K-State Q&A: Basketball memories, recruiting and the prospect of no spring football
Like many of you out there, my job title changed this week when every public school in Kansas closed for the remainder of the semester in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
I am no longer just a K-State beat writer. I am also a homeschool teacher.
Years of snow days have prepared me for this moment, but it’s still a challenge. I’m trying my best to add humor to the situation with my Professor Kellis updates on Twitter, and I hope you enjoy them. But the next few months are going to be rough on all of us parents as we split our attention between working and teaching.
That’s the main reason why I am going to stop this week’s intro right here and dive into your questions. I told my oldest son he could watch a movie while I worked on this and kid films aren’t exactly as long as The Godfather.
I have limited time here. So do the rest of you. Best of luck to everyone as we work through this unprecedented time. Don’t hesitate to hit me up on Twitter if there is any advice I can share on balancing work and homeschooling. While I’m not an expert on the topic, I’ve been doing it off and on for almost nine years. I’m happy to help.
For now, though, it’s time for another K-State Q&A.
We’re entering uncharted territory for all college sports right now. It will be very fascinating to see how football teams respond next season if they aren’t able to hold 15 practices during the spring.
Some teams (not many, but a few) held their spring practices early and will have a natural advantage on the vast majority of teams that were planning to begin spring ball in late March, like the Wildcats.
For the most part, though, I think most teams will begin next season (assuming there is a season) on even footing in terms of spring practice time. I doubt we will be talking about teams looking rusty midway through the year because they weren’t able to practice as much as usual during the spring.
One easy example to bring up here is K-State’s 2019 football team. The Wildcats missed out on a bowl game and weren’t able to hold the extra practices they usually did under Bill Snyder. They also switched coaches to Chris Klieman, making spring and summer practices more about learning a new system than perfecting an old one.
What happened? The Wildcats improved drastically from 5-7 to 8-5.
Practice can be overrated. For me, it’s more about what you do with the time you’ve got than how much time you get.
The question I have about this unprecedented time is: How will players stay in top athletic shape without spending time around their teammates or having access to their strength coach? Many public gyms have closed. And most student-athletes are at home.
It’s going to be up to the players themselves to stay in shape. Maybe that’s not a problem for many. But without anyone pushing them, I think it will be a problem for some.
K-State was supposed to begin spring practice earlier this week. It’s too bad that it had to be postponed, along with every other major sporting event in the world.
I was looking forward to seeing Jacardia Wright at running back and Cooper Beebe on the offensive line. Watching Justin Hughes play linebacker again would have been fun.
There’s still a chance K-State and other teams squeeze in some form of spring practice, perhaps in a condensed form. For now, though, every team has to plan for life without spring football.
The postseason was definitely the main highlight for Bruce Weber’s team. The Wildcats ended the year with a victory for the first time in nearly 50 years and won more postseason games than the vast majority of teams, including the Jayhawks.
But here are five others:
1. Xavier Sneed sets a career high on senior day
There weren’t many feel-good moments for the Wildcats this season, but senior day was one of them. Sneed passed up on a chance to turn pro last year and returned to school for one of the worst seasons in program history. He was way too good of a player for the Wildcats to go out like that, so it was cool to see him score 31 points and then kiss midcourt as a winner in his final home game.
2. Ayoka Lee’s incedible double-double
They might as well rename the Big 12 freshman of the week award after Lee. She won it over and over and over this season. It’s easy to see why. In one game, she had 23 points and 20 rebounds against Oklahoma. No other player in the history of the K-State women’s team has ever had a 20-20 game.
3. Cartier Diarra, Makol Mawien make big plays late to beat Tulsa
This actually turned out to be a bad thing, as only the loser of this series has gone on to do good things over the past three years. When Tulsa beat K-State the past two years, the Wildcats responded by reaching the Elite Eight and then sharing a Big 12 championship. When K-State downed Tulsa this year, the Golden Hurricane won a share of the American. Still, Diarra hit a big shot near the end of the game and Mawien came up with a game-clinching block. That victory went down as one of their best of the season.
4. Upset over West Virginia
K-State was 7-9. West Virginia was ranked in the top 10. Everyone expected a blood bath. And yet, K-State won 84-68. The Wildcats were at their best on that day.
5. I got to meet the guy who played “Ham Porter” in The Sandlot
This beats out Oklahoma shooting 35% from the field during a 61-53 victory at Bramlage Coliseum.
The actor’s name is Patrick Renna. I had to look it up. He was on my flight coming and going to Pittsburgh before K-State’s basketball game at West Virginia. I haven’t asked to take a selfie with anyone in years, but I made an exception for the star of my favorite childhood baseball movie. When I showed the picture to my kids, they all recognized him immediately even now that he is now in his 40s.
He also attended the K-State/West Virginia game. So the Wildcats got to play a game in front of him. What a thrill.
It’s too early to say anything definitive about the status of Kansas State’s planned summer basketball trip to Europe.
My guess is that the Wildcats will ultimately decide to postpone their foreign trip and play a handful of exhibition games in Germany during the summer of 2021, but that’s only a guess.
I reached out to a K-State spokesman about the status of the trip earlier this week, and he said the team is taking a wait-and-see approach with the trip.
Things will obviously depend on how much the coronavirus spreads over the next few months. If we get it under control with quarantines and social distance in the near future, maybe the team will move forward with plans to visit Europe this summer.
The trip could happen as late as August, giving things five months to die down. Athletic directors are hopeful preseason football camp will begin at about that time. So it’s too early to call off anything.
But I am pessimistic the trip happens, considering K-State isn’t even holding in-person classes for the rest of the semester. Seems like the safer decision would be to save the foreign trip for another summer, even though now would be ideal timing for it with a big recruiting class coming in.
K-State’s incoming freshmen will get as much playing time as they can handle.
Depending on what Cartier Diarra decides to do in regards to a professional career, the Wildcats are going to lose a ton of scoring next season.
Xavier Sneed averaged 14.2 points. Diarra averaged 13.3. Makol Mawien averaged 7.4.
If all three of them are gone next season, the Wildcats will need to replace their three leading scorers a year after losing Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade.
Playing time will be available for everyone, especially those players capable of putting the ball through the basket.
The Wildcats will need someone to help David Sloan, and possibly Diarra, at point guard. That’s where Nijel Pack comes in.
K-State will need someone to make three-pointers. That’s where Luke Kasubke comes in.
Bruce Weber will need someone to take over for Sneed. That’s probably where Selton Miguel comes in.
And Davion Bradford/Kaosi Ezeagu will form a tag team to replace Mawien.
K-State will return some capable players, but it will rely on freshmen next season more than it has at any time since Brown, Stokes and Wade arrived on campus.
That team won 17 games. I think that’s a decent goal for next year’s roster.
I honestly didn’t watch much basketball before I started high school, so I honestly don’t have any grand March Madness memories from my “youth.”
But once I was introduced to a NCAA Tournament bracket and joined my first betting pool, for a dollar per entry, with some high school buddies I was hooked.
Four teams stick out in my mind:
1. The first Gonzaga team that reached the Elite Eight in 1999 under Dan Monson. My best friend picked Gonzaga to win the entire tournament, because he thought Gonzaga was a funny name. We were all super jealous when his upset pick won its first three games.
2. Bryce Drew hitting a buzzer-beater to guide Valparaiso past Mississippi in the opening round of the 1998 tournament. I loved that play and the school’s nickname of “Valpo.”
3. The Hampton team that beat Iowa State in the opening round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament. That was a really good Cyclones team, and I just couldn’t believe they went down to a school like Hampton. The team’s celebration with the player lifting up his coach like a doll was also pretty fun.
4. Wally Szczerbiak scored 43 points in a game to lead Miami (Ohio) past Washington and then guided his team to the Sweet 16 in 1999. I watched every second of that game, for some reason. Young Kellis was very impressed.
Now doesn’t seem like the best time to try and cheat.
Most of the best recruits have already signed with teams, and coaches are only allowed to communicate with the ones who are still looking for college basketball homes by phone.
All in-person recruiting has been put on hiatus until at least April 15.
When I spoke with four-star guard Donovan Williams, who is K-State’s top recruiting target, earlier this week he said he is already planning for the worst. He’s not expecting to be allowed to take any official visits this spring.
Any type of travel or questionable action from a coach is going to raise a big red flag right now.
But there’s a reason people say “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.” So maybe.
Saw your tweet about Caleb Grill transferring from Iowa State. What do you think the chances are he ends up at Wichita State or Kansas State? - Paul S. via email.
First things first, Paul: If you follow me on Twitter you can submit your question via Twitter. I don’t discriminate against email questions, but that would save you a step.
And, that way, your question would look like just like everyone else’s instead of the bold text I used above.
But I digress ...
I was surprised to see Caleb Grill transfer after one season in Ames. He seemed dead set on the Cyclones when he chose them over K-State and UNLV last summer. And he was on the court for virtually every minute of Iowa State’s final two games against K-State and Oklahoma State.
He didn’t look very good against the Wildcats, but he bounced back with nine points and eight rebounds in the Big 12 Tournament.
It seemed like he had some long-term potential at Iowa State, even if he only averaged 2.1 points and 1.7 rebounds as a freshman.
I’m not sure what he will be looking for at his next college, but I doubt the Wildcats will be involved. K-State recruited him hard last summer, but he no longer fits Bruce Weber’s roster needs. The Wildcats are looking for size inside and scoring punch on the wing that can help next season. A traditional transfer has to sit out a year.
The Shockers didn’t recruit Grill much, if at all, when he was at Maize. So it’s hard for me to think they will get seriously involved with him now. However, Stockrisers reported Wednesday night that WSU was among the group of schools that contacted him after announcing his transfer. So maybe that is a possibility. But they are also in need of immediate help. Not being able to play next season could hurt Grill’s chances of transferring closer to home. We’ll have to wait and see on that one.
I do think UNLV will be an option for him, though. He has a strong relationship with T.J. Otzelberger, who originally recruited him at South Dakota State.
K-State has done its research on eSports. If the Wildcats ever decide to add a new sports team to its athletic department I think it would play video games instead of softball, bowling or wrestling.
It’s a relatively cheap sport and has a growing audience. Building a team wouldn’t be difficult.
I would love to cover it, especially if they played Super Smash Bros. or Street Fighter.
Still, I don’t think K-State is anywhere close to actually sponsoring eSports. The Wildcats aren’t looking to add any teams right now. That’s unlikely to change.