Kansas State needs three more basketball transfers. Who will Jerome Tang target next?

Some Kansas State basketball fans are understandably concerned that the calendar has flipped to June and the Wildcats only have 10 scholarship players on campus for the start of summer workouts.

Finding quality high school prospects and college transfers can be an adventure this late in any recruiting cycle, especially when you are on the hunt for three new impact players.

But this is not new territory for Jerome Tang.

Remember, the K-State basketball roster was also far from complete at this time last year. Back then, before Tang had coached his first game in a lavender pullover, the Wildcats were also holding steady with exactly 10 scholarship players instead of 13. Little was expected of the team last June. Then Tang landed Desi Sills from Arkansas State, Keyontae Johnson from Florida and Anthony Thomas from junior college.

Tang’s first K-State roster wasn’t finalized until October when Sills was cleared to enroll, but the Wildcats added enough late talent to win 26 games, finish third in the Big 12 standings and advance all the way to the Elite Eight once March Madness got underway.

For those reasons, Tang doesn’t seem worried about K-State’s dearth of new transfer additions even though he is still hoping to add three veteran contributors.

“As long as we have everyone here in August for the start of school we should be fine,” Tang said in a recent interview. “But Desi didn’t come until October last year and things worked out pretty well for us.”

Believe it or not, more and more schools are beginning to hold scholarship spots open for late additions. A few other college basketball teams that also have three roster holes to fill include: Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami, North Carolina and Texas.

Maybe this is becoming the new normal?

In any case, Tang is hopeful that K-State can repeat what it accomplished last summer when it landed Sills (June 15), Johnson (August 20) and Thomas (August 23) during the hottest months of the year.

Still, the roster would already be set in a perfect world.

Even though Tang and his assistant coaches treat the transfer portal more like a marathon than a sprint, they have missed out on several notable players this cycles.

K-State found pay dirt early on when it landed dynamic guard Tylor Perry from North Texas, but it has come up empty since then. The Wildcats have been linked to Baylor guard LJ Cryer, Houston wing Tramon Mark, Kansas forward Ernest Udeh, St. John’s wing David Jones, Tennessee big man Olivier Nkamhoua and Oral Roberts guard Max Abmas ... among others.

They all decided to transfer elsewhere.

It is unclear which players Tang will prioritize next out of the transfer portal, but he has made it clear that he would like to add another veteran guard and a big man who are both capable of making an immediate impact. He has no position in mind for the third spot.

But Creighton transfer Arthur Kaluma is worth keeping an eye on. The 6-foot-8 and 205-pound power forward averaged 11.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists while helping the Blue Jays reach the Elite Eight last season. K-State is reportedly in the mix for him along with Alabama, Baylor, Kentucky and Texas Tech.

The Wildcats could perhaps offer him the biggest role next season as they look to replace Ismael Massoud and Johnson in their frontcourt. But landing Kaluma won’t be an easy task for any team.

Many other transfers remain uncommitted. And graduate transfers are still free to enter the portal if they choose to do so.

It may be late in the recruiting process, but Tang still has lots of options.