G
Grant Flanders
Guest
First I want to say I have to give credit where it is due, and that is with everyone inside this program. More specifically the players and coaching staff. What Bruce Weber has been able to do to get this team to keep believing after going on a 13 game losing streak is just incredible to me. Weber, his staff, and Mike McGuirl have some mighty accomplishments at K-State with B12 chips and a good NCAA tourney run.
This is a totally different type of season and likely will go down as Weber's toughest in his career with everything that surrounded it. But that is why the credit must be given. The team seemed dead in the water a little over a month ago. A light bulb clicked in the players heads and they started to play better and smarter on defense. That along with some good offensive performances from the likes of McGuirl and Nijel Pack put this team over the edge on offense and they started winning games and carried that over to winning 4 out of their last 6 contests and ending in the most valiant way possible by sticking with Baylor better than most teams have been able to all season.
Now onto the game... the officiating was questionable throughout and especially in the second. Both charge calls (one on Luke Kasubke, other on Rudi Williams) seem to be universally bad calls. It just seemed as if the officials favored Baylor in a physical game. They were very selective with their whistles and seemed to give Baylor the benefit of doubt more often than not.
First half Davion Bradford balled out. 15 points on 5/6 shooting and 5/6 from the free throw line was key to K-State going into the locker room down by only 2. Baylor for sure adjusted and quieted Bradford in the second half.
Pack and McGuirl combined for only 4 first half points. Pack balled out in the second while McGuirl continued to struggle. Had McGuirl knocked down some of his shots, or instead of shooting step-back triples, found his teammates more, we could be talking about a totally different outcome in which the Cats win this. Going into this game I said how three Wildcats at least were going to have to be good on offense for K-State to win this. They got it from Pack, Bradford, and DaJuan Gordon, but a fourth guy proved to be necessary to pull off the upset and McGuirl wasn't up to the task. I think McGuirl was solid on defense for the most part.
Still love Miguel's defense. He had happy hands a few times that could have led to easy buckets, but he did well.
K-State won points in the paint 28-26. Baylor won points off turnovers 18-17. 2nd chance points went Baylor's way 13-8. K-State shot 41% from the field and 40% from 3. Baylor shot 53% from the field and 41% from 3. Both teams did well at the free throw line (KSU-16/20, BU-13/14). Baylor barely out rebounded K-State 30-28. Besides the shooting percentage, both teams stats are very similar.
It should be pointed out, Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell, and Macio Teague combined to score 65 of Baylor's 74... That is a wild stat. They nearly outscored K-State with only 3 dudes. That front court is truly unfair mayne.
The last few games has proven to me that maybe the nucleus of this team is enough. I still think they should try to land some solid transfer help for next year, but I genuinely now believe this exact team again next season could fair pretty well. Still don't know if that means they make an NCAA tournament next year without adding a transfer, but I don't think it is out of the question by any means. They play like they did today and yesterday all season long, they likely have at least 6 or 7 conference wins under their belt.
I'm excited for the future. Weber and this team have turned this team into something I can believe in. It got really dark when the new year began and the losses piled up, but the resiliency and promise these young players showed recently is all I needed to see to know they can be back to competing for Big 12 Championships sooner than later.
Next the key will be to keep the core guys together. Pack, Bradford, Miguel, Gordon, and even McGuirl will be key guys that they do not want to lose to the transfer portal. It seems as if all of them are happy about their situations here but it will be something to monitor now that the season is over and the transfer rule this year makes it that much more likely guys transfer out. Hopefully they can keep the nucleus though.
Fun way to end the season with some fun basketball to watch!
This is a totally different type of season and likely will go down as Weber's toughest in his career with everything that surrounded it. But that is why the credit must be given. The team seemed dead in the water a little over a month ago. A light bulb clicked in the players heads and they started to play better and smarter on defense. That along with some good offensive performances from the likes of McGuirl and Nijel Pack put this team over the edge on offense and they started winning games and carried that over to winning 4 out of their last 6 contests and ending in the most valiant way possible by sticking with Baylor better than most teams have been able to all season.
Now onto the game... the officiating was questionable throughout and especially in the second. Both charge calls (one on Luke Kasubke, other on Rudi Williams) seem to be universally bad calls. It just seemed as if the officials favored Baylor in a physical game. They were very selective with their whistles and seemed to give Baylor the benefit of doubt more often than not.
First half Davion Bradford balled out. 15 points on 5/6 shooting and 5/6 from the free throw line was key to K-State going into the locker room down by only 2. Baylor for sure adjusted and quieted Bradford in the second half.
Pack and McGuirl combined for only 4 first half points. Pack balled out in the second while McGuirl continued to struggle. Had McGuirl knocked down some of his shots, or instead of shooting step-back triples, found his teammates more, we could be talking about a totally different outcome in which the Cats win this. Going into this game I said how three Wildcats at least were going to have to be good on offense for K-State to win this. They got it from Pack, Bradford, and DaJuan Gordon, but a fourth guy proved to be necessary to pull off the upset and McGuirl wasn't up to the task. I think McGuirl was solid on defense for the most part.
Still love Miguel's defense. He had happy hands a few times that could have led to easy buckets, but he did well.
K-State won points in the paint 28-26. Baylor won points off turnovers 18-17. 2nd chance points went Baylor's way 13-8. K-State shot 41% from the field and 40% from 3. Baylor shot 53% from the field and 41% from 3. Both teams did well at the free throw line (KSU-16/20, BU-13/14). Baylor barely out rebounded K-State 30-28. Besides the shooting percentage, both teams stats are very similar.
It should be pointed out, Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell, and Macio Teague combined to score 65 of Baylor's 74... That is a wild stat. They nearly outscored K-State with only 3 dudes. That front court is truly unfair mayne.
The last few games has proven to me that maybe the nucleus of this team is enough. I still think they should try to land some solid transfer help for next year, but I genuinely now believe this exact team again next season could fair pretty well. Still don't know if that means they make an NCAA tournament next year without adding a transfer, but I don't think it is out of the question by any means. They play like they did today and yesterday all season long, they likely have at least 6 or 7 conference wins under their belt.
I'm excited for the future. Weber and this team have turned this team into something I can believe in. It got really dark when the new year began and the losses piled up, but the resiliency and promise these young players showed recently is all I needed to see to know they can be back to competing for Big 12 Championships sooner than later.
Next the key will be to keep the core guys together. Pack, Bradford, Miguel, Gordon, and even McGuirl will be key guys that they do not want to lose to the transfer portal. It seems as if all of them are happy about their situations here but it will be something to monitor now that the season is over and the transfer rule this year makes it that much more likely guys transfer out. Hopefully they can keep the nucleus though.
Fun way to end the season with some fun basketball to watch!
