Why Bruce Weber isn’t expecting K-State center Davion Bradford to start anytime soon
As his freshman season came to an end at Kansas State it became abundantly clear that Davion Bradford was well on his way to becoming the best true center that has played for the Wildcats under Bruce Weber.
That hasn’t changed.
But he is currently coming off the bench behind Kaosi Ezeagu and that is unlikely to change anytime soon, particularly not when K-State takes the court for its second game of the year against Omaha at 7 p.m. on Wednesday inside Bramlage Coliseum.
“He’s not going to start,” Weber said. “Kaosi has done very well. He has outplayed him in a lot of the different segments throughout this early practice. But, as we’ve talked about, the starting lineup now may not be the same starting lineup we use in December or even January.”
Bradford, a 7-footer from St. Louis, will try to work his back into the starting lineup as he regains his stamina following a bout with pneumonia. K-State coaches told Bradford to stay home for more than a week when they learned about his illness, and he didn’t have much time to practice before the Wildcats opened the season last week against Florida A&M.
It was unclear if Bradford would even play in that game. He managed to score three points and grab three rebounds in 14 minutes of action, but he looked a step slow.
He will remain limited until that is no longer the case.
“He probably played a few more minutes than we even thought,” Weber said. “Hopefully it was good for him. We did a simulation of a full game on Saturday and he actually had to take himself out and he couldn’t get through the whole thing.
“I think it was good for him to push himself, to get his wind going again. Obviously when you’re dealing with pneumonia you’re dealing with your lungs and your lungs are the thing that’s going to take a while to recover. We will watch his minutes.”
That is a drastic change from the end of last season when Bradford began to emerge as a force in the paint.
He scored 18 points against Baylor at the Big 12 Tournament and played a key role in late victories over Iowa State, Oklahoma and TCU.
The Wildcats seemed to play their best basketball when they surrounded the big man with four guards. Bradford led the team with a school-record 32 dunks.
For now, K-State is getting by with Ezeagu, a UTEP transfer, leading the way inside. He delivered seven points, five rebounds and three assists against Florida A&M. But the Wildcats can’t reach its full potential without Bradford returning to his top form.
“He’s a key piece for us,” Weber said. “He gives us some depth and his length if he gets back to playing the way he was at the end of last year it would really benefit us in the long run.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 11:50 AM with the headline "Why Bruce Weber isn’t expecting K-State center Davion Bradford to start anytime soon."