Kstate

College Hoops Analyst Thinks Adding Coleman Hawkins Makes K-State A Top 25 Team

Shandel Richardson|
Mar 28, 2024; Boston, MA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Coleman Hawkins (33) reacts against the Iowa State Cyclones in the semifinals of the East Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 28, 2024; Boston, MA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Coleman Hawkins (33) reacts against the Iowa State Cyclones in the semifinals of the East Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports | Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas State Wildcats already had a talented incoming frontcourt.

It only got better with the announcement Friday of the addition of Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins from the transfer portal. Now, the Wildcats are getting some love nationally to the point of some thinking they are a Top 25 team.

During an appearance on The Field of 68 podcast, longtime college hoops writer Jeff Goodman said K-State is deserving of some preseason mention.


"He makes them a Top 25 team," Goodman said of Hawkins. "Beforehand, I think they were a fringe Top 25 team. "I'm not sure I would've even put them there and I didn't and I probably wouldn't. For me, they would've been like 30 to 40."


Last year Hawkins averaged 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Illini, which lost to eventual champion UConn in the Elite Eight. He is now paired with transfers Mobi Ikegwuruka, Baye Fall, Ugonna Onyenso, giving the Wildcats an impressive frontcourt foursome.


There is even the possibility of Hawkins receiving some minutes at small forward. It largely depends how he recovers from a knee injury that bothered him last season.


"If he's 100 percent, I mean imagine that frontline," Goodman said. "I'm not saying he's going to play 35 minutes at three but I think he can give 10,12, 15 minutes maybe at the three ... Jerome Tang has some flexibility. He's got four talented dudes to split time between the four, five and if Hawkins can play the three."

Shandel Richardson can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star. TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here