Bruce Weber hoping for Big 12 Tournament magic as his coaching future remains in doubt
It seems a forgone conclusion that Bruce Weber will not return next season as the men’s basketball coach at Kansas State.
His next loss will almost certainly be his last with the Wildcats.
After 10 up-and-down seasons with Weber calling the shots in Bramlage Coliseum, changes are coming to Manhattan. The only questions left to ask are how and when K-State athletic director Gene Taylor will begin a coaching search, not if one will take place.
Taylor declined an interview request for this story, saying he won’t comment on Weber or the men’s basketball team until after the season.
The glow of Weber’s highly successful first seven years at K-State have faded. Since guiding the Wildcats to five NCAA Tournament appearances, a pair of shared Big 12 championships and one run to the NCAA Elite Eight, his teams have fallen on hard times. Three years have passed since K-State finished the regular season with a winning record.
There was hope that things would improve this year, especially when the Wildcats started 14-11 and surged into the top half of the Big 12 standings with five games to play. But ending the year on a five-game losing streak killed that momentum and all but sealed Weber’s fate.
Still, that doesn’t mean Weber and the Wildcats can’t go out with a bang at the Big 12 Tournament this week.
“It’s March, baby! Anything can happen,” Weber said on Tuesday. “That’s the mentality we are trying to deal with, and hopefully our guys can have some good things go their way and play at a high level.”
Indeed, the beautiful thing about March is that it gives every college basketball team a shot at redemption. No matter how disappointing things went during the first four months of the season, they get a mulligan and can still reach the NCAA Tournament by stringing together wins at their conference tournament.
K-State is looking forward to the opportunity this week at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
“It’s not over yet,” K-State senior guard Mike McGuirl said. “It’s not over at all ... We know that we can beat any team in the conference. We know that. Now it’s about if we do that. It’s going to take a lot of focus leading up to Kansas City. We have got to cut out distractions. But I know we can beat anybody.”
There isn’t much hyperbole in that statement. K-State beat Iowa State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia during the regular season. It also played Kansas and Oklahoma to the buzzer. Baylor was the only team that dominated the Wildcats from start to finish.
Given the highs and lows of this season, and Weber’s entire tenure, would it shock anyone if K-State made some noise this week?
“I just hope and pray that they’re rewarded this weekend with a good performance and something that they can feel really good about as as a group,” Weber said. “I’ve been part of it before. Crazy things have happened. I’m hoping that it happens again for these guys because they deserve it.”
The road won’t be easy.
The Wildcats’ journey begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday against West Virginia. Even if K-State defeats the Mountaineers it will turn around and play No. 1 seed Kansas at 2 p.m. Thursday. Even then, it would need to win two more games to hoist a trophy on Saturday night.
It is much more likely that K-State bows out after one or two games. Should that happen, all eyes will turn to Weber and his job status. He has gone 184-146 at K-State, but there haven’t been enough victories over the past three years to expect him back.
For now, though, there is hope that he could lead the Wildcats to one more highlight. That’s what March Madness is all about.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Bruce Weber hoping for Big 12 Tournament magic as his coaching future remains in doubt."