Why K-State basketball isn’t fazed by last-place projection as season approaches
Nijel Pack sits in his room on Kansas State’s campus surrounded by motivational quotes.
The words “work hard” and “stay humble” are tattooed on one wall. Phrases like “it’s not how big you are, it’s how big you play” and “winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit” are plastered on another.
They serve as subtle reminders that could help the freshman guard as he makes his college debut later this month. Honestly, though, they could be helpful for the entire K-State men’s basketball team as the 2020-21 season approaches.
“That fits in with us, especially this year,” Pack said during a video teleconference on Thursday. “We were known to be winners. We have fallen before, but we are never going to quit and we are never going to give up. That should come in handy for us this year.”
Indeed, the Wildcats may need to fight and claw their way through every game this season as they have been picked last in the preseason Big 12 poll.
“Everybody sees it,” Pack said. “The whole team sees it. All the coaches see it. It just gives us extra fuel to the fire. Everyone is doubting us and we are expected to be last. So that kind of pushes us to go harder every day. The days we don’t want to practice, the days we don’t want to lift weights, it just gives us that extra fuel and motivation to go harder.”
Low expectations shouldn’t come as a surprise for a team that is looking to bounce back from its worst campaign in decades. K-State won just 11 games a season ago and finished last in the Big 12 standings by two full games. Then coach Bruce Weber brought in nine new scholarship players during the offseason.
Senior guard Mike McGuirl is improbably the only player left on K-State’s roster that helped the Wildcats share a Big 12 championship with Texas Tech just two years ago.
It might not take much for K-State to escape the Big 12 cellar, as Iowa State and TCU are also in rebuilding mode, but the Wildcats need to prove themselves again before they earn the benefit of doubt from outsiders.
For now, few respect them.
“We all see it, but it’s not going to faze us,” sophomore forward Montavious Murphy said. “They can pick whatever. We think we are the best team. We are going to come in and compete everyday.”
Weber isn’t currently asking for much more than that.
Strange as it sounds, he says it’s too early for him to accurately predict how the Wildcats will play this season. They haven’t played an exhibition game or a scrimmage against other opponents, and there have been days when they have only had seven players at practice because of injuries and COVID-19 precautions.
When asked which player might lead this group in scoring, he responded with five possibilities — Mike McGuirl, DaJuan Gordon, Nijel Pack, Kaosi Ezeagu and Davion Bradford.
In other words: he doesn’t know yet.
This entire season could be an adventure, as Weber is expecting K-State to change its schedule on the fly and deal with multiple cancellations.
Through it all, one thing seems certain. The Wildcats will “work hard” and “stay humble” as they work to prove their doubters wrong.
“I have no idea what is going to happen when we toss it up (at our first game),” Weber said. “I don’t think it is going to be pretty, but if they care and we are patient and keep the focus I think we can improve as a team, and I think we have enough pieces to be very competitive.”