Kansas State 44th in preseason KenPom rankings

It’s late October, which means it’s time for the preseason rankings from ace basketball stat analyst Ken Pomeroy. This, of course, means our number one question is: “Where’s K-State?”

Pomeroy’s rankings have K-State at #44 overall, 49th in adjusted offense, 30th in adjusted defense, and 285th in adjusted tempo. His projection for K-State’s overall record depends on how you look at it. Calculating the percentage chance of winning each game, cumulatively, Pomeroy projects a 19-11 record overall, 8-10 in the Big 12. Taking the individual projections into account, that becomes 20-10, 8-10. All 18 of K-State’s conference games are deemed to be top-100 games. Ten Big 12 games are top-50 projections based on location; all nine road games plus Kansas in Manhattan.

Unfortunately for K-State, not a single one of their guaranteed non-conference games earns this distinction. Their best non-conference opponent is expected to be Tennessee at 99th. Of course, this ignores the fact that K-State is almost certain to beat Boston College in the first game at the Barclay’s Center Classic, which would result in a meeting with #48 Maryland or #78 Richmond. So for SOS purposes, it’s absolutely critical that the Wildcats beat Boston College.

As for the rest of the Big 12, K-State is seventh in KenPom, ahead of only Texas (45), Oklahoma State (60), and TCU (66). Texas Tech is barely ahead of the Cats at 42nd. Everyone else is in the top 27: Kansas (3), West Virginia (20), Baylor (25), Iowa State (26), and Oklahoma (27).