What Casey Alexander likes about his inaugural Kansas State roster

MANHATTAN — Since Casey Alexander was named Kansas State's new basketball coach , he's spoken about his desire to find players who fit within his program. Alexander said the common denominator between all who fit in his program is that the player will put the team above all else. When recruiting the 13 players on his inaugural roster, he made it clear that he didn't want anyone who was concerned about anything other than winning , being a great teammate, and playing together as a team.

"It's just not gonna work out well for anybody if that's not their number one agenda," Alexander said. Alexander spoke for the first time since his introduction. Since then, he's added 12 new players to the Wildcats' roster, retained one from the 2025-26 team, and accumulated many travel points while living out of a Manhattan hotel room .

Among those on his 13-man roster, which could grow if he finds a practice-caliber player worth bringing in, are many who didn't exactly put up the biggest stats at their previous stops, but have enough upside that he believes can be developed to compete at a Big 12 level. "There are big differences going from one program to the next, and how somebody performed at one place isn't entirely a predictor of how it's gonna go somewhere else," Alexander said. "We wanted the right people, we wanted the right kind of guys, and we had to do it on a budget.

We were really pleased with how things turned out. " Alexander spoke of the potential in just about every player he added. JT Rock, New Mexico Rock is coming off his sophomore season after spending two years at Iowa State and then playing one at New Mexico.