clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

SLATE: Is Mitch Richmond the greatest former Wildcat?

Let’s be provocative. Summer is boring.

By Luke Sobba
1996 Pre-Olympic Tour: United States vs Australia
Mitch Richmond glides in for two in the run-up to the 1996 Olympic Games.
Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Basketball

Those of us with a runaway case of gray hair (or, alas, little to no hair) have fond memories of Mitch Richmond in Ahearn Fieldhouse from 1986 through 1988. As part of its “100 days of Kansas City Area Olympians” series, KSHB featured the smooth swingman. He was probably better than you knew.

Richmond averaged 20.7 points, six rebounds and three assists in his two years at K-State, leading the Wildcats to the Elite-8 in his final year. He went on to average 21.0 points per game over a 14-year NBA career. That average ranks 44th all time. He was a six-time All Star and won the MVP award for the 1994-95 game.

Richmond’s number is in the rafters at Bramlage Coliseum, and he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014. Yes, he was better than you knew. He is the most accomplished basketball player ever from K-State. Go ahead. Disagree. We miss the arguments.

Track and Field

Yesterday Jon brought you the disappointing news from the national NCAA national meet yesterday that only one K-State athlete, Tejaswin Shankar, scored any points in the competition. The athletic department, as is its wont, accentuated the positive, noting that 13 Wildcats were honored as U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association All-Americans.

Football

Football season cometh, and BracketCat continued his faithful roster countdown with an introduction of preferred walk-on tight end Cameron Cotton.

Athlon Sports predicts a rebound for K-State football in 2021—enough to qualify for a bowl game, but also enough only to finish 7th in the Big 12. Go ahead and rage. We all need to start preseason exercises early this year, since the pandemic deprived us of practice time in 2020.

Millard South, Nebraska prep linebacker Gage Stenger apparently caught the eye of K-State coaches at the Lindenwood camp in St. Charles, Missouri, leading to an invitation to visit Manhattan, where he says he had a great time drilling with fellow recruits and meeting the coaching staff on Saturday.