K-State Q&A: Another way to explain the Wildcats’ basketball woes, football and more
The Kansas State basketball team needs a victory at Texas Saturday to avoid its worst start since the early Jim Wooldridge era, and we probably should have seen this coming.
I didn’t (feel free to laugh at my preseason predictions) and neither did most K-State fans, but that’s probably because we spent too much time looking at the positives of this roster and not enough time analyzing the negatives.
There’s a reason the Big 12 coaches voted the Wildcats ninth in the preseason poll. They had it right. K-State appears locked in a season-long battle with Iowa State and Texas to avoid last place in the conference standings.
How did this happen? I have spent a lot of time writing about some of the issues, including veteran players struggling to adjust to starring roles, newcomers needing time to find their place and some questionable coaching decisions. But the more I think about it, K-State’s current problems were years in the making.
They started on the recruiting trail, where it’s now clear that Bruce Weber didn’t get enough done between the sensational class of 2015 (Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes, Dean Wade) and the encouraging class of 2019 (Antonio Gordon, Montavious Murphy, DaJuan Gordon, David Sloan).
Here is a look at Weber’s three recruiting classes during that time:
2016 – Brian Patrick, Cartier Diarra, Xavier Sneed, James Love. National rank: 71.
2017 – Levi Stockard, Nigel Shadd, Mike McGuirl, Makol Mawien, Mawdo Sallah, Amaad Wainright. National rank: 92.
2018 – Goodnews Kpegeol, Austin Trice, Shaun Williams. National rank: 101.
K-State recruited a full roster of 13 scholarship players during that span. Those recruiting classes yielded two quality Big 12 players (Diarra, Sneed), two solid contributors (Mawien, McGuirl), a serviceable reserve (Stockard), two garbage-time bigs (Love, Shadd) and six transfers (Patrick, Sallah, Wainright, Kpegeol, Trice, Williams).
That’s … not good.
Weber entered this season with just six players he trusts enough to play meaningful minutes, and one of them has already left the team. He has said at several times that he wishes he didn’t have to rely so heavily on freshmen, but he can only blame himself for that.
There was no other option for this team. Only nine players average more than three minutes per game.
Weber has earned patience from the K-State fan base (at least in terms of hot-seat talk) after winning so many games the past three seasons. He also has a top 25 class coming in next season, so it seems like Weber has found his recruiting groove. Brighter days are likely on the horizon. But a string of poor recruiting classes put this team in its current rebuild mode.
And with that, it’s time for another K-State Q&A. Let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
I’m not ruling out the possibility of K-State turning things around and finishing near the middle of the pack in the Big 12, as there is talent and grit on this team.
Xavier Sneed has found his scoring touch, DaJuan Gordon is starting to string good games together and no one is giving up. They aren’t that far away from being 2-0 in conference play instead of 0-2.
This is very different from Bruce Weber’s last losing season, when the locker room was obviously fractured midway through 2014-15 when Marcus Foster was a sophomore. I will be surprised if this team doesn’t fight until the final game.
But I’m not so sure this team finishes with a better record than that one. That team started 7-7 and then won four straight games before finishing conference play 8-10. That’s probably the absolute best-case scenario for this team.
Ken Pomeroy only favors the Wildcats in three more games and has them finishing 5-13 in league play.
The Texas game on Saturday will be important, because K-State’s next three games are against Texas Tech, West Virginia and Kansas. A loss in Austin brings an 0-6 start into play.
It’s all about the future for K-State basketball fans, which means encouraging seasons from Antonio Gordon, Montavious Murphy and DaJuan Gordon should be at the top of their wish list.
DaJuan Gordon hasn’t been as good as some expected him to be, but he is starting to carve out a rule as a solid bench contributor. If he can build on that and start making a few three-pointers, that will be big for the Wildcats moving forward.
I really like what I have seen from Antonio Gordon and Murphy, but they have both struggled to stay healthy. If that changes and Antonio Gordon develops as a defender while Murphy matures as a scorer, that will really help K-State’s front court.
A few other things for fans to root for in a disappointing season:
- Cartier Diarra learns how to lead as a point guard.
- David Sloan improves on defense.
- Mike McGuirl gets more involved on offense.
- Levi Stockard has another 17-point game.
- James Love and Nigel Shadd contribute something.
If Xavier Sneed can sustain his current level of play and the rest of the K-State roster evelates its production it’s possible the Wildcats become a more dangerous team as the season progresses and make some noise at the Big 12 Tournament like Baylor, Oklahoma State and West Virginia have done in the past.
The only way I see David Sloan getting a major boost in minutes is if he evolves into a defensive stopper.
Bruce Weber has openly said that Sloan doesn’t play with enough energy in practice or defend well enough in games to deserve a starting spot. Until that changes, he will continue to come off the bench.
Sloan only saw the court against TCU when Diarra was in foul trouble.
I agree with you that K-State needs to utilize Sloan more than it currently is. Until Mike McGuirl regains his shooting touch, I would start Sloan at point guard and Diarra at shooting guard. Weber likes McGuirl for his three-point shooting and defense, but he has only scored a total of three points in the Wildcats’ past two games.
Sloan isn’t great on defense and he didn’t even try to box out TCU center Kevin Samuel with the game on the line earlier this week. Still, he is the best distributor on the team and isn’t afraid to make a big shot. I think he’s worth a look.
I don’t think aggression and passion are the problems with K-State’s big men. They are just limited in what they can down low, so playing to their strengths is important.
Makol Mawien is having a very disappointing season, but his teammates are somewhat to blame. How many times have we seen Cartier Diarra send a bounce pass his way or try to hit him on a back-door cut to the basket, only for the ball to go straight out of hands. Mawien has some skills, but he’s not a future tight end. He needs to post up and have his feet set before he can make any kind of move to the basket.
Levi Stockard is the same way. He looked great scoring 17 points against Saint Louis, but he has done little in other games. He has some mid-range skill. He needs to focus on that and forget the rest.
It will be interesting to see how K-State’s front court changes after Davion Bradford arrives next season. Weber has never coached a touted back-to-basket five with the Wildcats. He could bring a lot to the table.
After making a few trips to Memphis over the years, I can confidently say there is nothing special about their barbecue.
I want to like it. They put in effort and are proud of the meat they smoke. Some people think it’s the best in the world. But it’s not for me.
I haven eaten at Corky’s, B.B. King’s, Germantown Commissary, Rendezvous, Central BBQ, Intersate and Silky O’ Sullivan’s. Of all those places, Central was probably the best. But it also had a long line and the payoff wasn’t exactly worth the wait like it is at Joe’s in Kansas City or Franklin’s in Austin.
If you go anywhere in Memphis, you want to stick to pork and stay away from brisket. Some places offer a catfish-and-ribs combo, which is fun. The cole slaw is also pretty tasty at most spots. You can find some OK barbecue in Memphis. I kept eating it, mostly because people on Twitter kept telling me they knew of a better spot. None of it was horrible. But none of it had much smokey flavor or melted in your mouth. Anyone with a home smoker could do the same.
I would put Memphis well behind Kansas City and Austin on my barbecue power rankings.
Speaking of which, I am pumped to eat some Austin brisket this weekend.
Give me Bruce Weber here.
I would love to see what he could do with the K-State football team. Well, not really. But it would probably be entertaining for a while.
The reason I side with Weber is because he watches a ton of sports. He throws baseball and football references into a lot of his press conferences. He also attends just about every home football game and grew up liking the Green Bay Packers. He knows a little about the gridiron.
I’m not sure we can say the same with Chris Klieman when it comes to basketball. Does he watch college basketball or the NBA in his spare time? I kind of doubt it.
Drafted: zero.
Undrafted free agents: three.
Rookie camp invites: four.
It doesn’t matter how many times I answer this question, people keep asking it. K-State fans really love their NFL Draft streak.
Here’s your yearly reminder to thank Bryce Brown for playing two games in a Wildcats uniform in 2011 and for Andy Reid for drafting him when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Another way to explain the Wildcats’ basketball woes, football and more."