The ultimate what-if question for Mark Smith, Bruce Weber and Kansas State basketball
As Mark Smith was reflecting on his lone season with the Kansas State men’s basketball team earlier this week, the senior guard realized something that made him stop mid-sentence.
“You know what,” Smith said, “I feel like I fit in perfect here.”
Few will argue with him on that one. Smith, who began his college career at Illinois and later spent three years at Missouri, has evolved into the type of player who Bruce Weber dreams about teaching. He defends his coach after every loss. He talks about the team’s Play Hard Chart as if it were the definitive measure of a basketball player. And he makes tough plays at a dizzying pace.
Smith is averaging 12.3 points and a Big 12-best 8.6 rebounds this season. Those numbers are way up from his final year at Mizzou (9.7 points, 3.2 rebounds), but they don’t properly reflect the impact he is currently making for the Wildcats. Smith has really found his rhythm lately as an oversized guard playing in a small lineup. After recording just one double-double during his first four seasons of college basketball in the Big Ten and the SEC he improbably has posted eight of them in the Big 12.
During his last eight games, he has averaged 16.5 points and 10.1 rebounds. Not bad for someone with a 6-foot-4 frame. His addition to the roster is one of the main reasons why K-State is on the NCAA Tournament bubble for the first time since 2019.
“He has gotten better in the time that he’s been here,” Weber said. “We’re still trying to push him to get better. He’s embraced that and he’s been really coach-able ... You wish you had another year with him.”
What might have been
If only Smith and Weber would have known all this four years ago.
That is when the ultimate what-if moment happened between them.
It was the spring of 2018 and Smith had just announced plans to transfer from Illinois. He knew where he wanted to play next — K-State. Smith informed Weber he was ready to commit to the Wildcats when Weber traveled to Smith’s home town of Edwardsville, Illinois for a recruiting visit.
Weber was the first coach from a power-conference team to recruit Smith. Associate head coach Chris Lowery also has family connection with Smith. Coming out of high school, Smith spurned the Wildcats for the flagship university in his home state. He later realized that was a mistake.
But they couldn’t arrange a marriage. Why not? Both sides have been intentionally vague on the details over the years. Smith has previously chalked it up to bad timing. Weber has previously implied that Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin came in with a recruiting pitch that Smith couldn’t refuse.
Turns out, the details were simple. Smith wanted to play for K-State. The Wildcats wanted him, too. But they didn’t have an available scholarship for him.
Illinois missed the postseason that year, so Smith began mulling his transfer options in late February. K-State advanced to the Elite Eight and wasn’t done playing until nearly April.
Making matters even murkier, the Wildcats didn’t have a single scholarship senior on their roster that season and had already promised a spot to incoming recruit Shaun Williams. Weber informed Smith that if he was patient, a spot would eventually open up for him. Transfers were bound to happen, and they eventually did when Brian Patrick, Mawdo Sallah and Amaad Wainright decided to move on after the season.
Weber said last week that he felt uncomfortable accepting Smith’s commitment without first creating roster space for him. And Smith found another good option in Missouri. So, when K-State was unwilling to accept Smith’s commitment on his timetable, he decided to play for the Tigers.
Would things have been different if K-State had an open scholarship for him in 2018?
“Yeah, I definitely do think that I would have ended up here,” Smith says now. “It’s just unfortunate. But I believe everything happens for a reason. I’m glad I’m here now and making improvements and learning all the basketball I’ve learned. I’m just really excited to be here playing for Coach Weber.”
A forgettable recruiting class
The recruiting class K-State ended up bringing in that offseason makes that what-if scenario even juicier. The Wildcats signed Goodnews Kpegeol, Austin Trice and Williams that year — three players who never did much in a K-State uniform.
What if they signed Smith instead?
The Wildcats went on to share a Big 12 championship without him in 2019, but they really could have used his production in the years afterward when they dropped to 11-21 and 9-20. Maybe they wouldn’t have cratered with a player like Smith leading the way.
Of course, Smith had some good times at Missouri. He averaged 11.4 points and 5.2 rebounds as a sophomore. He was part of some big wins and played for a NCAA Tournament team last season.
Perhaps he wouldn’t be the king of Weber’s Play Hard Chart or the Big 12’s leading rebounder right now without taking the long road to Manhattan. Maybe things worked out for the best.
In any case, Smith left nothing to chance when the coronavirus pandemic gave him an opportunity to transfer again as a fifth-year senior. This time, he called Weber and told him he was coming. No debate.
Smith has since crammed a career’s worth of highlights into his lone season at K-State, but that won’t stop some from wondering about what might have been.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 12:27 PM.