K-State Q&A: Bruce Weber’s starting 5, hoops predictions, football analysis and more
You probably have better things to do on a Tuesday afternoon than watch Chris Klieman’s weekly news conference, but if you tuned in earlier this week you may have noticed that the Kansas State football coach asked if I might be available to play tight end for the Wildcats against Iowa State.
They don’t have many healthy players at the position right now, so the Cats may need to get creative with personnel until Briley Moore recovers from a back injury and returns to the lineup.
There are certainly better options out there than me. At 6 feet and 160 pounds, I am really more of a slot receiver (OK fine, towel manager) than a tight end. But I do have a Travis Kelce jersey in my closet, and tight end is the position I play whenever I head outside for a game of catch with my oldest sons. I could catch a few passes against the Cyclones, no doubt.
But the scouting report says I am a liability as a run blocker, and the scouts tell me my time as a high school golfer and all my years as a somewhat competitive 5K/10K runner won’t do me much good on the football field.
So it’s probably best that I decline Klieman’s offer and focus my energy on things I can do at an elite level ... like answering your K-State questions.
We have got some fun ones on tap this week. So let’s dive right in. Thanks, as always, for your participation.
Basketball season is nearly upon us, and there’s no K-State football game this week. So let’s start off this mailbag with a question about fighting Bruce Weber’s Roundball Team.
Why not?
Here’s what I am expecting for a starting five on opening night against Drake:
1. Nijel Pack. He will share time at point guard with junior-college transfer Rudi Williams much like Kamau Stokes and Carlbe Ervin did a few years ago. But I think Pack will be the alpha there. He can both distribute and score. K-State coaches also made him a recruiting priority. They want him to be the guy.
2. DaJuan Gordon. He gets the nod over Selton Miguel, because he played a big role on last year’s team and has emerged as a leader. But Miguel has the higher ceiling. Gordon needs to ramp up his scoring if he wants to start all season.
3. Mike McGuirl. Would you believe he is the only player on K-State’s roster with a Big 12 championship ring? The Wildcats shared the league championship with Texas Tech just two seasons ago. As the unquestioned leader of this group, he will rarely come off the court.
4. Montavious Murphy. He was K-State’s best freshman last season and will be relied upon once again at power forward. But he will get help from Antonio Gordon and Seryee Lewis.
5. Kaosi Ezeagu. I’m expecting to see many different front-court combinations this season with Davion Bradford coming on strong as a freshman. But Ezeagu has Division I experience going back to his time at UTEP and spent part of last season practicing with the Wildcats. He should be the starter down low.
Record Prediction: 10-17.
Assuming every game gets played, which is quite a reach, the Wildcats should win the majority of their nonconference games and then struggle against veteran teams in the Big 12. Outside of Iowa State and TCU, wins could be hard to come by.
Under normal circumstances, I would expect this group to win around 15 games. But with a shortened schedule and all kinds of other challenges you can probably lower that number to around 10.
By the way, Ken Pomeroy has the Wildcats projected to go 9-18 with just three conference victories.
Well, some prominent college basketball coaches have lobbied for the NCAA Tournament to expand this season and let every single team in the country participate in it like a 357-team cage match.
K-State will make the Big Dance if that happens.
It’s hard to see it happening otherwise. There is a reason the Big 12 coaches picked this team to finish last.
But let’s say it happens. If the Wildcats legitimately win their way into the NCAA Tournament, it will be because their newcomers hit the ground running and make huge impacts this season.
Miguel has the potential to be a dynamic scorer. If he provides some scoring punch off the bench, that would take a lot of pressure off his teammates. Weber compares Pack to Stokes. If he can knock down some threes and run the offense, the Wildcats will be better than expected. But K-State will also need Ezeagu and Bradford to be X-Factors inside. This team isn’t going to have a ton of offense, but if those 7-footers can protect the rim and help on defense it’s possible the Wildcats can win some low-scoring games.
If McGuirl finds a way to play at his absolute best (think Creighton in the NCAA Tournament or K-State’s wild comeback against West Virginia) every single game, that would also probably give the Cats a shot at the postseason.
Perhaps winning on the road will also be easier than in year’s past, because of limited crowds. But Bramlage Coliseum will also lose some of its home-court advantage without a loud student section.
Let’s just say a whole lot needs to go right before anyone worries about this team getting back to the NCAA Tournament.
One thing I’ve learned during my time as a college football writer is that there is no defending the offensive coordinator when his team is losing. With the possible exception of some of those old Patrick Mahomes teams at Texas Tech that lost games 75-72, fan bases always seem to point the finger at the OC when things are going poorly.
Given that K-State has lost consecutive games in which the offense has failed to score 20 points, that means Courtney Messingham isn’t the most popular man in Manhattan right now.
I get it. The Wildcats haven’t looked great on offense since they pulled off a 21-point comeback at Oklahoma in late September with Skylar Thompson at quarterback. And Messingham called a jet sweep to one of the team’s slowest receivers against Oklahoma State. Unforgivable!
But once you get past his worst few play calls, I would say he’s done a pretty good job with the talent at his disposal.
It was a little strange that he became such a scapegoat for last week’s loss to Oklahoma State. I thought that was one of his better efforts.
K-State is getting nothing to speak of from its receivers right now and Moore is out with an injury. So defenses are focusing on stopping Deuce Vaughn out of the backfield, which doesn’t leave Will Howard with many weapons at quarterback. But Messingham used some elaborate misdirection plays that involved receivers going in motion, fake hand offs and fullbacks running routes in the flats. All that confusion opened up big running lanes for Howard on keepers, and he took advantage with 125 rushing yards.
Last week’s 58-yard pass play to Samuel Wheeler was also a thing of beauty.
Putting up 370 yards against Oklahoma State’s salty defense was better than what most other teams have done this season.
Messingham did some nice things against the Cowboys. Where he ran into trouble was when he asked the Wildcats to run straight forward plays, like a handoff to Harry Trotter out of the I-formation. Or a deep ball to anyone. To me, that shows the team needs an infusion of talent more than a new strategy.
And calling plays can’t be easy with a freshman quarterback.
Overall, I would give Messingham a C+ or B- grade this season.
That being said, the Wildcats need to figure out new ways to get their receivers involved, to get Vaughn open in space and to score touchdowns in the red zone. Offense is still king in the Big 12.
I’m sorry. You phrased your question incorrectly.
You should have asked: “Will Howard, Jake Rubley or Skylar Thompson and the offense will be better in 2021?”
The answer is probably yes, regardless of who ends up starting at quarterback next season. K-State’s offensive line will be a year older and wiser, especially if Noah Johnson returns for an extra season, Deuce Vaughn will likely have more help at running back and the receivers can’t get any worse.
Howard is improving and figures to be a better quarterback next season. But Rubley could come in and steal the show as a freshman. Or Thompson could decide to stay in school and beat them both for the job. It’s a big question mark. But with three quality options, it isn’t a huge concern, either.
The Wildcats won’t be as good at tight end unless Briley Moore stays in school. But just about every other position seems to be the same or better.
Adding some new talent at receiver is what could really change things for the better. Chabastin Taylor and Malik Knowles (when healthy) are adequate Big 12 receivers. But there is a big dropoff after those two, and the Wildcats don’t have a single game-breaker on the outside. They could really use a deep threat to open things up on offense.
Bless you for still referring to the Big 12 as the Big XII. I haven’t seen those roman numerals since Nebraska and Colorado were in the conference.
My money is on Bruce Weber here, because he already has two league championship rings in his pocket. That’s a big lead.
Bill Snyder did enough fabulous things at K-State to get the highway leading into town and the football stadium named after him ... and he only won a pair of Big 12 championships.
Climbing to the top of the Big 12 is a difficult chore in football. That’s not to say it’s easy in basketball, but one great recruiting class can make you a contender on the hardwood. You need several great recruiting classes on the gridiron.
There’s also more competition. Yes, KU is a basketball juggernaut and Baylor/Texas/Texas Tech are occasionally really good. But hoops simply isn’t a priority for most Big 12 teams the way it is in football. You can also share championships in basketball, which makes the task even more doable.
I think it’s very possible that Klieman wins one Big 12 championship at K-State, perhaps even several. I like his odds of winning more rings than Weber from this point on, but
Wyatt Hubert is the most likely candidate, but he is only a junior and will need to forgo his final year of college eligibility to get drafted in 2021.
The raspberry bean dip at Taco Lucha/So Long Saloon is the winner. That stuff never disappoints. I could sure go for some of that and a Pirate Nancy this weekend.
But I also like the sampler platter of queso, guacamole and salsa at Coco Bolo’s. Just make sure to eat the queso first.
One other new candidate: the salad at Nico’s Little Italy.
Bryson DeChambeau is my pick, even after a mediocre opening round.
There isn’t a whole lot of trouble to hit your ball into at Augusta National, which gives long hitters a big advantage at The Masters. And DeChambeau (and his Ivan Drago muscles) is the longest hitter out there.
Cam Champ also hits the ball a ton, and I liked covering him at the Wichita Open a few years ago. So maybe him?
But it would be awesome if someone like Phil Mickelson could win another green jacket. He’s probably my favorite golfer, and it would be a lot of fun to see him pull a Jack Nicklaus and win a major in his 50s.
It’s been hard for me to like a lot of the newest generation of pro golfers. When I was young and playing on the junior circuit, I really liked Greg Norman, Tom Watson, Corey Pavin, Fred Couples and John Daly.
As I got older, I tended to root for golfers that used to lap me on the youth circuit. Any time Hunter Mahan won a PGA event I used it as a golden opportunity to tell the story of how I once finished ahead of him at a Dallas tournament back in 2000, while conveniently leaving out the part about both of us missing the cut.
Now, Gary Woodland is probably my favorite golfer, because I like the way he plays and he’s from Kansas.
The number was at 76 as of Wednesday afternoon, according to numbers released by local health officials.
In other words, a litttle more than half of the K-State football team has tested positive for COVID-19.
My guess is a new volleyball arena will take priority, but it really depends on how quickly K-State officials can raise funds for those projects and what the school’s boosters would prefer to throw money at first.
From what I’ve heard, both projects have been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a good thing the Wildcats secured financing for their ongoing football stadium renovations before anyone had heard of COVID-19.
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 11:21 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Bruce Weber’s starting 5, hoops predictions, football analysis and more."