What a ride.
Seriously, if anyone had told me a week ago K-State would be playing in an Elite Eight I would have taken it in a heartbeat. It was fun to witness the toughness K-State displayed this postseason. Bruce Weber has really taken off as a head coach here in Manhattan. I said this a few weeks ago and it still rings true - he won back a lot of fans, rightfully so, with the way his team has played and improved this season. He's here to stay and I love it.
Regular season: 21-10 (10-8)
This was a weird regular season. It had its ups and downs. I think the non-conference schedule had a lot of people not really interested in hoops but the way the team played once Big12 play hit - especially considering our PG went down - was damn impressive. Part of the fans problem's with Weber was his inability to win close games and outside of Arizona St. and at KU he did just that. @ Vandy, @ Washington St., vs Oklahoma St., vs TCU, vs UGA & @ Texas were all great close wins. Sure, the 0-7 record vs WVU, KU & Tech stinks but - not to make excuses - we were younger than all of them for the most part and had less size & talent.
Grade: B
Big12 tournament: 22-11 (11-9)
The Wildcats did everything you could have asked of them considering the circumstances. Barry Brown and Dean Wade put the team on their back and punched K-State's ticket to the Big Dance with a victory against TCU then followed it up with an inspiring performance vs KU (without Wade & Brown). It was fun to witness younger players take steps (I'm looking at you Makol Mawien & Mike McGuirl). I really think we could have knocked off the Jayhawks with a healthy Wade & Brown.
Grade: B
NCAA tournament: Elite Eight
This was the most fun I had as a fan in a long time - hell I'll say it - even more fun than the 2010 NCAA tournament. We did all of this without our best player and basically without any Bigs (Mawien really had a tough tournament). Everyone talked about how we had a bad draw but I honestly loved it (I said this before any games were played). We took care of business against Marcus Foster and then UMBC and I think just about everyone thought we would lose to Kentucky - and then we didn't. Barry Brown is a baller and continues to put the team on his back late in games and I love it. Beating Kentucky might have been the greatest NCAA tournament win for me (yes, Xavier is up there too) but beating a blue blood when everyone thought they would win the region was fantastic. Yesterday we ran into a buzzsaw and for the first time all tournament it definitely showed that we needed (a healthy) Dean Wade. Loyola hit big shot after big shot. It was great to see McGuirl step up on the big stage as well as Kam finding his way. I think we probably beat Loyola most times especially with Wade but I gotta give them credit, they're good.
Grade: A-
Season overall: 25-12
I went into the season expecting an NIT or First Four to be completely honest. I think we had talent but didn't know if we had enough to be better than 8th. Boy, was I wrong. Coach Weber and the boys really impressed throughout the season. Wade & Brown were great, X was solid, Diarra & Mawien were nice additions as were McGuirl and Amaad. Kam disappointed a little but he battled for sure. I never thought we would be winning 25 games and going to the Elite Eight. Fantastic year!
Barry Brown: Great year. Fantastic leader. Great driver. EXCELLENT defender. Needs to work on his outside shot a little. Grade: A-
Dean Wade: He's really got a shot to be good at the next level. He needs to stay healthy for an entire season though. Get some more muscle and be a beast in the paint. Grade: B+
Xavier Sneed: He didn't have a sophomore slump but he was very inconsistent. Having said that, he was our best player in the tournament. Grade: A-
Makol Mawien: Sophomore with a lot of upside but really struggles against length and someone with a lot of girth to them. Needs to continue to improve. Grade: C-
Kam Stokes: No one was more inconsistent than this guy and that's saying something considering the amount of young players we have. Guy is really good when he's making shots and really bad when he's not. Grade: C
Diarra: I'm really excited about his future. He's a 6'4 PG who can shot and drive and rebound. Had some bad turnovers but overall I love that he has 3 years left. Grade: B+
Bench: At the beginning of the season our bench was bad, really bad. They couldn't score but toward the end Stockard, McGuirl, Wainright & Kam/Dean were really good. I felt comfortable with any of them being on the court. We need to find one more big and one more 3pt shooter to complete this team. Grade: B-
2018-19 Outlook:
I have no idea about the schedule but it doesn't matter. Fair or not, the expectations for next year could not be any higher. We return everyone from a team that finished 4th in the Big12 & went to the Elite Eight. My realistic goals are to compete for a league title, be a 4 seed at worst in the NCAA tournament and make it at least to the Elite Eight if not the Final Four.
Go Cats!!!
Seriously, if anyone had told me a week ago K-State would be playing in an Elite Eight I would have taken it in a heartbeat. It was fun to witness the toughness K-State displayed this postseason. Bruce Weber has really taken off as a head coach here in Manhattan. I said this a few weeks ago and it still rings true - he won back a lot of fans, rightfully so, with the way his team has played and improved this season. He's here to stay and I love it.
Regular season: 21-10 (10-8)
This was a weird regular season. It had its ups and downs. I think the non-conference schedule had a lot of people not really interested in hoops but the way the team played once Big12 play hit - especially considering our PG went down - was damn impressive. Part of the fans problem's with Weber was his inability to win close games and outside of Arizona St. and at KU he did just that. @ Vandy, @ Washington St., vs Oklahoma St., vs TCU, vs UGA & @ Texas were all great close wins. Sure, the 0-7 record vs WVU, KU & Tech stinks but - not to make excuses - we were younger than all of them for the most part and had less size & talent.
Grade: B
Big12 tournament: 22-11 (11-9)
The Wildcats did everything you could have asked of them considering the circumstances. Barry Brown and Dean Wade put the team on their back and punched K-State's ticket to the Big Dance with a victory against TCU then followed it up with an inspiring performance vs KU (without Wade & Brown). It was fun to witness younger players take steps (I'm looking at you Makol Mawien & Mike McGuirl). I really think we could have knocked off the Jayhawks with a healthy Wade & Brown.
Grade: B
NCAA tournament: Elite Eight
This was the most fun I had as a fan in a long time - hell I'll say it - even more fun than the 2010 NCAA tournament. We did all of this without our best player and basically without any Bigs (Mawien really had a tough tournament). Everyone talked about how we had a bad draw but I honestly loved it (I said this before any games were played). We took care of business against Marcus Foster and then UMBC and I think just about everyone thought we would lose to Kentucky - and then we didn't. Barry Brown is a baller and continues to put the team on his back late in games and I love it. Beating Kentucky might have been the greatest NCAA tournament win for me (yes, Xavier is up there too) but beating a blue blood when everyone thought they would win the region was fantastic. Yesterday we ran into a buzzsaw and for the first time all tournament it definitely showed that we needed (a healthy) Dean Wade. Loyola hit big shot after big shot. It was great to see McGuirl step up on the big stage as well as Kam finding his way. I think we probably beat Loyola most times especially with Wade but I gotta give them credit, they're good.
Grade: A-
Season overall: 25-12
I went into the season expecting an NIT or First Four to be completely honest. I think we had talent but didn't know if we had enough to be better than 8th. Boy, was I wrong. Coach Weber and the boys really impressed throughout the season. Wade & Brown were great, X was solid, Diarra & Mawien were nice additions as were McGuirl and Amaad. Kam disappointed a little but he battled for sure. I never thought we would be winning 25 games and going to the Elite Eight. Fantastic year!
Barry Brown: Great year. Fantastic leader. Great driver. EXCELLENT defender. Needs to work on his outside shot a little. Grade: A-
Dean Wade: He's really got a shot to be good at the next level. He needs to stay healthy for an entire season though. Get some more muscle and be a beast in the paint. Grade: B+
Xavier Sneed: He didn't have a sophomore slump but he was very inconsistent. Having said that, he was our best player in the tournament. Grade: A-
Makol Mawien: Sophomore with a lot of upside but really struggles against length and someone with a lot of girth to them. Needs to continue to improve. Grade: C-
Kam Stokes: No one was more inconsistent than this guy and that's saying something considering the amount of young players we have. Guy is really good when he's making shots and really bad when he's not. Grade: C
Diarra: I'm really excited about his future. He's a 6'4 PG who can shot and drive and rebound. Had some bad turnovers but overall I love that he has 3 years left. Grade: B+
Bench: At the beginning of the season our bench was bad, really bad. They couldn't score but toward the end Stockard, McGuirl, Wainright & Kam/Dean were really good. I felt comfortable with any of them being on the court. We need to find one more big and one more 3pt shooter to complete this team. Grade: B-
2018-19 Outlook:
I have no idea about the schedule but it doesn't matter. Fair or not, the expectations for next year could not be any higher. We return everyone from a team that finished 4th in the Big12 & went to the Elite Eight. My realistic goals are to compete for a league title, be a 4 seed at worst in the NCAA tournament and make it at least to the Elite Eight if not the Final Four.
Go Cats!!!
