Five-Star Hoops Guard Maleek Thomas Has K-State Among His Top Choice
Landing five-star combination guard Maleek Thomas remains a long shot for Kansas State basketball program, but at least the Wildcats are in the game.
And that says a lot about the direction K-State is going, and the job coach Jerome Tang is doing to get attention from top recruits.
In a story on Last Word On Sports earlier this summer, the 6-foot-3 Thomas listed K-State among the teams he is considering. The others are Auburn, Pittsburgh, Arkansas, UConn, Miami, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.
UConn makes sense because of its recent success. Pittsburgh is another school that has an inside track because Thomas has played high school basketball in Pennsylvania. In his three seasons at Lincoln Park Performing Arts High School in Midland (PA), he averaged 22.7 points, 10.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists.
“For starters, with Thomas, you are never going to have to worry about him competing,” Jaime Shaw of On3 said. “Thomas is vocal, and he goes all out from start to finish. He is active on defense, and he applies pressure on offense.”
Clearly, he is the type of guard any college basketball program in the country would want.
According to Last Word On Sports, Thomas has already been offered 26 scholarships. More are likely to come.
So, for K-State to be considered on a short list is good.
Here is what Thomas has said about K-State: “They have professional coaches there. They’ve already seen every type of player and they have gotten unknown and ranked players to the NBA. Just imagine what they could do with a highly-ranked player who wants to go somewhere and shoot for beyond the stars.”
David Boyce is a contributing writer to K-State On SI. He can be reached at dboyce95@gmail.com
Follow our K-State Wildcats coverage on Facebook:
X: @KStateOnSI
DAVID BOYCE