Jerome Tang Praises Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark After Texas Win
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State’s 78-74 win over Texas in the second round of the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament was a wild one for both teams.
For Wildcats coach Jerome Tang, it helped give the NCAA Tournament selection committee more to think about as most consider his squad to be a bubble team, one year after reaching the Elite Eight in his first season as head coach.
The Wildcats also eliminated Texas, which along with Oklahoma will head to the SEC this summer. It turned out to be Texas’ final game as a Big 12 member against a Big 12 team.
As Tang walked off the court he got a hug from an unexpected source — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark.
After the game, Tang was asked about the content of their conversation and while he deferred about what was said, he went on to lavish praise on the second-year commissioner.
“We have a great commissioner,” Tang said. “He is on it. He is very in tune with what’s going on across the country athletic-wise and that’s what we need to help our conference, not just be the best conference in the country but be — because, you know, there is a saying, ‘You don’t just want to be better than everybody else. You want to be one that stands alone.’ I believe we can have a conference that can stand alone and he’s the kind of leader that can get us there. The fact that he’s so personable and so forward thinking, it means a lot.”
On Tuesday, Yormark announced that the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournament would remain in Kansas City through the 2031 tournaments, inking a seven-year extension with the city. While Kansas State isn’t part of the first Big 12 basketball game in Mexico this December — that honor belongs to Houston and Kansas — Tang would probably sign his Wildcats up if given the chance.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
