Why Bruce Weber will likely save K-State’s open scholarship for 2021 recruiting cycle
The past few months have gone by slowly for Kansas State basketball coach Bruce Weber, but things are starting to get busy in his world.
With Big 12 teams expected to resume basketball workouts on July 6, he is helping to coordinate the safe return of K-State players to campus and he is creating a plan that will allow the Wildcats to make the most of their first days together after a long time apart because of the coronavirus pandemic. He is also calling his players individually to show his support for them and to speak about prominent issues like ending racism.
These are unprecedented times for all college basketball coaches. Weber’s path to the 2020-21 basketball season may feel even stranger than some because the Wildcats only return four players from a team that won 11 games and finished last in the Big 12 standings last year. He will hit the big red rest button with eight newcomers next season. K-State has never experienced more roster turnover on his watch.
For that reason, Weber isn’t eager to add any more new faces to the mix. The Wildcats have kept one scholarship open all spring, and odds are it will go unused during this recruiting cycle.
“We are just kind of waiting to see if something pops up here,” Weber said in a phone interview. “We aren’t in a rush. We have so many new guys, and if you bring someone else in it’s going to be hard to keep him happy and it’s probably not worth it.”
K-State coaches haven’t completely given up on the idea of bringing in a full roster of 13 scholarship players next season, but it sounds like they are only interested in a special type of prospect for this recruiting cycle.
Mike McGuirl will be the only senior on K-State’s roster next season. So there are advantages to waiting and using multiple scholarships to recruit with during the 2021 cycle, instead of adding just one new player to that class. There also aren’t many desirable recruits left that could help immediately next season.
K-State’s need for an extra body decreased last week when UTEP transfer Kaosi Ezeagu received a NCAA waiver that made him eligible to play in every game next year.
Should Weber pursue an additional 2020 recruit, he said he would be most interested in a transfer.
“If it makes sense we will try it out,” Weber said. “I would rather have somebody who has to sit out, just because of the numbers and stuff. It’s obviously hard to deal with injuries. We have had enough of those. But you can’t keep 13 happy and even 12 is hard. Eleven is your probably your ideal number, especially if you can add some walk-ons and stay healthy.”
Weber said he is hoping to add a few new walk-ons to K-State’s active roster.
That means K-State will likely look to bounce back from a disappointing season with the roster it currently has in place.
Sophomores DaJuan Gordon, Montavious Murphy and Antonio Gordon will join McGuirl as returning contributors. Weber will lean on them to provide both points and leadership.
But they will need help from K-State’s newcomers. Nijel Pack and Rudi Williams will take over at point guard, Selton Miguel and Luke Kasubke will provide help on the wing, Davion Bradford and Seryee Lewis and Carlton Linguard will join Ezeagu inside.
K-State has the roster space to bring in one more new player, but that isn’t currently a priority.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Why Bruce Weber will likely save K-State’s open scholarship for 2021 recruiting cycle."