Martin and K-State show signs of growing up
OMAHA., Neb. | Frank Martin isn’t ready to acknowledge what was obvious Thursday night watching the Kansas State Wildcats dismantle Southern California 80-67.
In leading the Wildcats to their first NCAA Tournament victory in 20 years, K-State’s first-year coach showed his first signs of maturity.
Having led his team onto the NCAA bubble with an angry, divisive coaching style he thought was intense and a second-half-of-the-season swoon in which K-State lost seven of 12 games, Martin turned calm, positive and high energy in his Big Dance debut.
The result was a breathtaking performance that left you no choice but to believe the Wildcats are capable of sticking around this tournament for an extended period. A team that developed a reputation for loafing and bickering with the refs, their opponents and occasionally each other concentrated on just one thing Thursday night: following the game plan Martin and his coaching staff put together.
“We just stopped the complaining,” freshman forward Bill Walker explained. “We stopped wishing for things and just went out there and made things happen. Guys want to win, and we just all bought into Frank’s going real hard in practice these last two practices. It’s changed the way we play. It’s brought an intensity, and it’s given us new life.”
Man, it made the Wildcats fun to watch. They outhustled, outmuscled and out-thought the Trojans, winning the race to every loose ball and rebound and keeping their composure every time adversity struck.
When asked to elaborate on the new, positive energy that permeated K-State’s roster and performance, Martin became defensive and insecure. He blamed the Wildcats’ poor finish in the regular season and Big 12 tournament flameout on a midseason injury to Dominique Sutton, the death of Clent Stewart’s mom and the multiple-game suspension of Andre Gilbert.
“I hear all this about our team having a slide the second half of the year,” Martin responded when I asked him about his positive bench demeanor on Thursday. “…. We had three starters out for 10 practices right in the middle of conference season. Any team in the country that loses three starters in the middle of conference play with seven freshmen and nine first-year guys, they’re going to have to slide a little bit because of the lack of consistency in practice.
“That’s just going to happen. I don’t care. You name the team.”
I don’t have any interest in hammering Frank Martin today. He coached a wonderful basketball game Thursday night and gave a partial repayment to school president Jon Wefald on the giant flyer K-State took on an unproven, inexperienced college assistant.
Young coaches should mature, evolve and adjust during their initial season. If Martin kept repeating the same mistake over and over again, he’d deserve to be fired. His subtle adjustment in attitude paid huge dividends. The confidence he showed in his players by dialing back his sideline ranting and raving was rewarded by his players renewed confidence in themselves.
“You know,” Martin said, “I worked for a guy, Bob Huggins, and he had one of the greatest quotes I’ve ever heard: ‘If the players play better, then I can be more positive.’”
Nope. Martin was different from the opening tip on Thursday. He actually sat on the bench for nearly the first 2 minutes of the game. He didn’t verbally shred any of players until the second half when USC erased a double-digit deficit and took a brief one-point lead. Martin exploded on Stewart, who was stripped of the ball by O.J. Mayo and then fouled Mayo, setting up a three-point play.
