Kansas State’s remaining games may define this team and decide Bruce Weber’s future
For weeks now, Bruce Weber has talked about Kansas State’s upcoming men’s basketball game against Texas A&M as if it represented the beginning of a new season.
He has gone so far as to say that this group of Wildcats will be defined by how they play during their final 10 games, starting with Saturday’s Big 12/SEC Challenge matchup against the Aggies, which he called “the biggest game of the year for us” and an opportunity for “a new start.”
“This last 10 is what you you are going to be about,” Weber told K-State players following a 107-59 loss against Baylor on Wednesday night. “We have had all the stuff, everything go against us. Now this is what you are about. What are you going to do here in this last 10?”
It’s unusual for Weber to emphasize a nonconference game in late January, but it does represent a potential fork in the road for both him and this team.
If the Wildcats can end their losing streak and finish Big 12 play strong, it would show that their young nucleus of eight new scholarship players might have a bright future. If not, well, there won’t be much optimism left to sell fans and K-State will have to decide whether it’s time to part ways with Weber after nine seasons that have featured thrilling highs and agonizing lows. The Big 12 championship season of 2019 seems like ages ago.
Here’s the situation.
The Wildcats (5-12, 1-8 Big 12) have lost seven straight games and appear on their way to one of the worst seasons in school history. But their recent stretch of dismal play has been marred by injuries, COVID-19 and plain old bad luck, such as the team bus breaking down before the Baylor loss. Turns out walking to the arena wasn’t a good omen.
Seven different K-State players have been sidelined for a combined total of 52 game absences this season. Weber guesses that the Wildcats have only held seven practices that featured 10 healthy scholarship players dating all the way back to the fall.
“It’s the worst-case scenario, the worst storm,” Weber said. “I’m not making an excuse. I’m just telling you what it is. And probably the worst thing is that we put a really young team, a new team in a really, really good league against some of the best elite teams in the country, and you’ve had to take your lumps.”
Could things change over the final months on the season?
Weber is hopeful, because Murphy’s Law may no longer be in effect for K-State. With freshman point guard Nijel Pack back in the starting lineup, the Wildcats are finally at full strength (minus Montavious Murphy) and should remain that way for the remainder of the season.
They are also done playing No. 2 Baylor. That’s not to say the schedule will get dramatically softer moving forward. Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia are also ranked. But K-State matches up much better with those opponents than it does against Baylor. Games with Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, TCU and Iowa State, assuming it gets rescheduled, offer realistic opportunities for wins.
There are no more excuses, aside from the team’s confidence following a brutal stretch of defeats.
“I know it’s been hard,” Weber said. “I know it hasn’t been what everyone expected. But you still are playing basketball at a college level on national TV, and you have got to come with energy and appreciate the opportunity and make the most of it.”
What can this group accomplish with a healthy roster and a more manageable schedule? We’re about to find out.
Team and coach will be judged accordingly.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 11:34 AM.