K-State Q&A: Cartier Diarra, Xavier Sneed, basketball recruiting and spring football

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

Let’s dive right into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

K-State basketball recruiting will be fascinating to monitor over the next month. The Wildcats only have one open scholarship to use at the moment, but they might end up with more.

Bruce Weber is targeting graduate transfers and 2019 recruits like he’s expecting to have multiple roster openings.

Here are a few players at the top of his wish list:

• Caleb Grill. The 6-foot-3 guard from Maize hit the recruiting market last week after previously signing with South Dakota State. He visited K-State earlier this week and Weber offered him a scholarship Thursday night. That meant a lot to him. Creighton and Iowa State also want him. He averaged 18.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists as a senior, while shooting 48 percent from the floor and 35 percent from three. He would be a nice addition for the Wildcats, especially after missing out on Asanti Price.
• Pat Andree. The 6-8 forward is looking to leave Lehigh as a graduate transfer after averaging 12.9 points and 6.2 rebounds last season. He can really shoot the ball and would be an ideal replacement for Dean Wade. But he’s got other suitors and already has a visit scheduled with North Carolina State.
• Shakur Juiston. The 6-7 big is more of a traditional forward than a stretch four. But he did some nice things at UNLV and is on the recruiting market as a grad transfer.
• Tyreek Smith. A former Texas A&M pledge, the four-star forward has told K-State Online he’s interested in the Wildcats, along with Houston.

It will also be worth monitoring, Iowa Western forward Emmanuel Ugboh, William & Mary grad transfer Justin Pierce, Atlanta shooting guard Tyrin Lawrence and former UTEP pledge Brendan Wenzel.

Who the Wilcats end up with will depend on several factors, including how many current players transfer.

Freshman guard Goodnews Kpegeol has already announced he will transfer after just three months in Manhattan. Other low-minute players outside the main rotation could also choose to look for playing time elsewhere. And there’s always a chance Xavier Sneed could turn pro, even though I think he returns as a senior.

I think Weber and his assistants are starting to pay a lot more attention to that part of the game after struggling so much against zone defenses the past two seasons and going through so many scoring lulls this year.

Here’s what Weber told me yesterday in my story looking ahead to next season:

“Shooting will be a factor. All the teams at the Final Four have guys putting it in the basket. You hope DaJuan (Gordon), Antonio (Gordon) and Montavious (Murphy) can bring some scoring ability, but we need more. If you look at our roster, we have really good athletes. If we can add a little more skill, that would be something big we will look for.”

Cartier Diarra is my pick.

He came on real strong as a sophomore and seems to have the highest ceiling of any returning player. It’s too bad he broke a finger on his shooting hand and had to miss eight Big 12 games, but he still took a nice step forward this season and seems poised to build off that as a junior.

If he can start hitting threes with some consistency, watch out.

It was also nice to hear Weber say he has targeted him as a potential leader next year.

You could also make a case for Xavier Sneed. He’s kind of been lurking in the shadows behind Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade the past three years. That won’t be the case next season. He will be the team’s alpha dog. I think he takes advantage and has a fine senior year, but he doesn’t have as much room to grow as Diarra.

That’s a big ask, considering he averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds as a junior.

I doubt he’s that active on the glass. But I could see him averaging something like 14 points and seven rebounds. Sneed may end playing a lot of power forward next season, depending on how often Weber looks to go small as Antonio Gordon and Montavious Murphy develop. So he will have more rebounding opportunites. A double-double just seems like a lot.

It’s definitely possible. If more K-State players look to transfer, Nigel Shadd and James Love seem like the most likely candidates. Neither reserve big is threatening to enter the rotation next season.

Social media is what could really help recruiting. That was an untapped resource during the Bill Snyder era, and now the Wildcats are utilizing it like crazy.

All the videos K-State is posting on its Twitter account will definitely help with recruits.

It’s impossible to watch those things and not smile. The Wildcats look like they are having tons of fun this spring, and that’s the type of thing recruits want to see.

This one was my favorite:

There are other things that will help recruiting more than social media, but it’s a nice change. No doubt.

It seems like rap and hip-hop are the most popular music genres at K-State football practice. Chris Klieman likes to play some of those songs very loudly.

K-State coaches control the playlist, but they know what their players like. They choose the music for them.

I wouldn’t advise betting anything on K-State football next season. With a new coach and several key starters to replace, the Wildcats will be too much of a wild card to invest in without first seeing them play.

Also, 6.5 seems a bit high.

Furthermore: where did you find an over/under for K-State football? I haven’t seen any online.

Well, their willingness to speak with reporters is pretty awesome. I’ve chatted with K-State football coaches so often this spring that I’m starting to run out of things to ask them.

Compare that to the previous media policy, which allowed us to speak with assistants one day per year, and that’s a stark change.

I also like the new vibe they have brought to the football team. Everything seems more relaxed and fun. No one is trying to protect personnel information like nuclear codes. Maybe that changes during the regular season, but it’s been a nice change of pace.

Are those going to come back this summer? Oh man, I better prepare myself for some of the tweets.

I bet we see something about Arizona and Arizona State potentially leaving the Pac-12 for the Big 12. I seriously doubt that happens, but the Pac 12 is going through some tough times and it’s only natural for people to wonder if some of their teams might be better off elsewhere.

Someone will also probably drop a conspiracy theory about the Big 12’s impending doom. Those seem to come along every year or so.

But I hope we see something along the lines of the mega conferences realizing they expanded too far and are looking to trade schools. The Big Ten is putting out feelers on Nebraska and Rutgers. The ACC is looking to acquire West Virginia in exchange for Louisville and a school to be named later. That would be a lot more fun than baseball trade talk.

A Big 12/ACC Challenge would be really cool. Alas, that’s not going to happen unless each conference is willing to replace one of its current scheduling alliances.

The Big 12 already has two, with the Big East and SEC. The ACC already has a high-profile challenge with the Big Ten.

Big 12 coaches wanted to add a yearly game with a Big East team to help them guarantee 20 games against power-conference competition. I don’t see them wanting to push that to 21. I also don’t see ACC coaches clamoring to play Big 12 teams every year.

But it would be neat to see some of those matchups.

This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 12:57 PM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Cartier Diarra, Xavier Sneed, basketball recruiting and spring football."