Daily Archives: Oct. 18, 2007

‘Ticket’ to Manhattan?

Oct. 18, 20072:56 p.m.

It’s progress.

The first time Jamar Samuels took the ACT, he didn’t come close to a qualifying score. He received the results of latest test Tuesday; he was two points short.

Disappointed? Not quite. Encouraged, really.

“I’ll be attending K-State, and I should be there Dec. 10,” Samuels said. “I had a chance to get out of high school early, but I couldn’t get (a qualifying) ACT score. … I’ll take it again Nov. 2.”

This weekend, he’ll be leaving his Washington, D.C.-area home for Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., the same school Dominique Sutton will be attending until he finishes an English credit so he can join the Wildcats.

Samuels has the same idea.

“Oh, I know for sure I’m going to pass it this time,” he said. “If not, I’ll stay in Fitchburg the entire year and go to K-State next year.”

Either way, he’ll be in purple in the future.

The 6-foot-9, 205-pound Samuels would rather it was sooner than later, though. He can envision contributing to the team immediately, and he can’t wait to re-connect with Bill Walker — “That is a funny dude,” he said — and Mike Beasley, his D.C. Assault teammate.
He laughed Thursday when the Assault connection/pipeline was mentioned, as if the whole thing has been overblown. Samuels spoke warmly of Dalonte Hill, whom he referred to as a “big brother-type,” but he said he felt an instant bond with Manhattan.

“The atmosphere, the people were great,” Samuels said. “You can tell they’re really into their athletics.”

That wasn’t the case at Seton Hall, which offered a scholarship. As for Tennessee, which showed some interest prior to the start of Samuels’ junior season at The Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C., Samuels said Wednesday that Vols’ coach Bruce Pearl told him he needed to shoot the ball better from the perimeter if he was going to end up in Knoxville.

Samuels did, ending the season with averages of 22 points and 10 rebounds, but he was locked in on K-State by then.

Like Sutton, he doesn’t want to come in and score a bunch of points. He’d rather be an energy guy, like one of his idols, Kevin Garnett, who can also fill it up a little. Garnett’s nickname is “The Big Ticket,” and Samuels, because of his build and skill set, is regarded as a smaller version.

Thus, his nickname is “Ticket.” That, he said Wednesday, or simply “Mar.”

He does model his game after Garnett, but he’s been told how he plays is similar to former Georgetown star Jeff Green, who was known as a point forward with the Hoyas.

Whatever he has to do to help the Wildcats, preferably sooner than later, he’ll do.

“I just want to come in with energy and get the crowd hyped,” he said.

ALSO…

ONLY 18, Samuels wouldn’t be surprised if he grew to be taller than 6-foot-10.

REGARDING another D.C. Assault product, Wally Judge, and his recent commitment to K-State for ‘09, Samuels said, “Wally’s my little brother. I’m happy with his decision, man.”

TURNS out Samuels used to be a big fan of a player from “that team up the road.” On the AAU circuit, Samuels would get to the gym early to watch Brandon Rush do his thing. “I liked his game,” Samuels said. Now a guard at Kansas, Samuels said he, like the rest of his classmates, can’t wait to get at the Jayhawks. Doesn’t take for the rivalry to take root, does it?

SAMUELS, like most, is smitten with Walker. “I can tell when I get there me and Bill are going to have a good bond,” he said. But it’s not just off the court. Walker is all business on the court, and during Samuels’ on-campus visit Aug. 4, the incoming freshman saw for himself. “(Walker) told me to get all of my stuff squared away, to get ready, because (the team) needs me,” Samuels said.

AND finally, this was his comment on Beasley: “He’s out of this world. I’ve never seen anyone that tall and that agile. He’s the next Carmelo, I’m telling you. … Thing is, I remember when Mike was just good, but he wasn’t one of the best players in the area. That was eighth grade. … We played him — I was playing for the Maryland Madness, and he was playing for the Assault, and we played at the University of Maryland. He dropped 37 or 40 points on us. Not on me, but our big man. He was just standing outside, shooting three’s and getting breakaway dunks.”

By J-Mart | Filed under Basketball | Comments (1)

I GOT FIVE ON IT … Bill Snyder

Oct. 18, 200712:03 p.m.

Can’t front — this made my morning. “The Man” was chipper, happy to answer all of my questions — when I explained they came from you, the readers. Makes me wonder if our job as journalists would have been easier all these years if we’d used that approach all along. Enjoy.

1. If you could pick 3 offensive and 3 defensive players you coached to start a team with, who would they be?

My gosh. (Laughter). I probably need some time to think. My heavens. … A lot of guys leap to mind. There isn’t anybody we’ve had that played and didn’t handle themselves appropriately. Some guys who come to mind are Quentin Neujahr, who came to us very early. He was a tremendous leader in our program. Chad May — Quentin was the center and Chad was the quarterback. Michael Bishop, also a quarterback, such a competitive young guy. They were all such competitive young guys. Right along with them, Darren Sproles. Kevin Lockett comes to mind, another excellent leader. Jamie Mendez … I’m getting beyond five, aren’t I? He was a tremendous leader in our program as well, one of the younger guys. You have to mention a guy like Darren Howard, who was an impact player on defense. … There are a lot of others. And I’ve left out probably a hundred players, a lot of guys who had a tremendous impact. If we were going to start over with a team, I’d have to list at least 120. (J-Mart note: The Man politely admonished me for not having a tape recorder handy. I promised to do better the next time.)

2. What opposing coach from the Big 8/Big12 gave you the most headaches?
Well, again, I’d have to preface it with it’s factual — they all give you headaches. If you’re not ready to play every week, you’re going to get exposed. There were some tremendous coaches, but I’d have to say Tom Osborne, because I don’t think we ever beat Nebraska when he was there. But the conferences have been full of tremendous coaches.

3. Other than coaching, if you could have done anything else what would it have been?
I don’t mean to be evasive with these things, but I grew up and knew that was the natural progression — you participated in sports, finished your education and went into coaching. That was how my life was laid out, not by anyone in particular, just by happenstance. I think if I hadn’t involved myself in coaching and ended up coaching, I probably would have continued in the teaching field.

4. What was the best coaching opportunity you were offered while at KSU?
I’ve always promised I wouldn’™t expose the interest of anyone. … I would think the number would be close to … There was a period of time when it was somewhat frequent. I never addressed it. … I responded, allowed people to know I was flattered, whether it was college football or NFL, and I was humbled by it. But I didn’t want to pursue it any further. There was never any doubt in my mind. I wasn’t going to leave K-State.

5. Did you like recruiting?
Some of it I enjoyed. It was a pleasure to get to know a bunch of people, to spend time with them. Spending time in the homes of young people — I have probably been in every type of environment you could imagine. Some of it wasn’t enjoyable, and that dates back beyond K-State. The rules were different, and how people abided by the rules was different — again, way back before K-State — and that wasn’t satisfying at all. From time to time, you ran across certain individuals that weren’t pleasant to be around. Not pleasant at all. But by and large, the vast majority, probably 95 percent, of the people you had to be around in that process was enjoyable. To lose someone you worked diligently with to get to come to K-State, no, that wasn’t enjoyable. (J-Mart question: You didn’t lose many of those, did you?) We lost our fair share.

(BONUS) 6. Do you think your style would have gone over well in the NFL?
A lot of people say coaching is coaching, regardless of the level. I always wanted to believe that. The systems are different, the expectations are different, and the age group is different. One of things I always said, that with my commitment to K-State, I never wanted to be involved in NFL. As we saw times change, I didn’t want to be in a situation where players made more money than the coaches, for obvious reasons. I’ve been privy to many experiences where that’s not a comfortable place for a coach to be.

I can’t say how much I respect that man. What a treat.

By J-Mart | Filed under I GOT FIVE ON IT | Comments (5)