Kansas State basketball may still be one season away from being touted as a national title contender. After their play last season, you would think they had done enough. However, in the eyes of most people it takes more than one great season to be considered a championship caliber team.
Continue reading ‘Kansas State could land Perry Ellis in 2012′ »
Last season, the Kansas State Wildcats were major players in the NCAA Tournament. However, they still weren’t given enough credit for what they achieved. They reached major accomplishments that the program hasn’t in decades.
In 2010-11, the Wildcats return 2 starters from last year’s Elite Eight team, while bringing in key freshman recruits. Not to mention, the Wildcats talent that was reserved last season, will finally be able to prove they’re for real.
Continue reading ‘K-State rules ESPN’s “Big Monday” in 2010-11′ »
A scholarship made available by senior-to-be Dominique Sutton’s departure last week has already been filled. Nino Williams of Leavenworth, KS will join the K-State basketball program for the 2010-11 season, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal. The 4-star recruit chose the Wildcats over the USC Trojans last October and will enroll in summer school at K-State.
Kansas State was one of the hottest teams in college basketball last year. Behind their terrific guard play the Wildcats were able to make a run to the Elite Eight. However, what most people fail to realize is how much the frontcourt really influenced the game for the Wildcats. Dominique Sutton brought defensive intensity, Jamar Samuels gave instant contributions off the bench, and Curtis Kelly did it all in the post. This set up a perfect beginning for the Wildcats heading into next season.
Continue reading ‘Dominique Sutton to transfer closer to home, children’ »
This Kansas State basketball team was the talk of the sports nation before losing to Butler in the Elite Eight.
What a season the Wildcats had. They finished with the second best record in arguably the best conference in college basketball with a 11-5 record in the Big 12, along with a 24-6 record overall to end the regular season. Going into the Big 12 Tournament the Wildcats were two wins away from the all-time wins record in K-State history.
Kansas State head coach Frank Martin welcomed in five recruits last year. K-State fans had high hopes for all the recruits, but the one with the highest was McDonald’s All American Wally Judge.
Judge came out of high school with high aspirations. He was expected to be the next great Wildcat freshman, following in the steps of fellow 5-star recruits Michael Beasley and Bill Walker. Judge was tabbed as the No. 4 overall power forward in the 2010 recruiting class, and No. 15 overall prospect according to ESPNU 100 rankings.
Continue reading ‘Wally Judge seeks to meet high expectations’ »
All year there was this talk about the deadliest backcourt in the Big 12. Every time the topic was brought up, two names mentioned every time were senior Denis Clemente and junior Jacob Pullen.
Kansas State rode their guards through most of the NCAA Tournament. The two guards put up huge numbers, looking to be virtually unstoppable — before they knuckled up with Butler.
The dynamic duo did it all season with the three balls. If it was your first game watching either of them, you would probably be wondering how Frank Martin lives with Clemente’s shot selection. But as you watch more you understand how his errant shots find the basket.
Continue reading ‘Which players will step up to fill Clemente’s shoes?’ »
Most assumed that, after the departure of Michael Beasley and Bill Walker, Kansas State would return to a laughing stock in the Big 12 Conference and continue to allow people to run over them. But that wasn’t the case. Kansas State has had successful campaigns in both seasons following Beasley and Walker’s departure to the NBA, including an Elite 8 appearance this year. This Kansas State team did things that Beasley and Walker were unable to do.
Continue reading ‘Kansas State 2009-10 Basketball Season Review’ »
Kansas State’s 2010 NCAA Tournament run crumbled in the hands of a hungry Butler team. K-State’s dreams of advancing to the program’s first Final Four in 46 years and a run at the National Championship have faded. Disappointment has settled in across Wildcat Nation, which is left thinking about what could have been, and with memories of a historic basketball season.
Continue reading ‘K-State’s dream run ends in Elite 8 loss to Butler, 63-56′ »
No, Kansas State fans, you are not dreaming. Kansas State advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament to face-off against the Butler Bulldogs Saturday at about 3:30 PM. The double-overtime battle between Xavier and K-State was the main topic off conversation on TV and sports talk radio all day Friday. Both teams fought tremendously hard and never had the slightest thought of giving up.
With the victory, the Wildcats will play in their first Elite 8 since 1988. Butler will be making their first appearance in the Elite 8 in school history. Both teams are having arguably the best season in their respective school’s storied history. Neither Kansas State nor Butler has any plans of making this game their last, so the Elite 8 match-up should be a battle to the very end.
Continue reading ‘K-State seeks first Final Four since 1964 against Butler’ »
Following their impressive win over BYU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats watched Xavier upset Pittsburgh. K-State knew they would be in for a battle against the Musketeers, a team which they had thoroughly handled earlier in the season by a 15 points. The game against Xavier in December can be considered ancient history, as far as anyone is concerned. The Xavier team K-State faced off against Thursday night is simply not the same team.
Continue reading ‘K-State survives overtime thriller 101-96, advances to Elite 8′ »
Oh how sweet it is! With an 84-72 victory over BYU, the Kansas State Wildcats have advanced in the NCAA Tournament to the Sweet 16 to face off against the Xavier Musketeers. BYU was a team that matched up very well against K-State. They are a very solid free-throw shooting team (KSU fouls a lot) and they hit a lot of threes (KSU can as well but mostly tries to get the ball to the rim). Because of this, many experts predicted a Kansas State loss. Kansas State was determined to prove the critics wrong, however, and beat BYU at their own game. Jacob Pullen, who played the game of his career, knocked down seven three-pointers and the Wildcats as a team shot a season-best 27-of-30 from the free-throw line.
Continue reading ‘K-State ready for rematch with Xavier in Sweet 16′ »
For nearly 20 years — before Bob Huggins, Michael Beasley and Bill Walker arrived in Manhattan, KS — nobody viewed Kansas State as a serious basketball program. Long forgotten were the 4 Final Fours, 11 Elite Eights, 16 Sweet Sixteens, 19 Conference Championships, 36 All Americans and 48 NBA Draft picks of years past. K-State had been an afterthought nationally and even by some of the Wildcat Nation.
Continue reading ‘A breakdown of K-State’s shot at the Final Four’ »
Saturday’s Second Round proved to be a crazy day in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Tenth-seeded Saint Mary’s lead off by dumping second-seeded Villanova in the South Region, eleventh-seeded Washington throttled third-seeded New Mexico in the East Region, and ninth-seeded Northern Iowa stunned the world by hanging on to defeat the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the Midwest Region.
Continue reading ‘K-State advances to Sweet 16 with 84-72 win over BYU’ »
The First Round of the NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City is over for Kansas State. What a great first day it was. Fans got to see a game which was decided by a three-point shot in the final minute of double-overtime, a Wildcat victory, and a mini-Jayhawk scare. All of the higher seeds in Oklahoma survived and advanced to the Second Round. The Wildcats came ready to play against an experienced North Texas team, winning 82-62. Kansas State played aggressively, fouling the Mean Green 25 times, but it wasn’t like some of the Big 12 games where the Wildcats were whistled for ticky-tack touch fouls. Rather, both teams had players hitting the ground hard. There were two scary moments in the game for K-State: Chris Merriweather hit the floor hard and Jacob Pullen landed awkwardly on his tailbone and had to head to the locker room for several minutes. He emerged later and chipped in a few more minutes to end the game.
Continue reading ‘K-State looks to slow BYU, Fredette down in Second Round’ »
After witnessing higher seeds compete with lower seeds right before game-time, Kansas State knew they could not come into their NCAA Tournament First Round game against North Texas expecting the Mean Green to go down without a fight.
The Wildcats have responded well after losses this season, and looked to do it again after the heartbreaking loss to rival Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament Championship game. They did just that. Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen dominated the backcourt for K-State and thrashed North Texas 82-62 in Oklahoma City, OK.
Continue reading ‘Wildcats dump Mean Green in First Round of NCAA Tournament’ »
There was a different feeling on Selection Sunday in Manhattan, KS. In the past few years, Selection Sunday has been an intense day full of emotions surrounding the Kansas State basketball program. Three seasons ago Kansas State was sitting firmly on the bubble. They had beaten a tough Texas Tech team in the conference tournament and had a solid 23 wins, 10 of which came during conference play. Unfortunately, then-head coach Bob Huggins’ Wildcats were skipped over while Texas Tech, the team Kansas State romped in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals, received a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Continue reading ‘K-State to open NCAA Tournament against North Texas’ »
Last week Kansas State University hit their low-point of the season, losing to Iowa State at home on senior night. The Wildcats had just finished a perfect February and were the No. 5 team in the country. Whispers of a No. 1 seed had begun circulating around the country. Duke, the No. 4 team in the country, lost to Maryland 79-72 and the Cats had the No. 1 seed well within their reach. They went into Lawrence, Kansas, knowing that a win would almost definitely lock it up.
Continue reading ‘K-State to battle Kansas for Big 12 championship’ »
In the list of once-bright basketball programs that had taken a turn for the worst, Kansas State was right up there. That was before Bob Huggins and Frank Martin came along. Now, the Wildcats are easily one of the most improved college basketball programs in recent memory. Kansas State has been brilliant this season and looks to continue its success tonight against the Kansas Jayhawks with the Big 12 tournament title on the line.
Continue reading ‘K-State gets past Baylor for a shot at Big 12 title’ »
Finally!
The year 1993 marked the beginning of the end of dominance in Kansas State basketball history. Not only was that one of the final years of head coach Dana Altman, but it was the last year the Wildcats advanced to play in a conference championship game (a loss to Missouri). Tonight, after 17 years of, well, “doom”, the Kansas State Wildcats will return to the conference tournament finals to face the University of Kansas in the Big 12 championship game.
Continue reading ‘Commentary: We are K-State, and we are back!’ »
The Big 12 conference tournament, not yet in the semifinal match-ups, has already seen its fair share of excitement and unexpected outcomes. Nebraska, the 12-seed in the tournament, defeated Missouri, the 5-seed, by 15 points on the first day. Texas Tech, the 9-seed in the tournament, gave Kansas a run for their money before losing by 12 points. Nebraska gave Texas A&M all they could handle before fading late and losing to the Aggies by 6 points.
Continue reading ‘K-State rolls over Oklahoma State, 83-64 in Big 12 Quarterfinals’ »
Over this past week I’ve had the privilege of watching future Kansas State player Will Spradling in action. Spradling is a very special player. He has the ability to take over the game, but is more of a pass-first type of player. Spradling sometimes shows sub-par defensive intensity, but can be coached up by head coach Frank Martin.
Continue reading ‘Recruiting Update: Kansas State’s Big Three in 2010-11′ »
Shane Southwell is a very versatile forward inside as well as outside the paint. He does the little things well to get his team the basket. Southwell is ranked No. 21 for his position in the class of 2010 and ESPN scouts give him an overall grade of 92. He has good size, at 6’6″, and can play either the forward position or the guard position for Frank Martin’s Wildcats.
The storybook regular season for Kansas State closed with an 85-82 overtime loss to Iowa State on an emotional senior night. The loss to the Cyclones marked the first time this season the Wildcats lost back-to-back games. Now they must prepare for post-season play, beginning with a match-up against either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State in the second round of the Big 12 tournament.
Continue reading ‘Kansas State Basketball 2009-10 Regular Season Review’ »
According to ESPN’s Andy Katz the Kansas State Wildcats will extend head coach Frank Martin’s contract through the 2014-15 season. Just an hour ago Andy Katz tweeted, “Kansas State expected to announce an extension for Frank Martin. Martin should be in the hunt for national coach of the year.” The deal is reportedly worth $1.2 million a year.
Continue reading ‘Frank Martin signing an extension through the 2014-15 season’ »
