By Toby Hammes

Long before Kansas State men’s basketball hit the floor at Bramlage Coliseum for the first time this season, the success, or lack thereof, of the “Manhattan Project” would loom beyond the Little Apple.

It’s been declared a new age of college athletics countless times across the country with the explosion of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals, coupled with looser transfer portal restrictions.

Many have compared the new landscape of collegiate sports to the free agency of professional leagues.

“The lack of leadership at the NCAA and some of the decisions that were made with people way above my pay grade have put us in a vacuum where we have no direction, and we’ve thrust all this upon these young kids,” K-State head coach Jerome Tang said following Tuesday’s three-point loss to Drake in overtime in the Wildcat Classic game held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

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