check out this clip from after Tuesday’s loss to West Virginia.

Two of the players he’s referring to here, Tyreke Smith and Max Jones, were always longshots to get an extra year of eligibility. Tang tried to get Smith an extra year after he had already spent five years playing college basketball. With Jones, the hope was that two years at the Division II level wouldn’t count against the four-year clock. 

The other is likely French pro Brice Dessert. I don’t know the specfics on what happened there, but Tang’s trio of European additions to this year’s roster have been very underwhelming, so my hopes aren’t high that this one would have hit. 

In other words, they knew the risks, and none of these guys were difference-makers on their own. Smith and Jones are solid role players, but they weren’t making this a tournament team. 

And above all else, the excuses are maddening. Tang was again operating with top-20 NIL money this season, even after missing the tournament last year with more than $10 million in NIL behind him. 

Iowa State’s roster is significantly less expensive, and the Cyclones just put a historic beatdown on K-State in Manhattan.

Four contributors being out certainly makes things worse, but K-State wasn’t trending anywhere near the NCAA tournament before they went down. 

Tang is right that anything he says will get blasted by fans and the media, but he could at least dampen the blow by showing some humility. Instead he took a shot at the media and blamed the NCAA for his situation. 

It’s also hard to hear him promise a big picture conversation at the end of the season, because we’ve been here before. I was waiting for that moment last year after a disastrous campaign that, per Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, featured top-five NIL money.

But Tang never did a season-ending press conference. No real contrition. No apology to the fans. In fact, we didn’t hear from him until July, when he popped up on a Cyclone Fanatic podcast.

I don’t know what the strategy was there, but I do know how it came across. Instead of addressing the fans he once told to “expect to win” after storming the court, he went silent, then resurfaced with rival media members who spent the previous year making him a punchline.

Look, I’m far from a perfect messenger here. I LOVED cocky, bordering on arrogant Jerome Tang when things were going well. It felt like the exact attitude K-State needed to elevate the program. I bought in hard. I defended him through thick and thin for three years, even during the Cygate fiasco with Otzelberger in Ames. 

I’ve also had plenty of moments in my own career where someone could fairly tell me I should’ve shown more humility. That’s real criticism, and I get it.

To his credit, Tang did eventually come on 3MAW in August and briefly addressed the 2024-25 struggles:

But the bigger issue hasn’t changed. The vibe around Tang and his staff feels standoffish. And the blame too often gets tossed everywhere except inward. That’s why so many of his former allies (fans, media, donors, etc.) have turned on him.

Bruce Weber won two Big 12 titles and went to an Elite Eight at K-State. He still got fired for missing the tournament three straight years. So the obvious question is this: does an $18.6 million buyout save Tang from a similar ending?

That buyout is a massive problem for K-State, especially since it only drops by $3 million per year. Even if you give Tang another season, it’s still going to be brutal to stomach paying it in 2027.

I wanted Jerome Tang to succeed more than any K-State head coach in my lifetime. As a show, my 3MAW co-hosts and I carried a lot of water for the staff over the past couple of seasons. 

We waged a PR war against the university president over the Nae’Qwan Tomlin situation in 2023-24. I took heat last season for calling out fans who had bailed on the team when they finally got hot in Big 12 play. We bought in hard when this year’s team showed signs of life early in the non-conference schedule. 

All of that to say, I take zero joy in writing this column. But the reality here can’t be ignored any longer. 

I’m not sure exactly how this is going to end, but it feels like an increasingly untenable situation that is ripe for ending ugly. 

Kansas-BYU Was Electric

What a spectacle Saturday afternoon was for Kansas basketball and Allen Fieldhouse. 

Kansas celebrated the 1,000th game in that building with a crowd full of dignitaries, from KU legends Paul Pierce and Nick Collison to multiple NBA general managers to hip-hop star 2 Chainz. And the game delivered the kind of hype you only get when the presumptive top two picks in the NBA draft are on the same floor.

Kansas romped its way to a 20-point halftime lead and led by as many as 21 while picking up a fifth straight win. KU’s Darryn Peterson completely overshadowed BYU’s AJ Dybantsa in the first half, scoring 18 points on six of seven shooting, while Dybantsa struggled to even get a shot off. Peterson also had the highlight of the year so far in the Big 12. 

And yet, I still come away with almost as many questions as answers about KU.

Peterson only played three minutes in the second half. While a 21-point lead was slowly but surely whittled down to four points in the waning moments of the game, Peterson sat casually on the KU bench in the leg wraps we’ve become so accustomed to seeing. 

Bill Self said cramps were the issue again. It’s been the story all season. Peterson has missed 10 of 21 games and has played more than 25 minutes only six times.

Complicating matters is this video that’s circulated across KU Twitter, fueling speculation that this is all about load management from Peterson’s team. 

Self is coaching up a storm in spite of Peterson’s issues. This team is coming together. Melvin Council, Tre White, and Flory Bidunga are an outstanding trio with or without Peterson, and now Bryson Tiller is flashing star potential. 

The Jayhawks are a very good team, whether Peterson plays or not. But with Peterson in the lineup, they’re national title contenders. He’s the best college player I’ve seen in years…when he’s actually on the floor. 

How does a team handle a player of that caliber constantly pulling himself out of the game? What does that do to a team’s vibe and rhythm, not to mention the locker room?

And how can a Hall of Fame coach who oozes toughness handle dealing with something like this?

I’m fascinated to see how it all plays out. 

Peterson gives me some Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins vibes from the 2013-14 Jayhawks. Embiid’s back injury tanked KU’s tournament run, and the team bowed out in the round of 32. Wiggins was wildly talented and went number one overall in the NBA draft, but he didn’t have enough dawg in him to take over without Embiid.  

Will this Kansas team face the same fate? 

Meanwhile, BYU is left licking its wounds after dropping games to Arizona and KU in the same week. 

The Cougars trailed by 21 and 19 in each of those games before mounting impressive comebacks to give themselves a chance. It was too little too late in each case, but they did show remarkable fight. 

Richie Saunders definitely helped his draft stock Saturday, going for 33 points and 10 rebounds in front of the NBA decision-makers who were there to watch Dybantsa and Peterson:

Saunders is the heartbeat of this team, and it’s impossible not to love the way he plays.

But is it fair to say BYU was exposed last week?

If your expectation was for the Cougars to win a Big 12 regular-season title, maybe. With three losses already and games against Arizona, Houston, Iowa State, and Texas Tech still on the schedule, I don’t think that’s going to happen. 

If your expectation was a top-four NCAA Tournament seed and a real shot to make a Final Four run, that’s still very much on the table.

BYU has toughness, grit, and multiple guys who can give you 30 on any night. The Cougars are going to make noise the rest of the season, and they’re built to be a problem in March.

What You Need to Know

• For more of my thoughts on Jerome Tang’s press conference and the situation K-State is in, check out my latest YouTube video. 

• UCF had one of the best performances of the weekend, knocking off Texas Tech to get to 17-4 (6-3) on the season. The Knights did it with a payroll lower than what Tech star JT Toppin makes by himself. 

• The latest CBS Sports Bracketology gives the Big 12 two number-one seeds. One Big 12 school is in the first four out. 

• Four Big 12 teams made this preseason Top 25 football poll, including one that I’ve been hoping to see get more respect. 

• Recruiting sites were again caught adding stars to high school prospects who decommitted from Big 12 schools.

Enjoying Open For Business? It would mean the world to me if you could share the newsletter with three of your friends who want Big 12 news without SEC or Big Ten bias. Tell them to sign up at OFBNews.com and get started today!