In his final press conference of the season before heading out to recruit, Kansas State men’s basketball head coach Jerome Tang said he and forward Ismael Massoud didn’t see the rising senior’s role next year the same way.
Massoud, who transferred to K-State from Wake Forest prior to the 2021-22 season, was one of two players who made the transition from Bruce Weber to Tang.
He announced his transfer from the program on March 29 after a conversation with Tang about the outlook for Massoud’s final year of collegiate basketball in the week following K-State’s run to the Elite Eight.
“I just asked him, ‘What does success look like for you in this upcoming year?’” Tang said. “And he told me what he was looking for. And I told him what my plans were for the team and what I want to look like and what he wanted and what I felt, honestly, that we could provide for him wasn’t close or the same. The worst thing you can do is tell some kid you’re going to do something for him, especially in that last year, and then not be able to provide that. He’s been so good to us and for us this past year. I want him to have every opportunity to have the success in his last year that he wants to have.”
In Massoud’s first season as a Wildcat, he started 18 of the 31 games he played, averaging 6.8 points in 24.3 minutes per game. He shot 36% from the field, including 33% from behind the arc.
However, under Tang, those minutes dwindled to just 15.3 per game, and he never managed to crack the starting lineup.
After meeting with coaches midway through the season, Massoud found his way into more of an offensive specialist role. He came in to shoot 3’s but was often subbed out during important defensive possessions.
In Tang’s ideal world, he said he’d like to have someone with Massoud’s scoring acumen who also can be a presence defensively. And according to Tang, in Massoud’s ideal world, he’d like to be a major contributor for a team. For better or for worse, Tang just didn’t see those two worlds overlapping next season.
“He wants to play 25 to 30 minutes a game, and we want to win the last game (of the season), and I don’t know how those two could fit together,” Tang said. “And so I just was very honest with him. And he was honest with me what he wanted, and I told him, ‘Look, if you go out there and you don’t feel like people are telling you the truth, if you can’t get what you want out there at the level you want it, let’s revisit this conversation again.’ And he was like, ‘You won’t hold it against me?’ And I said, ‘No, no, I won’t hold it against you. But understand that I may have to call you and say I’ve taken someone else and we may not be able to revisit this conversation,’ and he understands that.”
Massoud has previously stated he initially struggled to find his role on the team under Tang.
“For me, it just took a little longer to understand what the coaching staff wanted from me,” Massoud said in a press conference on March 24. “And at times it was frustrating. ... At first, I didn’t really want to have those conversations because it was hard conversations to have. But I realized this team was winning, and just I wanted to be a part of it. And I knew I could help, and I knew I could play a big part for this team.”
As for the other seven returning scholarship players (Nae’Qwan Tomlin, David N’Guessan, Cam Carter, Dorian Finister, Anthony Thomas, Jerrell Colbert and Taj Manning) Tang said he and his staff havenn’t gotten a chance to have similar conversations with them, but the Wildcat head coach isn’t expecting much more movement.
“I feel pretty good about most of them,” Tang said. “We’re going to have conversations with all the guys. ... We all have plans. But playing time, is always determined by players, not coaches. And so, our staff’s job and my job is to bring in guys who are going to put the returners on the bench. And their job is to make sure that that doesn’t happen, because they have a head start. If they’re OK with that, and the competition of it, we’re going to be fine. And for some guys, they may not be OK with it, and we’re going to be fine.”
Tang and his staff have three scholarships to give, and they’re hitting the transfer portal hard. The Naismith Coach of the Year has said that he wants two guards who have played 90 or more games and a true center who’s also athletic enough to run the floor. But, with the wind of last season’s success blowing behind them, the K-State staff already has garnered plenty of interest.
However, Tang plans to give the portal a little more time to fill before making any final decisions.
“There’s a lot of really good momentum right now,” Tang said. “People are excited. You can get involved with pretty much anybody you want to get involved with. But with that, you’ve got to make sure that you that you pay attention to what’s important to make it continue to go in the right direction. Hopefully, we will be able to recruit and have the same type of kids, just with little more talent.”
