Easily digested nuggets from Wednesday’s K-State basketball media days at Bramlage Coliseum:
IT was an impostor wearing No. 2 last season. So says Blake Young, who insists he never had his legs. Billed as an explosive scoring machine entering last season, that Blake Young never materialized as he was plagued by a balky knee, a knee that required arthroscopic surgery Dec. 11. But, because he’d played before surgery, Young assumed he’d be able to play shortly afterwards as well. Just six days after surgery, Young played two minutes against Kennesaw State.
Why not take more time?
“(Bob) Huggins insisted I’d be back, wanted me back to play,” Young said. “It wasn’t feeling like I couldn’t go, but I felt like I could — just go at a slower pace. … I felt like if I played all of the time with it hurt before I got it done, I figured once I got it fixed I could come back.”
He vows this year will be far different. For starters, he’s healthy — and if you saw him throwing down dunks at “Madness in Manhattan,” you know that’s true. And instead of playing the point, he’s back to off guard, which is where he experienced all of his success in junior college (for current K-State assistant Brad Underwood) and high school.
“Just look for me to be more explosive,” Young said. “The way I score, with how my legs are back. … I’m just so much more confident. I feel better when I go to shoot because I get lift in my jump shot. I’m a jump shooter, not a set shooter. Last year, I couldn’t get any bounce.”
Or any easy buckets, but playing an up-tempo, pressure style — which is what Frank Martin reiterated Wednesday — should remedy that.
“This is more how I like to play,” Young said. “I’m a faster guy that can get out and run more, push the ball more. I feel a lot more comfortable.”
DARREN Kent is bigger and stronger this season and is certain there is a role for him, minutes to be had. Plus, he’s not used to conducting interviews. D.K. was shaking a little bit during his first encounter Wednesday.
THE team is a work in progress, according to David Hoskins, but he likes the team’s chemistry. “Everybody on this team likes each other,” he said. On the topic of Mike Beasley, Hoskins said the freshman doesn’t understand the speed he’s going to have to play at this season, but he also warned against suggesting Beasley might be coasting. “It’s his comfort speed,” Hoskins said. “He makes it look (easy). I don’t think he coasts, but. … he’s a lot faster than guys his size. Maybe you want him to run a little faster, but if his jog is just as fast as their run, it’s kind of tough to say he doesn’t run hard — because of his athleticism.”
AS for that little hand signal/symbol Bill Walker popularized last season and has been embraced by the student body and even by some of his teammates, it’s Walker’s initials.
The thumb and the index finger form the B while the remaining three fingers are the W.
And no, Walker doesn’t understand the fascination with it, either.
“It just caught on,” he said, laughing. “I started doing it two years ago.”
For the record, Mr. Walker is enjoying college life — “You only go to college once, and I’m maximizing every opportunity I have” — and he sounds convinced K-State will become a basketball school once again.
“Of course,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time before things get rolling again.”
NEWCOMERS weren’t allowed to meet with the media, but Beasley made an appearance for the sole purpose of being photographed. Just an observation, but don’t pay attention to the disinterested look on his face most of the time. He may be 6-foot-9 and perhaps the nation’s best freshman, but he’s also the biggest kid you’ve ever met. Most of his time Wednesday was spent wrestling with James Franklin, dunking/mugging for photographers and trying to get Walker to laugh during his interviews. He’s enjoying his time in Manhattan, however long — OK, short-lived — it may be.