K-State Q&A: Nijel Pack, Bruce Weber, the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament ceiling and more
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
There is an abundance of fun topics to cover, so there is no need for me to spend several paragraphs introducing the mailbag this week. Let’s dive right in to your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
Before I answer this question, a quick aside: Why have the Wildcats decided to call themselves “Road Dawgs” this season?
Wouldn’t “Road Warriors” or “Road Dogs” make more sense?
I’m partial to “Road Warriors” myself.
I understand they are trying to create a never-give-in mindset for their road games. And it’s working. But how did they come up with the spelling for “Road Dawgs?”
Urban Dictionary has many definitions for the term “dawg,” but the first few describe it as meaning a close friend and/or homie. It also suggests that “dawg” is a fun way to call someone a dude. Why not “Road Dudes?”
But I digress. The sixth definition actually won me over: “Dawg is just a sexier way of saying dog.” Fair enough! “Road Dawgs” it is.
In any case, the K-State men’s basketball team needs to win at least one more game away from home to reach the NCAA Tournament. Its next two games are on the road against Oklahoma State and Kansas. Both will be classified as Quad 1 road games, which means splitting them would significantly boost K-State’s hopes or playing in March Madness.
Ditto with the final road game of the regular season at Texas Tech.
K-State has a winning record (5-4) in road games this season. It has won at Wichita State, Nebraska, Texas, TCU and Iowa State. Not too shabby.
This team seems to enjoy playing on the road. Mark Smith actually tends to play his best games away from home. Lots of players stepped up in recent road games against TCU and Iowa State.
I’ve got a feeling Oklahoma State will be a tougher road game than those two, but there’s no reason why the Wildcats can’t keep their road winning streak going.
The Wildcats haven’t won at Allen Fieldhouse since 2006, and the Jayhawks are a bad matchup because of their size. So I don’t expect K-State to win in Lawrence, but if ever there was a team to do it this might be the one.
Texas Tech is 16-0 at home this season. Winning there won’t be easy either.
My guess is K-State will find a way to beat Oklahoma State and then lose on the road to KU and Texas Tech.
But if the Wildcats can will all three they are most definitely “Road Dawgs.” And they are free to spell dog any way they please.
Ken Pomeroy gives K-State a 14% chance of winning at KU and a 17% chance of winning at Texas Tech.
The Wildcats will be big underdogs in both games. But they also played the Jayhawks tough and beat the Red Raiders in Manhattan earlier this season. Neither game is an impossible win.
K-State will need to make shots and rebound like crazy in Lawrence. It will need to defend like mad in Lubbock to beat Texas Tech on senior day.
But a win in either of those games will almost certainly push K-State into the NCAA Tournament field if they finish with 17 or more victories.
This is not a question I imagined myself including in my weekly mailbag as recently as three weeks ago when K-State fell to 10-10 on the season following a disheartening loss to Ole Miss.
Things sure have changed since then, huh?
Sure, Bruce Weber could guide this team to the Sweet 16. Why not?
The NCAA Tournament is a crazy dice roll that yields at least a few unexpected results every season. Any team that plays its best basketball in March and gets some favorable matchups and/or breaks on the bracket can advance a long way.
Just last year, we saw No. 15 seed Oral Roberts, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 11 Syracuse and No. 8 Loyola-Chicago reach the Sweet 16, while No. 11 UCLA advanced all the way to the Final Four.
If K-State can win three or four more games before Selection Sunday, it will likely make the tournament field with a seed in the 10-12 range.
The Wildcats have beaten Texas Tech at home and Texas on the road this season. They also led Kansas by 17 before letting that game slip away. When this team plays well, it can beat just about any team not named Baylor.
By no means am I predicting the Wildcats to reach the Sweet 16 this season. Weber has only advanced past the first round once during his entire time in Manhattan. But it is most certainly possible. Any team that makes the tournament, aside from the No. 16 seeds that get sent to the First Four, can make a run.
That’s what makes March Madness so much fun.
If K-State athletics director Gene Taylor decides to give Bruce Weber a new contract after the season comes to an end, I imagine it will be a school friendly deal. Something like a four-year extension that will help him recruit without raising his salary or his low buyout.
Think Jim Harbaugh’s restructured contract that actually lowered his salary last offseason.
But that is only if the Wildcats decide to bring him back.
Would an appearance in the First Four be enough for Weber to earn an extension. Possibly. With Markquis Nowell, Nijel Pack and Selton Miguel coming back, the Wildcats could be quite good next season if they can add the right players (a talented center!) via the NCAA transfer portal.
But a trip to Dayton would not be enough to appease some fans. So I really don’t know what would happen in that situation.
Right now, everyone is simply focused on finishing the season strong and then evaluating things from there.
I will say this: Weber needs to make the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Round of 32 in order to build some genuine excitement about the future.
Bramlage hasn’t exactly been filled with fans lately.
I asked Nijel Pack about his relationship with Weber last week for a story about why he honored his commitment to K-State when several high-profile schools tried to lure him away late in the recruiting process.
Here is what he said about playing for his coach:
“I love Coach Weber. I love the way he pushes me and I love the way I have grown from my first year to the second year. Coach is putting in time with me and getting me help. He has older players talk with me when they come back. He has coached a lot of great players here. I’m happy to be able to connect with them and and use their help to get better. It’s been great for me.”
From the outside, it certainly seems like Pack enjoys playing for Weber.
Now, DaJuan Gordon also proclaimed K-State was going to be the nation’s No. 1 ranked team this season and then transferred to Missouri. So you never know what these players are actually thinking.
But giving Weber an extension to make sure Pack keeps wearing purple next season is the best argument you can make for bringing him back.
Pack is so good that he had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists in his last game ... and people considered it a bad performance.
Man, I hope the answer is Jacob Pullen.
His jersey retirement is already long overdue.
Markquis Nowell and Nijel Pack are two of the shortest players on the K-State basketball roster team. For that reason, they understandably spend most of their time shooting from the perimeter rather than driving to the basket for layups.
That’s not to say that they don’t try to score near the rim. Nowell has attempted 97 shots from close range this season and Pack has been doing it more lately, as he is up to 39 attempts.
But Nowell usually looks to kick the ball out when he drives to the basket. Pack is a 43.6% three-point shooter. He would rather shoot from deep.
It’s hard for players who spend most of their time taking jump shots to get to the free-throw line.
Nowell has a reputation as a flopper, and I think that has hurt him with some officials. Pack actually gets to the free-throw line a decent amount when he drives, but he doesn’t drive all that often.
I don’t view a lack of free throws from Nowell or Pack as a problem.
Ismael Massoud could get to the free-throw line much more often by spending more time at the basket. But he also attempted 10 shots from the charity stripe in his last game. Maybe he figured something out there.
Homer Simpson had a good plan for making money off Stampy The Elephant after Bart won him in a radio contest. I would try to copy that and charge kids across Manhattan to see and/or ride the elephant in my back yard.
Things didn’t work out for Homer, because didn’t ask for enough money at the start of his venture ($1 to see the elephant and $2 to see the elephant) and asked for way too much money at the end of it ($100 to see the elephant and $500 to ride the elephant).
Ten bucks for admission and $25 for a ride seems much more reasonable. I could make a killing!
Or, if my plan failed, I would just sell my car and ride my elephant to work.
K-State does have elephant parking available at football games, right?
There are apparently 12 different types of bamboo trees.
I really don’t know which one grows the fastest, but Buddha Belly Bamboo is the best name and Giant Bamboo is the tallest.
The Bamboo Cats have been growing like Giant Bamboo since Weber said he shared a video about Chinese Bamboo Trees. So let’s go with that one.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Nijel Pack, Bruce Weber, the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament ceiling and more."