The season is really starting to spiral out of control for the Kansas State Wildcats (14-8, 2-5), who may find themselves headed to the NIT rather than the NCAA tournament once Big 12 play ends. Senior guard Jacob Pullen exclaimed his non-interest in NIT tournament, and K-State fans don’t really like that notion either. Unfortunately, that possibility looms large for the struggling Wildcats.
After making their first Elite Eight in decades last season, the Wildcats have fallen off the basketball pedestal. A disappointing end to non-conference play and horrific 2-5 start to Big 12 play has taken Kansas State from a #3 ranking to well outside the top 25.
The departure of sophomore Wally Judge and junior Freddy Asprilla have simply added to the frustration of the already disappointing season. Asprilla decided to leave the program a couple of weeks ago. He was joined by Judge on Monday. Both players, who were expected to make major contributions to the team in 2011, have been just part of the overall drama that’s lead to such a humbling downfall.
The expectations were sky-high for the Wildcats even with the loss of lead guard Denis Clemente a year before. Unfortunately, 22 games into the season, the wildcats have already accumulated 8 losses to just 14 wins.
After being selected to win the conference for the first time in school history, the Wildcats have downright awful in the Big 12 with a 2-5 conference record. Pullen, an AP Preseason All-American, has been very impressive this season with his continued dominance while breaking Kansas State school records.
Jamar Samuels, Rodney McGruder, and Will Spradling have also looked good this season–at least sporadically–showing the Wildcats have enough talent and are capable of more than it has shown.
Head coach Frank Martin has constantly blamed himself for the problem saying, “we have done pretty well for three years and obviously we have not done a very good job of doing that this year,” referring to his lack of having everyone on the same page following a home loss to Colorado.
The recent loss to Kansas wasn’t enough to kill every chance of an NCAA Tournament berth, but it did put Kansas State in a tough spot.
As of now, the Wildcats have steered themselves toward the NIT tournament. The only solid wins have come against Virginia Tech, Gonzaga and Baylor–three teams that have struggled to find their own way over the course of the season. Nonetheless, thinking about the NCAA Tournament isn’t out of the picture for the Wildcats at this point, but they need to improve and they need to start the improvement by beating Nebraska at home on Wednesday.
There are still a lot of games left that could help the Wildcats resume. Kansas State hosts two ranked teams on their floor in Kansas and Missouri. They will also get a crack at the red-hot Texas Longhorns in Austin.
It would be nice to think the Wildcats could take one of those wins and make the tournament, but in reality the Wildcats probably need a winning record in the conference, along with multiple marquee victories.
Kansas State has a tough game tomorrow night against the Nebraska Cornhuskers (15-5, 3-3) in Manhattan. If the Wildcats are to get things turned around, it must start by defending their home court against a rugged Cornhuskers squad. There is little margin for error moving forward as K-State must find a way to overcome this season’s difficulties while compiling wins in February. Otherwise, K-State and their fans will need to start thinking about how lucky it would be to actually earn an NIT invite.
