K-State Q&A: No bowl game, signing day reaction, Bruce Weber and hoops resurgence
At this time last week, I led K-State Q&A with some words about Bruce Weber’s basketball team suffering the worst loss in the history of Bramlage Coliseum.
So, seven days later, I will naturally begin this week’s mailbag with a few paragraphs on why that defeat against Fort Hays State (humiliating as it was) could maybe, possibly, perhaps one day be viewed as a weird blessing in disguise.
Weber already kind of called it that following the Wildcats’ recent run of victories against Milwaukee and Iowa State, saying the loss helped the team “come together” and he was fine taking “all the criticism and gruff” that followed so long as K-State continues to improve.
I’m not here to proclaim K-State men’s basketball “is back” like Joe Tessitore famously once did with Texas football. The teams the Wildcats have beaten this year have a cumulative record of 4-8. Maybe this upswing comes crashing down against stronger competition. But they have looked like a much better, and exciting, team since Fort Hays (as Weber put it) served them a big slice of “humble pie.”
The biggest problem I had with K-State basketball before that loss was that Weber seemed unwilling to trust his youngest and best players. Nijel Pack was the only freshman that started in any of the first four games, while Selton Miguel and Davion Bradford were mostly wasted on the bench behind underachieving older players.
It doesn’t do you much good to bring in a highly touted freshman class if you’re not going to play them.
Weber seemed to realize that at some point during the Fort Hays loss when injuries to Kaosi Ezeagu and Montavious Murphy forced his hand. He put Bradford, Pack and Miguel on the floor together in a four-guard lineup, and that was the only time K-State didn’t look hopeless.
He rolled with all three of them again vs. Milwaukee, and they combined for 47 of the team’s 76 points. He kept them together again vs. Iowa State and they combined for 30 of the team’s 74 points.
Surrounding them with DaJuan Gordon and Mike McGuirl has totally changed this team’s outlook. Add on some nice contributions from junior-college transfers Carlton Linguard and Rudi Williams, and this team is suddenly showing encouraging signs in both the short and long term.
Bradford looks incredible in the middle of K-State’s small lineup. He’s probably already the most offensively gifted true post player Weber has coached in Manhattan.
Miguel is beating defenders off the dribble and starting to look like a bucket-getter.
Pack is contributing solid numbers, even though he’s in a bit of a shooting slump.
K-State should have been starting all three from Game 1. I’m not sure what the rest of the season holds, but things seem a whole lot brighter now that they are in the lineup following that ugly but potentially not so horrible loss to Fort Hays.
And with that, let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
I see K-State beating Jacksonville and Omaha to even its record before the end of the year.
Does that qualify as “riding the momentum wave?”
Like I mentioned above, I genuinely like the improvements K-State has made over the past week. Ken Pomeroy currently projects the Wildcats to win seven games this season, and I now think they exceed that total.
I even think they’ve got an outside chance against Baylor on Saturday. There’s no better time to play the nation’s No. 2 ranked team than when the Bears are coming off a COVID pause. I don’t know that I have the courage to actually predict an upset, but I’m here to say it’s not impossible.
Mostly likely, K-State will lose to Baylor and then bounce back with wins over Jacksonville and Omaha. After that, it’s 17 conference games and one home date against Texas A&M.
So the Wildcats really need to ride their current “momentum wave” for as long as they can before teams like Milwaukee and Iowa State disappear from the schedule.
Bruce Weber participating in a virtual handshake line is most definitely a late addition to the Best of 2020 list.
It truly was something.
No.
Benching Bradford and inserting Ezeagu back into the starting lineup would be like benching Rich Gannon for Elvis Grbac, which sadly happened once upon a time.
Is that too old of a reference? Perhaps I should have compared it to benching Dak Prescott for Tony Romo or maybe even Jalen Hurts for Carson Wentz (sorry Chris Klieman).
Either way, you get the point.
Losing your starting spot because of injury is never a pleasant experience for the injured player, but it’s a part of sports. Ezeagu showed some nice things early on this season, especially as a shot-blocker. And there’s no reason why he can’t continue to do things as a reserve when he returns after Christmas.
But Bradford is much quicker, more athletic and a better finisher on offense. He’s also a better fit for the four-guard lineup K-State is currently running. And he’s making 65.4% of his shots. That’s better than Udoka Azubuike when he was a freshman, if you didn’t read my story about him earlier this week.
Taking Bradford out of the lineup would be coaching malpractice.
But Ezeagu and Murphy will get healthy at some point. It will be interesting to see how Weber eases them back into action.
You must not be paying attention.
K-State is currently in first place of the conference standings.
Naughty: The College Football Playoff selection committee. It’s long past time to expand beyond four teams, reward auto-bids to conference champions and quit relying on them to judge teams like they’re competing in a beauty pageant. I’m not too keen on the coronavirus, Zoom press conferences or home school, either.
Nice: Safe sporting events during a pandemic, Deuce Vaughn runs to the outside, Davion Bradford lob dunks, winter beers, Christmas movies, unusually warm weather and Manhattan public schools opening five days per week next semester.
Kansas State’s early signing didn’t wow any recruiting experts outside of Jake Rubley, but I like the look of this group.
Here are the five players I am highest on:
1. Jake Rubley. It will be interesting to see who starts at quarterback next season, especially if Skylar Thompson returns. But Rubley will be a factor at that position.
2. Devrin Weathers. The Wildcats need someone to help Deuce Vaughn at running back, and Weathers will get every opportunity to do exactly that next season.
3. Gaven Haselhorst. Linebacker is a very important position for K-State right now, and the Hays product could provide some valuable young depth right away, along with DaVonte Pritchard.
4. R.J. Garcia. K-State receivers were not very good this season. Maybe Garcia can change that.
5. Andrew Leingang. He’s from North Dakota. Klieman is pumped about him. He should eventually start on K-State’s offensive line.
I can see one or two position coaches working elsewhere next season, but it would be really unfair of me to speculate on which ones.
Signs point to both coordinators staying, though. I will say that.
Let’s start with my thoughts on the K-State football team withdrawing from a bowl game.
It’s probably best for everyone involved to end the season now. There wasn’t much fan excitement surrounding a trip to the First Responder Bowl or the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Dec. 26. I doubt there was much player excitement about those games, either.
Under normal circumstances bowl games can feel like vacations or rewards for players. I doubt that will be the case for any team this year.
This was a long, trying season for the entire team. Players had to get tested three times a week and isolate themselves from family and friends. That had to get old, especially once the team started losing. Letting players go home for the holidays now will probably create a happier environment when they return in January.
There are certainly good reasons for wanting to play an extra game, such as more practice time. But the team did get in some bowl practices last week, and I personally think bowl practices are overrated. The Wildcats won’t miss them.
Asking K-State to play a nonconference opponent on short notice might have also set the Wildcats up for another loss and a potential 4-7 record. There wasn’t much upside to playing in a lower-tier bowl. So I doubt anyone is seriously bummed about it.
I guess the only disappointing thing is that COVID issues forced them to cancel. Close to 80 players tested positive during the season, and that number climbed in the past few days. That’s unfortunate.
Offensive MVP: Deuce Vaughn. Duh.
Defensive MVP: Wyatt Hubert. He wasn’t a unanimous All-Big 12 selection by accident.
Coach of the Year: I can’t think of an obvious candidate so I will go with Courtney Messingham. He took way too much undeserved blame from fans this season. Might as well throw him a bone here.
G-Man: It was a very cool thing.
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 9:56 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: No bowl game, signing day reaction, Bruce Weber and hoops resurgence."