Guest Blog: K-State’s Disappointing Season Leaves a lot to be Desired
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
The 271st edition of the Sunflower Showdown was going to be the much anticipated first match up of two preseason top ten teams gunning for bragging rights and an inside track to the Big 12 title. It would be the first opportunity to renew a rivalry that produced the highest rated college basketball game of the season on ESPN in 2010. The chance would be there for Kansas State, always the little brother to the hated Kansas Jayhawks, to stamp themselves as the premier college basketball program in the state. Unfortunately for K-State fans the old adage rings true: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Kansas is the team that finds itself entering the matchup in the top ten. Kansas reeled off 18 straight wins to start the season and the Jayhawks are still firmly in the running for yet another conference championship. Meanwhile 100 miles west on I-70, the Wildcats aren’t fighting for a Big 12 crown or a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. They’re simply clamoring for a spot in the big dance. Instead of grabbing the national spotlight in 2011, the Wildcats have limped to a 14-7 start that even Tom Asbury could appreciate.
“It’s a lot to have on your plate,” says K-State senior guard Jacob Pullen. “As a team we have to grow upfast or it’s going to be a short postseason.”
If a short postseason means a fleeting moment in the NCAA tournament, Wildcat nation would take it at this point.
It’s easy to see where it all went wrong. The Wildcats were never able to establish continuity from the get go. First Curtis Kelly, a born again star in 2009-10 after a disastrous stint with Jim Calhoun at UCONN, missed the first three games of the season while in head coach Frank Martin’s dog house. Wally Judge battled personal issues and injuries while missing a key portion of K-State’s non conference slate. Since then, the former McDonald’s All-American’s playing time has fluctuated more than Snooki’s love interests. Jamar Samuels missed time for a mysterious injury and potential high impact transfer Freddy Asprilla left the program. Did I mention that all of that is only the tip of the iceberg?
The haymaker came on December 21st. Less than an hour before the Wildcats were set to tip off with UNLV inside the Sprint Center. K-State announced that preseason Big 12 player of the year Jacob Pullen and preseason first team all-Big 12 selection Curtis Kelly would be suspended for accepting impermissible benefits from a local department store. Pullen missed three games and Kelly would sit out six. By the time Kelly suited up again on January 15th against Texas Tech, the Wildcats were in a free fall after losing to Colorado at home for the first time since Jim Wooldridge roamed the Bramlage Coliseum sidelines in a neck brace.
So here we sit. K-State has rallied to scrap together a pair of Big 12 wins over Texas Tech and Baylor. Tt is apparent that the Wildcats are playing better basketball. However ,the question now becomes, is it too little, too late? Making the NCAA tournament would likely take at least six more victories the rest of the way against a schedule that includes the likes of Texas, Missouri and Kansas (twice).
A win in Allen Fieldhouse could go a long way towards salvaging a season on the brink, but lest we forget Frank Martin is 1-6 against the Hawks and 0-3 in Lawrence. Last season, with K-State’s best team in 20-plus years, the Wildcats never seriously threatened Bill Self’s squad. The year before that, the Wildcats found themselves down 18-0 less than six minutes into the game, and in Frank Martin’s first trip to Lawrence the Cats left with a 14-point loss and chants of “AF-RI-CA” ringing in their heads.
So what will it take to bring home a win Saturday night in Lawrence?
“(Limiting) turnovers and good shots,” according to K-State head coach Frank Martin.
Something tells me it may take more than that to escape Allen Fieldhouse alive.
John Kurtz is the current Talk/Specialty Director and former Sports Director at KSDB 91.9 FM in Manhattan, KS. Also, on the sports and news staffs at 1350 KMAN in Manhattan.
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