Belmont’s head coach is now in Manhattan, and his star player, Tyler Lundblade, just hit the transfer portal. I have no idea whether he is interested in playing at Kansas State; however, it stands to reason he might be interested in Casey Alexander’s offense, given his success thus far. That offense now resides in Manhattan, Kansas, which should at least make the Wildcats a contender for his services.
Tyler Lundblade
As the tweet (it’s still a tweet to me, dang it) mentions, Lundblade was MVC Player of the Year in 2026. He averaged 16 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and hit 41% of his 283 3-point attempts. Believe it or not, that’s a step back from his 2025 3-point shooting when he hit 48% of his 216 attempts. Needless to say, he’ll be one of, if not THE best, shooters in the portal.
Lundblade started his basketball career at SMU as a legacy walk-on (his dad played for SMU in the early 80’s) in the 2021 – ‘22 season. He earned a scholarship midway through the season, but maintained his redshirt, and transferred across town to TCU.
He didn’t see much playing time on the other side of Dallas either. Playing in 15 games total over the next two seasons before pulling the plug on the state of Texas and heading east to Tennessee to play for Coach Alexander at Belmont.
He hit the ground running in his first season at Belmont. 47% from a 3-point range was good for fifth nationally. His 70.9 true shooting percentage was 2nd in the nation, and his effective field goal percentage of 68.1 was fourth nationally. Lundblade was named First Team All-MVC in what was essentially his first real season of college basketball.
He wasn’t quite as efficient in 2026 because of his increased shot volume. His 59.7% effective field goal percentage was still 124th nationally, and his 64% true shooting percentage was 73rd nationally. He was also 2nd nationally in free-throw percentage, hit 93% of his 90 attempts.
No one is going to confuse him for a lockdown defender, but he’s a serviceable wing defender in Belmont’s scheme, and, once again, he’s the best shooter available in the portal. I assume he’ll have a long list of options, but I’m not sure he’s going to find the freedom to play his game, as he will in Coach Alexander’s familiar system. He would be smart to learn from fellow Belmont transfer Cade Tyson, who wasted a year on the bench at North Carolina because he didn’t fit what they were looking for in terms of athleticism, despite recruiting him. He transferred to Minnesota for his last season of eligibility and averaged 19.6 points and 5.4 rebounds a game for the Gophers.
Lundblade doesn’t have a year to waste on a blue-blood bench. He’s got one season to prove his mettle at the highest level of college basketball, and I can’t personally think of a better fit than Kansas State (I’m totally not biased). If the Wildcats can land his services, it would be a huge step in the right direction for the initial season of the Alexander Era.
