K-State Q&A: Cartier Diarra, recruiting options and a battle of Elite Eight teams
It’s hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Kansas State won an absolutely thrilling basketball game over Xavier in the Sweet 16 round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
I was sitting directly behind Gus Johnson as he called that game, and I can still vividly recall him leaping out of his seat, pumping his fists and enthusiastically providing play by play as if he knew he was watching an instant classic. That doesn’t seem that long ago to me. But the passing time has brought some fun new details to light about that epic game, and former K-State coach Frank Martin shared several of them earlier this week.
More fun nostalgia should take place starting at 5 p.m. on Friday when CBS Sports replays the game in its entirety and former assistants Brad Underwood and Matt Figger live tweet the action right along with Martin.
Until then, I’m going to use the rest of this intro to debate a topic that myself and at least a few others have been wondering about this week.
If the Jacob Pullen/Denis Clemente team from 2009-10 could play a game against the Barry Brown/Kamau Stokes/Dean Wade team from 2017-18, who would win?
K-State fans could talk about that question at a sports bar for hours. Both teams had star players, both teams reached the Elite Eight, both teams won memorable games in the Sweet 16.
Let’s compare both starting lineups.
2009-10
Jacob Pullen - 19.3 points per game
Denis Clemente - 16.6 points
Curtis Kelly - 11.5 points
Dominique Sutton - 7.2 points
Luis Colon - 2.9 points
This team averaged 79.7 points per game with Jamar Samuels providing huge production off the bench and future stars like Rodney McGruder and Jordan Henriquez helping out occasionally. It also ranked 12th nationally in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defense efficiency ratings system. So it was good on both ends of the floor. It also liked to play fast.
2017-18
Kamau Stokes - 9.0 points per game
Barry Brown - 16.2 points
Xavier Sneed - 11.1 points
Dean Wade - 16.2 points
Makol Mawien - 6.8 points
This team averaged 71.1 points per game with Cartier Diarra as its sixth man. K-State was excellent on defense that season, ranking 33rd nationally in Ken Pom’s defensive system. So it was also good on both ends, but it played slower on offense and had a few clunker games, especially against zone.
So which team am I picking? It’s a tough call. An argument could be made that Bruce Weber had the better overall starting lineup, but Frank Martin had way more depth.
Martin’s team barely used touted recruits like Wally Judge and McGruder when they were freshmen. Weber’s team only had Mike McGuirl and Amaad Wainright to turn to if it needed bench minutes beyond Diarra.
If both teams played at their best, this hypothetical game would be a toss up. Pullen and Clemente were fun to watch and routinely led the Wildcats to 80, even 90 points in games. But Wade and Brown had some stretches where they were electric, too. They had a three-game run that season when they beat Oklahoma 87-69, TCU 73-68 and Baylor 90-83 in consecutive games that were a delight to watch.
When Stokes and Wade were both healthy, that team was impressive. We saw it again the next season when it shared a Big 12 championship with Texas Tech.
But if both teams played average or below, the odds shift toward Martin’s team. That team was bringing McGruder off the bench for a few minutes each game. It was loaded with depth.
That’s a big reason why it won 29 games and was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Weber’s team won 25 games and was a No. 9 seed in March Madness.
Pullen and Clemente had the more stable team, so I would pick them to win a three-game series. But Brown, Stokes and Wade were good enough to win an elimination game.
And now, it’s time for another K-State Q&A. Thanks, as always, for providing questions.
If anyone was surprised by Cartier Diarra’s decision to leave the K-State basketball team after his junior season, they weren’t paying attention.
They certainly weren’t reading this mailbag.
How many times did I point out that this was likely his last season in Manhattan? Probably once a week since the season began in November.
Insiders began telling me as far back as October that he was probably going to turn pro after his junior year. Then the Fran Fraschilla thing happened and Diarra got caught on camera yelling at Weber during a timeout. He was also benched and called out.
K-State coaches were also actively recruiting guards before his scholarship was technically open.
A fresh start seemed like the best option for both sides.
His departure is as Captain Obvious as they come. But entering the transfer portal was a bit of a surprise. I still think Diarra is more likely to turn pro and play overseas or in the G-League next season. He has been in college for four years and is about to graduate. I think he’s ready for the challenge.
But maybe all this quarantine stuff could make that difficult and he ends up at a different college if he doesn’t receive the NBA feedback that he desires.
K-State’s top basketball target is Donovan Williams.
The four-star guard from Lincoln, Neb., is an elite scorer and one of the top remaining unsigned players in the 2020 recruiting class. The Wildcats are going to need bucket-getters to replace the losses of Xavier Sneed and Diarra, and Williams fits the bill. He scored as many as 50 points in games this past season.
Weber attended several of his games, even if they were on the same day as a K-State game.
But Oklahoma State and Texas have also offered. Kansas, Texas A&M and Villanova are involved. There’s no guarantee William will play for the Wildcats.
If he ends up elsewhere, Keon Ellis is the next best option. He’s a junior-college wing that could come in and also provide some scoring punch next season.
The Wildcats’ best hope of returning to the NCAA Tournament next season is for incoming recruits like Selton Miguel, Nijel Pack, Luke Kasubke and maybe Williams to be difference-makers right away.
As mentioned above, they need scorers. Miguel could help in that area, as he had several big games as a high school senior. Pack and Kasubke are both good shooters. K-State didn’t have many of those this year.
None of K-State’s freshmen averaged more than 6.3 points this season, and that’s a big reason why this team wasn’t very good. Its returning players needed help that the newcomers were simply unable to provide.
Mike McGuirl is the team’s top returning scorer, and he only averaged 6.9 points this season.
I think both he and Gordon are capable of taking steps forward, and I also like what I saw from Montavious Murphy and David Sloan this year. That gives Weber a decent nucleus to build around. It looks like Gordon and McGuirl are ready for leadership roles. Still, that group is going to need help.
When Brown, Stokes and Wade helped K-State win 17 games as freshmen, they all averaged close to 10 points. The Wildcats are going to need to find three newcomers capable of doing the same next year if they want to make a run at the postseason.
Miguel looks like the best recruit to me. Not only is he a skilled player, but his talents seem to match exactly what the Wildcats need next season. I’m expecting him to take over for Xavier Sneed right away in the starting lineup.
Of course, I also thought DaJuan Gordon would tear it up as a freshman, so what do I know?
He has the most short-term value, anyway.
Over time, I think Pack, Kasubke and Davion Bradford will also be really good college players. Not sure what to expect from Seryee Lewis, but he also has potential.
Williams would be a big addition, and his value could be on par with anyone else in this recruiting class. But his value is also probably enhanced by the timing of his recruitment. Spring pledges tend to receive more hype than they would in the fall.
Todd Chavez would go back to his days of sleeping on the couch 24/7 and dream about finishing his rock opera for an entire episode.
BoJack Horseman would run out of alcohol at his swanky house and all the liquor stores in Hollywood would be closed. So he would spend an episode or two getting into trouble as he searches for more.
Diane Nguyen would do something boring, as usual
Princess Carolyn would become the best agent in town, because she knows how to work the phones so well.
Mr. Peanutbutter would accidentally discover a cure while doing some type of antics at home and finally beat Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz for Governor.
We would finally get to see all three kids that make up Vincent Adultman, as they are required to go into isolation.
I’m not opposed to teaching a class of some kind.
Journalism, video games, the complete history of Happy Gilmore ... I could see myself teaching one of those to a group of college students.
But I can tell you that I’m not cut out for the life of an elementary school teacher. Splitting my time between the K-State beat and home schooling my three kids has been stressful to say the least, even with my wife now also working from home.
The teachers from my oldest son’s school did one of those parades through the neighborhoods of Manhattan the other day. It was a cool idea. But all I could think about during the parade was how much I wish they were still at work teaching. I have always been appreciative of the work they do. But that appreciation has been enhanced over the past two weeks.
The Gambler is the only Kenny Rogers I can name off the top of my head.
How pathetic is that?
Man, I wish I could give you a long list of the best bands to listen to during a quarantine. But music is something I had to sacrifice once home school began. My kids exercise with me in the morning, and that’s when I normally listen to some tunes. With them in the room, it’s mostly all kids music.
Imagine Dragons is one of the few adult bands we can all enjoy.
But I was enjoying the new Justin Bieber album before the coronavirus pandemic became a thing. I’m also looking forward to Sam Hunt’s new album. I want to listen to The Weekend’s new album.
And, of course, Reel Big Fish and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are always somewhere on my phone.
Bruce Weber and Chris Klieman are welcome to work from my house starting tomorrow, so long as they let me eavesdrop on every phone call they make and report anything newsworthy.
Part of me wants to use the other spots on players that rarely talked to the media so I could finally ask some questions about mysterious stuff that happened over the years.
But I also have to live with these players for presumably at least two weeks, so I would rather surround myself with people I enjoyed talking to on the beat.
Jake Waters, Curry Sexton, Jordan Henriquez, Shane Southwell, Chris Harper, B.J. Finney, Taylor Braet and Arthur Brown would make for a good party.
If things don’t improve by the time football season arrives and no games are played in 2020, the NCAA will force many difficult questions.
Nobody wants to cancel football, and I’m sure conferences will only call off the season as a last resort. But, if it happens, I imagine any player that requests an extra year of eligibility will receive one.
That’s the plan for spring athletes that weren’t able to finish their seasons. I assume the NCAA would take the same approach for football players if they aren’t able to play.
How would that scenario impact recruiting? The most likely option is that any senior returning for an extra year would not count toward the team’s scholarship limit of 85. That would mean a team with 15 super seniors (let’s call them that) would be allowed to roster 100 scholarship players that season.
I think it will be interesting to see how many spring athletes elect to return to school as super seniors. Baseball players don’t get full scholarships, so some of them might not be eager to keep paying for college. Seniors in other sports might be ready to move on and do other things.
The percentage of super seniors for a sport like basketball would probably be much higher.
Hopefully, we don’t find out what actually happens, the coronavirus pandemic ends and football season happens.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Cartier Diarra, recruiting options and a battle of Elite Eight teams."