Welcome to the Big 12 Buzz! Things are going to look a little different during the offseason but that doesn’t mean I can’t share what’s on my mind this week in the Big 12.
Sour Tang
For those of you old enough to remember the popular orange drink, this headline may fool you, but I am talking about something far worse than that orange drink that was once popular. Plus, growing up I preferred SunnyD instead which was far superior.
What I am talking about is Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang who is making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. At one point, this man was one of the hottest coaches in the country.
In his first season at Kansas State, he took his team to an Elite Eight and everyone including myself thought that he was the right man for the job. But since then, it’s been all downhill for him.
In his second season, he failed to make the tournament and ended up losing in the first round of the NIT which don’t even get me started on that. The NIT is for losers and the winner of that is just the best team from a group of losers that didn’t make it in the actual tournament. It’s nothing more than a participation trophy much like the ones kids get in soccer and tee ball now.
Then last season, his team didn’t make the tournament for the second straight year as they finished 16-17 overall with a 9-11 record in Big 12 play. And now here we are in 2026, and the Wildcats are sitting under .500 and are off to a 1-7 start in conference action.
It’s one thing to man up and own your mistakes but it appears that Jerome isn’t doing that. Just a few weeks ago Tang was talking about how his team had bad chemistry on the court.
But Mr. Tang just couldn’t hold back once again after their loss to West Virginia on Tuesday night. Instead of focusing on what his team did wrong and what he could do better as a head coach, he placed most of the blame on his team’s struggles on the NCAA.
When asked about the current landscape of college basketball, he had plenty to say. “I ain’t figured that out yet, because they keep changing the rules on me,” Tang said. There are three guys that should be on my roster right now that are not on my roster because the rules change. If we can bring G-League players, I want to do it. If they’re going to allow it, let’s all do it. Or stop everybody from doing it. Just give me some consistent rules, and we’ll get it done.”
Earth to Jerome, every coach in the country is dealing with the same thing. It’s one thing to say this when you are winning but when you are down this bad, this kind of stuff makes you look worse than what you already are.
You want to sit here and talk about the lack of team chemistry on the court and how tough it is to put together a team? YOU are the one who put this team together. YOU are the head coach.
Do you know whose job it is to fix all of this? The janitor? The towel boy? Or how about the guy who is paid nearly $4 million dollars to coach the team? This is your team, Jerome. It’s your job to put it together a team and coach them up.
So far you have done a shit job and if you want someone to blame, then maybe you should look in the mirror. Talk is cheap. You either get the job done or you don’t. There’s no in-between.
Iowa State comes to town on Sunday and despite it being the Lord’s Day, there isn’t going to be anything holy about that game. But it wouldn’t be a bad day for Jerome Tang to start saying his prayers because that may be the only thing he can do to save his job.
The Mid-12 Problem
The top of the Big 12 is about as elite as they come. You won’t find a better top six (Arizona, Iowa State, Houston, Texas Tech, BYU, and Kansas) in any other conference. All of those teams are more than capable of cutting down the nets on April 6 in Indianapolis.
As great as the top tier is in the Big 12, the mid-tier leaves a lot to be desired. Right now, the three teams in that group are UCF, West Virginia, and TCU. Out of those three, UCF is the only team on anyone’s radar to make the tournament. Even Joe Lunardi included the Knights in his updated bracketology.
TCU was in his first four out, but after their loss to Houston on Wednesday night, it’s safe to say that the Horned Frogs are on the outside looking in still. The one they do have going for them is the fact that they have a manageable schedule left.
West Virginia may not be on anyone’s radar now, much like TCU, their remaining schedule is soft enough for them to pick up some wins. Their next two games are at home against Baylor and a trip to a bad Cincinnati team. Those are two very winnable games which should bump them up to 7-3 and at that point, they would be tough to ignore.
I am not sure if there is a world where all three of these teams get in but for the sake of the conference, they need at least two of these three to make it to the NCAA tournament. The question is, which two will they be?
