How K-State rebuilt its roster into a NCAA Tournament team after Marcus Foster

Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade all had something in common before they became teammates at Kansas State.

“They were winners,” K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber said, "and winning is a habit. That meant a lot to us at the time.”

Why? Because the Wildcats were coming off their first losing season in 12 years and needed a fresh start.

Marcus Foster, the star player on that team, was dismissed along with two other players that offseason. Three more players chose to transfer. That left Weber with Wesley Iwundu, D.J. Johnson, Justin Edwards and … not much else.

K-State needed something new to build around. Weber’s solution: high character recruits with winning backgrounds. Talent, while still important, took a backseat.

Wade, a junior forward from St. John, Kan., led his high school to three state championships. K-State targeted him first.

Stokes helped his Baltimore high school go undefeated and win a state title as a senior and then went to prep school to boost his college possibilities. He seemed like a good fit.

Brown, a junior guard from St. Petersburg, Fla., never won any high school rings, but he played in the semifinals of a massive state tournament and was such a team player that he served as the sixth man on his AAU team. Though lightly recruited by most major schools, Weber was intrigued.

“When things happen you always look for opposites and try to change,” Weber said. “Winning was definitely one characteristic that all three of those guys had and it has carried over to our team now.”

Indeed, the Wildcats have gradually gotten better since Weber hit the reset button following a disastrous 2014-15 season that ended with a 15-17 record. They finished above .500 the following year, made the NCAA Tournament the year after that and are now back in the Dance preparing to play Creighton after winning 22 games and finishing fourth in the Big 12.

“When I got here as a freshman, I was talking to D.J. and he just kept telling me to leave the program better than you found it,” Brown said. “I think that is my mindset and the mindset of all of us when we got here, to have the program in better shape than we found it. Since we got here it has gone uphill. Hopefully it will stay the course.”

Brown, Stokes and Wade built the foundation for their current success together while playing as freshmen.

“We were kind of thrown into the fire right off the bat,” Wade said. “Had no choice, we had to play and we didn’t really know exactly what we were doing. Last year, we got that year under our built and had a little more experience. This year … we are great players. We have gotten a little more mature than we have been in the past. We have great leaders on the team. Coaches are doing a great job.”

K-State’s opponent in the first round, interestingly enough, is Creighton, the team Foster has also guided to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

It seems fitting the Wildcats and Bluejays will meet on Friday at Spectrum Center. Foster’s departure from K-State was a metaphorical fork in the road for team and player. The Wildcats had to hit the reset button and Foster had to rehab his image.

Both have come a long way since.

“It really just made me learn,” Foster said. “Things I went through, I had to grow up and mature. Now I’m in a spot where I’m the man I wanted to become. It was just a little learning curve I had to go through. Everybody has to go through things, but you face adversity and you get over it and move on."

Foster hasn’t spoken with Weber since Foster was dismissed from the K-State basketball team, but he doesn’t hold any grudges against his old coach.

He says he wouldn’t change anything about his time at K-State, because learning from his mistakes allowed him to thrive at Creighton.

Maybe three years ago he wanted to stick it to his old team. Not anymore.

“My emotions would have been everywhere,” Foster said. “I would try to go out and have 30 and have one of the best games of my career and make sure we win. I would be more worried about myself. This year it is different, because I have brothers that I really call my brothers and I am more focused on winning than my own personal agenda right now. I am just going to do whatever it takes to make sure my team wins.”

It makes sense for Foster and Weber to play down their personal angles heading into this game.

Both sides seemed to benefit from the breakup.

Foster is the leading scorer on a NCAA Tournament team and K-State has found a winning culture.

“You have got to admire those guys,” Weber said of Brown, Wade and Stokes. “They took their lumps early and got their butts kicked and took criticism and stayed the course. They kept working at it. You got to give them credit for that. They have been the leaders of this group, and they realize there is more to do.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 6:41 PM with the headline "How K-State rebuilt its roster into a NCAA Tournament team after Marcus Foster."