(Photo credit: Sophia Scheller-Imagn Images)

Middle of the pack means different things in the upper echelon of power conferences and mid-majors, as might become apparent when UNC Greensboro meets Kansas State on Tuesday in Manhattan, Kan.

The Wildcats were slotted ninth by the coaches in the 16-team Big 12 Conference, where middle-of-the-pack teams can dream of making the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans were pegged to finish fifth among the 10 teams in the Southern Conference preseason coaches' poll.

Not only have the schools never met on the basketball court, but unfamiliarity also might be an issue within each team. Kansas State has just four players returning from last season's team that finished 16-17.

UNC Greensboro has three players returning from last year, when the Spartans finished 20-12 but failed to advance out of the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament.

'You either adjust or you die,' said fifth-year UNC Greensboro coach Mike Jones, who has won 20-plus games each of the past three years.

'We have diversity on our staff. We have old guys, like myself, and we have younger guys. Because we have so much diversity, we know how to adjust. I defer to them a lot.'

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang doesn't believe in the preseason polls, as his Wildcats haven't finished near their preseason prediction in any of his first three seasons in Manhattan. He believes that definitely will be the case with the 2025-26 Wildcats, too.

'I think P.J. Haggerty is the best point guard in America, and he's learning to be a great leader,' Tang said. 'I believe Abdi (Bashir Jr.) is the best shooter in the country. I believe Mobi (Ikegwuruka) is the best athlete in the country. Some of the stuff he does, normal people, even elite people, can't do.

'I love our group.'

The anchor for Tang will be Haggerty. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior guard came to Kansas State from Memphis, where he led the Tigers to a 29-6 record and an NCAA bid last season. He averaged 21.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists to earn a second-team All-America nod from the Associated Press.

Bashir led the nation in 3-pointers per game last season at Monmouth as he drilled 127 3-pointers in 33 games and averaged 20.1 points. Ikegwuruka, a 6-6 junior from Ireland, averaged 2.1 points in eight minutes per game for Kansas State last year.

--Field Level Media