Jerome Tang Addresses Futures of Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Ish Massoud
Jerome Tang took over the Kansas State Wildcats with two active scholarship players, Markquis Nowell and Ismael Massoud. After having to stock nearly an entire team before the season started many placed limits on how far the team could go. But with players like Keyontae Johnson and Nae’Qwan Tomlin the start of the Tang era exceeded expectations.
Following the successful start of Tang’s career with the Wildcats, K-State has faced some tough scenarios, the first of which being Massoud’s decision to enter the transfer portal.
Tang spoke to media members about the situation with Massoud, mentioning that the ability to come back to Kansas State is still on the table.
“I told him, ‘Look, if you go out there and you don’t feel like people are telling you the truth and you can’t get what you want out there at the level you want it, let’s revisit this conversation again. He was like, ‘You won’t hold it against me?’ No, I won’t hold it against you. But understand that I may have to call you and say, ‘Look, Ish, I have taken someone else and we may not be able to revisit this conversation.’ He understands that.”
The idea of a coach still going to bat for his players even after a decision to transfer away is one of the many reasons Tang was so beloved this season in Manhattan. Other coaches might have tried to force Massoud to stay in hopes that it was what was best for the team even at the expense of the player.
Another example of this is Tang’s view of junior forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin, who NBA scouts have been raving about lately.
Tomlin is an athletic 6-foot-10 big man with impressive speed and agility that helped the Wildcats reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. Tomlin started the season as a relatively unknown transfer from Chipola (Fla.) College and after a year with Tang he is getting serious NBA looks and that brings some uncertainty.
“We’re going to do the paperwork for the review and see what the NBA teams say,” Tang said. “If the projections are good, maybe we go to the next step. If the projections are not what he wants then we focus in on moving forward here. The whole time he will be working out with the team and doing all that. But it’s always good to get as much feedback as possible.”
Tomlin has not declared for the NBA Draft, and even if he did he could retain his eligibility at Kansas State while he explores that option. Tang and his staff can also get informal feedback from the league on Tomlin.
Tang has expressed his faith in Tomlin multiple times throughout the season, even going as far as to say that Tomlin could play at an All-American level as a senior next season.
“He just really needs to lock in on a couple things,” Tang said. “Strength and shooting are the two most tangible things you can put your eye on. There are some fundamental things that having not played organized basketball as a young kid that he skipped over. I think we can go back and add some of that in and give him a better base to his game that will then help to eliminate the things that hindered his ability to be on the court more this season.”
Tang and the Wildcats still have some questions to answer, but even with those questions things are bright at Kansas State with Tang at the helm.
