D
Derek Young
Guest
What was the difference today? Why did Kansas State possess a 20-point lead against No. 12 West Virginia, or thereabouts, for a considerable portion of the game? For me, I thought it was one element. Confidence. And then it spread throughout the roster and carried through to everyone that stepped on the floor for the Wildcats.
It was something I brought up on the KSO Show the Thursday night before everyone left icy Manhattan for rainy, and warmer, Austin. We were asked one change that could spur something forward for K-State and I went with confidence.
The lack of confidence has thwarted some upward trajectory and positive momentum for Bruce Weber and company, in my opinion. I stated on that same podcast that you’re never as good as you think, but you’re also never as bad as you think. I think the top culprit of looking worse than they actually were, was the lack of confidence.
Chris Klieman said it throughout his first year in Manhattan. Never underestimate the power of belief. And let’s be honest, there hasn’t been a whole lot to believe in when it comes to the Wildcats in the past month and more. The fans feel that way. We feel that way. And that thought begins to creep into the minds of college-aged players who are lacking in experience and confidence.
They needed a surge. They needed an extended period of good basketball. Of course, that’s on them and the coaches for taking so long to foster it and discover it. I’m not saying that it isn’t. The absence of elite senior leadership has probably held this team back more times than not this year.
The loss of Barry Brown, Dean Wade and Kamau Stokes has reared its ugly head in more ways than one this year. Their struggle for confidence, and their knack for allowing the negatives to stack on top of each other this season and dictate the direction, seems to be not replacing the headiness, steadiness and maturity that Brown, Wade and Stokes provided.
To use a cliché, perhaps those three were irreplaceable. After all, they were program-changers for Kansas State and hold a lot of records and are the winningest class to go through Bramlage Coliseum in some time. In a few words, they’re incredibly rare. The likely replacements for those contributions are true freshmen.
That leadership can lessen the importance of confidence. They can produce and thrust positive energy back into a team with one magic word or one magic play before times become too perilous. This team doesn’t have that in their DNA, yet.
That means they will be streaky. When bad things happen, there’s going to be a strong tendency for it to snowball and get out of control. It was none more apparent than when today’s sizeable lead evaporated at one point in just a few minutes, thanks in large part to a 15-0 run by West Virginia.
It was, initially, halted by a three-pointer from Cartier Diarra but the Mountaineers didn’t go away. They chipped away at the lead even more.
But when they did have the necessary confidence, for most of the first half and the beginning portion of the second half, the snowball of negativity that had pushed them to finding ways to lose week in and week out, had kept them from finding what worked and getting everyone playing well at the same time, turned into a cohesive effort of hustle, emotion, passion, mostly clean basketball with ball movement, good shot selection and efficient shooting.
When confident, you’re empowered and inspired to reach your potential. Sometimes that takes a good few minutes. Sometimes that takes a good half. Sometimes that takes the ball going through the hoop. Sometimes it takes forcing a turnover and a run-out on the fast break.
All of that occurred in their best basketball of the season.
Cartier Diarra was getting to the rim and scoring the basketball with more regularity without turning it over. Xavier Sneed didn’t miss a shot and was his usual stopper on the defensive end of the court. DaJuan Gordon was the best player on the floor, didn’t miss a shot and was a major disruptor on defense, creating turnover after turnover.
Antonio Gordon was flushing breakaway dunks. Monte Murphy was picking up loose balls, running the floor and locking up Oscar Tshiebwe and banging with Derek Culver, someone with a significant size advantage on him. It hurt his rebounding, but he stood his ground as a defender. As the point guard, David Sloan had the offense motioning and moving as succinctly and effectively as it had all season.
As it was transpiring, we especially saw it from some of the youth and newer players on the team. That’s a sign that they needed a burst of confidence.
When that confidence was prevalent and present, it was good enough to be defeating the No. 12 team in the country by more than 20 points. When confidence disappeared and doubt reappeared, it was bad enough to nearly have that cushion completely vanish.
It tells me that there’s plenty more bad times on the horizon, especially with this particular team in this particular year, but that it’s not all doom and gloom.
The potential is there. It’s likely in the future and looking forward. Like with any good team at any good program under any coach, it needs to be paired with strong confidence, experience and leadership. They don’t have all those ingredients right now.
It was something I brought up on the KSO Show the Thursday night before everyone left icy Manhattan for rainy, and warmer, Austin. We were asked one change that could spur something forward for K-State and I went with confidence.
The lack of confidence has thwarted some upward trajectory and positive momentum for Bruce Weber and company, in my opinion. I stated on that same podcast that you’re never as good as you think, but you’re also never as bad as you think. I think the top culprit of looking worse than they actually were, was the lack of confidence.
Chris Klieman said it throughout his first year in Manhattan. Never underestimate the power of belief. And let’s be honest, there hasn’t been a whole lot to believe in when it comes to the Wildcats in the past month and more. The fans feel that way. We feel that way. And that thought begins to creep into the minds of college-aged players who are lacking in experience and confidence.
They needed a surge. They needed an extended period of good basketball. Of course, that’s on them and the coaches for taking so long to foster it and discover it. I’m not saying that it isn’t. The absence of elite senior leadership has probably held this team back more times than not this year.
The loss of Barry Brown, Dean Wade and Kamau Stokes has reared its ugly head in more ways than one this year. Their struggle for confidence, and their knack for allowing the negatives to stack on top of each other this season and dictate the direction, seems to be not replacing the headiness, steadiness and maturity that Brown, Wade and Stokes provided.
To use a cliché, perhaps those three were irreplaceable. After all, they were program-changers for Kansas State and hold a lot of records and are the winningest class to go through Bramlage Coliseum in some time. In a few words, they’re incredibly rare. The likely replacements for those contributions are true freshmen.
That leadership can lessen the importance of confidence. They can produce and thrust positive energy back into a team with one magic word or one magic play before times become too perilous. This team doesn’t have that in their DNA, yet.
That means they will be streaky. When bad things happen, there’s going to be a strong tendency for it to snowball and get out of control. It was none more apparent than when today’s sizeable lead evaporated at one point in just a few minutes, thanks in large part to a 15-0 run by West Virginia.
It was, initially, halted by a three-pointer from Cartier Diarra but the Mountaineers didn’t go away. They chipped away at the lead even more.
But when they did have the necessary confidence, for most of the first half and the beginning portion of the second half, the snowball of negativity that had pushed them to finding ways to lose week in and week out, had kept them from finding what worked and getting everyone playing well at the same time, turned into a cohesive effort of hustle, emotion, passion, mostly clean basketball with ball movement, good shot selection and efficient shooting.
When confident, you’re empowered and inspired to reach your potential. Sometimes that takes a good few minutes. Sometimes that takes a good half. Sometimes that takes the ball going through the hoop. Sometimes it takes forcing a turnover and a run-out on the fast break.
All of that occurred in their best basketball of the season.
Cartier Diarra was getting to the rim and scoring the basketball with more regularity without turning it over. Xavier Sneed didn’t miss a shot and was his usual stopper on the defensive end of the court. DaJuan Gordon was the best player on the floor, didn’t miss a shot and was a major disruptor on defense, creating turnover after turnover.
Antonio Gordon was flushing breakaway dunks. Monte Murphy was picking up loose balls, running the floor and locking up Oscar Tshiebwe and banging with Derek Culver, someone with a significant size advantage on him. It hurt his rebounding, but he stood his ground as a defender. As the point guard, David Sloan had the offense motioning and moving as succinctly and effectively as it had all season.
As it was transpiring, we especially saw it from some of the youth and newer players on the team. That’s a sign that they needed a burst of confidence.
When that confidence was prevalent and present, it was good enough to be defeating the No. 12 team in the country by more than 20 points. When confidence disappeared and doubt reappeared, it was bad enough to nearly have that cushion completely vanish.
It tells me that there’s plenty more bad times on the horizon, especially with this particular team in this particular year, but that it’s not all doom and gloom.
The potential is there. It’s likely in the future and looking forward. Like with any good team at any good program under any coach, it needs to be paired with strong confidence, experience and leadership. They don’t have all those ingredients right now.
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