K-State basketball on verge of making school history for all the wrong reasons
Kansas State has been playing men’s basketball since 1902, so it’s difficult for any player, coach or team to set a school record while suiting up for the Wildcats today.
They’re competing against 118 years of history, after all.
But K-State is closing in on a few new benchmarks this season. Unfortunately for coach Bruce Weber and his roster, they are not the positive standards that they worked hard to reach. We’re not talking about superlatives.
The Wildcats (9-19, 2-13 Big 12) are dangerously close to surpassing the school record for both total losses (20) and conference losses (14) in a season. Losers of eight straight games, they also need to win one of their final four games to avoid taking ownership of the school’s longest losing streak during one season, which currently stands at 11 consecutive defeats.
“It’s tough, there’s no doubt,” Weber said on Saturday following a home loss to Texas. “It’s no fun, no fun for anyone, not for the guys. But that is our job as coaches to try and help them and encourage them. That’s all we can do. I think the guys have been good. They have come to practice, and they are focused and ready to learn and do better. We have just got to be a little better.”
It’s been a while since K-State flirted with a historically poor season.
K-State hasn’t lost 20 games since going 4-20 under Fritz Knorr in 1946 and it hasn’t eclipsed a dozen Big 12 losses since going 2-14 in league play under Tom Asbury in 2000. That was also the season when the Wildcats lost 11 straight games, all against conference opponents.
To be fair, basketball season was shorter back then. The Wildcats only played 28 games at the turn of the century, and the grueling double round robin scheduling format currently used in the Big 12 was not in place. But this team is also in danger of failing to win at least 10 games, something the Wildcats have managed to do in 72 of their past 73 seasons.
Many fans long ago gave up on this season, as the Wildcats have struggled mightily to replace Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade. Their last win, over Oklahoma on Jan. 29, feels like a lifetime ago. Still, K-State historians will be paying close attention to the Wildcats’ final three games of the regular season and their trip to the Big 12 Tournament.
Their two remaining home games will carry extra significance for some. K-State has gone 73 straight seasons with a winning record on its home courts, and it needs to beat No. 1 Kansas on Saturday or Iowa State on senior day to keep a strike alive that has spanned four arenas and 10 head coaches.
Weber is unlikely to mention any of those numbers to his team. The Wildcats have enough to worry about as it is. Besides, they appear to be giving adequate effort during games and players will naturally be motivated to play well at the Big 12 Tournament.
“I thought they were fine (Monday),” Weber said following K-State’s most recent loss against Baylor. “They practiced really well (Tuesday) and shootaround was fine. The one thing is: you have got to come with emotion. On Saturday we have to come with the right emotion. It has to be controlled emotion. It can’t be: I’m going to shoot and go score 30. It has to be: I’m going to guard the heck out of them and play my butt off and see if I can help K-State beat Kansas.”
Problem is, this team isn’t used to losing. Senior wing Xavier Sneed has helped the Wildcats hoist banners for reaching the Elite Eight and sharing a Big 12 championship. Now, he’s searching for answers just like everybody else.
The Wildcats are currently all alone at the bottom of the conference standings, two games behind Oklahoma State. That could lead to another first. No defending Big 12 champion has ever finished last.
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM.