Kansas State basketball has already been hit by the transfer portal by losing three players. The Wildcats lost two-year starter Cam Carter, who was the first Wildcats to enter the portal, young and talented freshman Dorian Finister, and big man Jerrell Colbert.
While some might say losing Finister and Colbert is not that bad because they did not play a lot, they are right in the number of minutes they played, but they were young guys that Tang recruited. Tang has shown he knows how to bring transfers in, but to build his program, he needs young guys.
Well, Tang has some of that young talent already. Granted he didn't recruit this guy out of high school, but as mentioned earlier, Tang is great at getting transfers. The Wildcats landed their first transfer of the 2024 offseason with Dug McDaniel coming in from Michigan.
The wait over💜💜💜 #Committed pic.twitter.com/8aItaCoCDf
— Dug McDaniel (@AyooFlyy) April 3, 2024
McDaniel spent two seasons with the Wolverines as a point guard. In his freshman season, McDaniel played in 34 games, starting 26 of them averaging 8.6 points per game, 3.6 assists per game, and 3.1 rebounds per game. In his second season, McDaniel took a huge step forward averaging 16.3 points per game, 4.7 assists per game, and 3.7 rebounds per game.
There is one concerning thing about McDaniel's time at Michigan merits watching, McDaniel was suspended for six away games due to academic issues and working to get them up to standards. He was allowed to dress for home games, and had to stay in Ann Arbor during away games to work on his studies.
While he shows great numbers on the court, McDaniel will still need to keep his academics in line, but Tang has probably already had that conversation with him. Tang and assistant coach Jareem Dowling made the trip up to Ann Arbor to meet with McDaniel and his family not long after he entered the portal. He then made the trip to Manhattan and it was the relationship he made with Tang that sealed the deal.
McDaniel is a talented point guard and that is a position open on this Kansas State team with Tylor Perry graduating. This transfer could be a match made in heaven for McDaniel and the Wildcats, especially with McDaniel's ability to score. He could pair well with Arthur Kaluma and his ability to score from long range.