Three-star DB. Wisdom Fode has upside; K-State offers
Kansas State was the first to offer a promising Iowa talent.
Wisdom Fode, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound defensive back for Des Moines (Iowa) North, is an interesting prospect who played his first season of football in the fall but had tremendous promise.
Kansas State made the initial move in his recruiting, offering him in January and bringing him to campus in February.
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March Madness 2024: Auburn’s Bruce Pearl predicts a deep NCAA Tournament run for the SEC.
The SEC frequently produces many of college basketball’s best teams, but the conference’s regular-season dominance hasn’t translated into much success in the national title race of late. The 2012 Kentucky Wildcats are the league’s last national champions, while John Calipari’s 2014 team was the last to reach the championship game. However, in a year when the SEC might send up to eight teams to the NCAA Tournament, and with so much top offense in the conference, the upcoming playoffs may produce a breakthrough.
During the conference tournament, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl stated that the SEC is ready for a successful trip to the Big Dance, citing the league’s coaching staffs and several powerful offenses as attributes favorable to strong postseason runs.
“I think our league is prepared to make a run in March,” Pearl said after defeating South Carolina 86-55. “Many of us are. You witnessed a Mississippi State squad dominate a possible one-seed in Tennessee from tip to finish. They placed eighth in our league. Arkansas defeated Duke at home and ended 10th in our conference.
The SEC has seven teams in CBS Sports’ predicted March Madness bracket (plus Texas A&M on the bubble), the second-most in a single league. Despite their loss in the league quarterfinals, Tennessee remains a genuine candidate for the No. 1 seed. Three SEC teams are in the top ten of the NET rankings. All of this to imply that the league has as many viable national title contenders as any.
“I don’t know what the analytics say, but there are, like, four or five teams scoring 80 or above, right?” she said. “Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama have enormous offensive firepower. We’re one of the teams that scores above 80. And yet, we’re the most athletic squad in the country.
During the regular season, several of the SEC’s top teams saw substantial volatility due to their uptempo style of play. Kentucky, for example, fought with the nation’s top teams at its best but also displaying a low floor with defeats to UNC Wilmington.
Inconsistency is rarely a good sign for teams looking to make lengthy playoff runs, but SEC clubs have high ceilings and are capable of reaching the Final Four and beyond.
