This week's weekly thoughts will center around my praise for the basketball player that Kam Stokes has become over the last two months.
This is what should happen on Bruce Weber coached teams.
Unfortunately, there aren't going to be many EJ Liddells, Cam Fletchers or Caleb Loves for K-State fans under Bruce Weber. But there should be a bunch of "old" teams that have seniors that develop and can keep the team relevant for long stretches of time.
I say all the time that Bruce gets the benefit of the doubt for me when it comes to kids he signs to scholarships in the early recruiting period. And I have said many times that it is exactly the opposite for kids that have signed in the late recruiting period. Let's look at the list of spring signees over the Bruce Weber tenure:
2013:
Nigel Johnson
Neville Fincher
Jevon Thomas
2014:
Malek Harris
2015:
Ron Freeman
Isaiah Maurice
Carlbe Ervin
KAMAU STOKES
2016:
Brian Patrick
Cartier Diarra
2017:
None
2018:
Austin Trice
That's 11 late period signees under Bruce Weber. It stands to reason that late period signees are going to be harder to hit on because for the most part, the best players sign in the fall, but it really is astounding how bad the majority of those signees have been. Quite simply, most have stunk.
Seven of the eleven never finished their career at K-State. Some of them transferred and have had moderate success elsewhere. Nigel Johnson became a sixth man at UVA and is now playing professionally. Isaiah Maurice has started a number of games for Memphis this year and is averaging 5 points and 3 rebounds.
Now let's look at the ones that have worked out:
The jury is out on Austin Trice, though I for one, believe he has been a hugely beneficial signing and if K-State is going to accomplish any of it's March goals, he is going to have to be a really significant factor going forward. I don't know it for a fact, and I am not going to put in the time to research it, but I would doubt that there have been many times in history that a team adds nobody to it's starting roster and goes from being one of the worst rebounding teams in the conference to one of the best. Trice has been the reason for that. He made rebounding competitive in practice and that made the team better. You got a really good glimpse of it against Oklahoma. Even balls that he didn't get to, he was able to impact the play by fighting for it just about every possession. I think Trice moves into the starting lineup next year and is an 8 point 8 rebound type of guy that will defend both fours and fives.
I think it's pretty clear that Cartier Diarra has already been and is going to continue to be an impact recruit from the late signing period. Credit the guys at phenom hoops for making this one happen. They said for the entirety of his senior season that he was being woefully overlooked and if somebody took a chance on him, they were going to get a player that could be a really good player as he developed his game. They went so far as to rank him as the #2 player in the state behind Seventh Woods who signed with UNC and ahead of top 100 guys Sedee Keita (South Carolina) and Eli Wright (St. Johns).
All of that brings me to Kam Stokes. I have been harder on Kam Stokes than probably anybody on the board. I simply didn't think he was a legit starting PG on a Big 12 team. And I still don't believe that he is.
What he has become over the last two months is a Senior that finally figured out what his role on a championship team is and in that role, he has been an absolute monster. He is never going to be a good on the ball defender and because of the way that K-State mostly uses him on the defensive end, there have been times where teams have schemed to get him matched up with a bigger player that can try and post him. But for the most part, he knows where he is supposed to be and has been really good at getting into passing lanes on the weak side of the floor.
Where he has really excelled is as being a legit third or fourth scoring option that can make teams pay when they try to sag onto Dean Wade. Over the last 16 games, Kam is 35-93 from three point range (37%). It's no coincidence that the two worst games he played were two of the three losses (A&M and Iowa State) that K-State suffered in that time. As a secondary ball handler and a weak side shooter, he is really dangerous. When he has time to get his feet set and is square to the basket, he has become a really good shooter. He is almost the exact opposite of Barry Brown. Brown is a much better shooter off the bounce than he is on catch and shoot. Kam is a terrible shooter off the bounce, but is really good on kick outs and ball reversals.
I can't emphasize enough how good he was against OU on Saturday and while this team absolutely needs him to hit open shots, that's not what I thought was so great about his game. What he didn't do on Saturday was settle. It was really good to see him use a pump fake and go by the defender to attack the paint. He was able to get all the way to the rim a couple of times and was also able to find the open player multiple times. That's the really good Kam.
This is what should happen on Bruce Weber coached teams.
Unfortunately, there aren't going to be many EJ Liddells, Cam Fletchers or Caleb Loves for K-State fans under Bruce Weber. But there should be a bunch of "old" teams that have seniors that develop and can keep the team relevant for long stretches of time.
I say all the time that Bruce gets the benefit of the doubt for me when it comes to kids he signs to scholarships in the early recruiting period. And I have said many times that it is exactly the opposite for kids that have signed in the late recruiting period. Let's look at the list of spring signees over the Bruce Weber tenure:
2013:
Nigel Johnson
Neville Fincher
Jevon Thomas
2014:
Malek Harris
2015:
Ron Freeman
Isaiah Maurice
Carlbe Ervin
KAMAU STOKES
2016:
Brian Patrick
Cartier Diarra
2017:
None
2018:
Austin Trice
That's 11 late period signees under Bruce Weber. It stands to reason that late period signees are going to be harder to hit on because for the most part, the best players sign in the fall, but it really is astounding how bad the majority of those signees have been. Quite simply, most have stunk.
Seven of the eleven never finished their career at K-State. Some of them transferred and have had moderate success elsewhere. Nigel Johnson became a sixth man at UVA and is now playing professionally. Isaiah Maurice has started a number of games for Memphis this year and is averaging 5 points and 3 rebounds.
Now let's look at the ones that have worked out:
The jury is out on Austin Trice, though I for one, believe he has been a hugely beneficial signing and if K-State is going to accomplish any of it's March goals, he is going to have to be a really significant factor going forward. I don't know it for a fact, and I am not going to put in the time to research it, but I would doubt that there have been many times in history that a team adds nobody to it's starting roster and goes from being one of the worst rebounding teams in the conference to one of the best. Trice has been the reason for that. He made rebounding competitive in practice and that made the team better. You got a really good glimpse of it against Oklahoma. Even balls that he didn't get to, he was able to impact the play by fighting for it just about every possession. I think Trice moves into the starting lineup next year and is an 8 point 8 rebound type of guy that will defend both fours and fives.
I think it's pretty clear that Cartier Diarra has already been and is going to continue to be an impact recruit from the late signing period. Credit the guys at phenom hoops for making this one happen. They said for the entirety of his senior season that he was being woefully overlooked and if somebody took a chance on him, they were going to get a player that could be a really good player as he developed his game. They went so far as to rank him as the #2 player in the state behind Seventh Woods who signed with UNC and ahead of top 100 guys Sedee Keita (South Carolina) and Eli Wright (St. Johns).
All of that brings me to Kam Stokes. I have been harder on Kam Stokes than probably anybody on the board. I simply didn't think he was a legit starting PG on a Big 12 team. And I still don't believe that he is.
What he has become over the last two months is a Senior that finally figured out what his role on a championship team is and in that role, he has been an absolute monster. He is never going to be a good on the ball defender and because of the way that K-State mostly uses him on the defensive end, there have been times where teams have schemed to get him matched up with a bigger player that can try and post him. But for the most part, he knows where he is supposed to be and has been really good at getting into passing lanes on the weak side of the floor.
Where he has really excelled is as being a legit third or fourth scoring option that can make teams pay when they try to sag onto Dean Wade. Over the last 16 games, Kam is 35-93 from three point range (37%). It's no coincidence that the two worst games he played were two of the three losses (A&M and Iowa State) that K-State suffered in that time. As a secondary ball handler and a weak side shooter, he is really dangerous. When he has time to get his feet set and is square to the basket, he has become a really good shooter. He is almost the exact opposite of Barry Brown. Brown is a much better shooter off the bounce than he is on catch and shoot. Kam is a terrible shooter off the bounce, but is really good on kick outs and ball reversals.
I can't emphasize enough how good he was against OU on Saturday and while this team absolutely needs him to hit open shots, that's not what I thought was so great about his game. What he didn't do on Saturday was settle. It was really good to see him use a pump fake and go by the defender to attack the paint. He was able to get all the way to the rim a couple of times and was also able to find the open player multiple times. That's the really good Kam.
