Jerome Tang’s scorching hot first year as Kansas State’s head coach continued on Tuesday, when he and the Wildcats landed four-star guard David Castillo, the No. 35 prospect in the Rivals150 for 2024. Below, Rivals has a look at what K-State is getting in the Oklahoma-based star as well as what the news means for the surging Wildcats.

WHAT K-STATE IS GETTING

Castillo has been playing elite level grassroots basketball since he was a freshman and has proven his ability to stand out on basketball’s most competitive stages, including Team USA mini camps, where he seems to shine brightest. Castillo is capable of playing either guard spot but seems more comfortable off the ball, where he’s able to get to his spots and create shots for himself in both the mid-range and at the bucket. He’s not exactly a dead-eye shooter from three-point rage, as he has a well-earned reputation for being streaky from deep. That said, Castillo has his days where shots are falling from the outside, and those are the games he tends to totally take over. He’ll need to become a better and more consistent passer if he wants to play extended minutes at the point in college, but he’s certainly capable of developing into a high-level facilitator. For now, Castillo is a big-time scoring guard that could become even more than that as his peripheral skills come along.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE WILDCATS

This commitment feels bigger than just one outstanding prospect, as it signals the compounding momentum that Tang seems to have building in Manhattan. Tang was in on a few high profile recruiting battles last cycle, before he ever coached a game, but missed out in the end. Now with an Elite 8 run in his pocket, he seems to have his program in position to win battles such as this one, which saw K-State beat out schools such as Kansas, Oklahoma State and Arkansas. The trajectory of the program under Tang has an incredibly positive trajectory, and the Wildcats feel like they could be major players for prospects ranked similarly to Castillo down the road