It’s not going to get any easier, folks.
Baylor is going to be desperate - and the Bears will be at home Saturday. Two days later, Texas - which might be the best team in the Big 12 right now - comes to Manhattan. And then it’s KU a few days after that.
You all can see what lies ahead, but none of that is important right now. This team doesn’t seem right at the moment. Some of you have suggested it’s youth, and some have decided it’s on Frank. I’m not sure where I stand, and I’m not sure it’s important. But I’ll echo Frank’s line last night about the team winning together and losing together.
That’s how it is.
But, no doubt, something has to give - soon. I wrote before the week started this was a critical stretch for K-State. A win in Waco would be enormous, but who in their right mind would predict such a thing in light of what we’ve seen the past couple of weeks? It’s almost as if the players are starting to believe they can’t win on the road.
Talent isn’t and won’t be an issue the remainder of the season, just as it wasn’t last night. Some will argue the effort was there last night; I might argue otherwise.
Doesn’t matter. None of it does. The Cats have some soul-searching to do. Give Nebraska credit because the Huskers did what they had to do to be successful. The same couldn’t be said for K-State.
19 Comments
Frank needs to do some soul searching as well. He needs to realize when his players aren’t cutting it in Pressure Man Defense, that he needs to switch to a 3-2 zone and help his guys out.
He was thoroughly out-coached last night. This was just a bad KSU performance all the way around.
Terrible performance by the ‘cats. Better get there sh*t together in a hurry. My feelings about this team are changing in a hurry
Gavin
I love this team, but they have to figure out how to stay composed on the road. That, and the coach needs to help them out when he sees we are getting our butts kicked with Man D.
I was at KSU in the 70’s and last night was like watching a Jack Hartman team. The only problem is the the Hartman team was NU, not us. Nothing against Frank but Doc had his team ready and poised to beat a much more talented foe. I can’t tell you how many times I saw a Hartman team do just that.
My favorite part was where you wrote about nothing for the entire entry. May have been your writing style, I could argue otherwise. Some say it was your lack of desire to write the piece while others will say you are hung over. Your writing talent is there, just as it has been all year. One thing is certain, it doesn’t get any easier when you have an actual column to write and not just a blog entry. Actually two things are certain, when it came time to write a blog entry Jeff Martin did what had to be done. Can’t say the same for God’s Awesome Gift-KSU.
Mental Constipation! Our guys have it in them to do what they need to do - it’s just not coming out right now.
To quote Bill Walton, that was HORRRRIBLE! As far as I’m concerned, the only guy who deserved a grade better than a C for last night was Ron Anderson. I agree that Frank needs to help the team out by changing up the defenses a little more often. KSU played exactly 34 seconds of zone defense last night and Nebraska was totally confused by the 3-2. Talent is not the issue here. Composure is an issue. Coaching is an issue. KU would not have lost that game because Bill Self would have said “You want to play ugly? OK, we’re going to drop back into a zone and play ugly and beat you by 15.” This is not the same team, mentally, that beat OU in Norman.
After watching the Tech and NU games, I think this team plays like babies on the road. They cry about calls that go against them, they don’t hustle back on defense, they yell at each other when things don’t go their way and have no confidence in their open jumpers. Bill Walker’s defense on the road is especially easy to pick on.
Unless they grow up real quick, I predict road losses against Baylor, KU and ISU. Texas game will be a toss-up. Considering 1-1 in the B12 tourney and we could be sitting at 19-12 and a spot on the bubble again. 22-11 didn’t get us in last year. The KU win could keep our RPI high enough to squeek in.
The last two games have been on Frank. The NIT has home games, so that’s encouraging; hopefully we get a 1 seed and have home games all the way til New York. I’m sure ‘Spoon stood up and yelled “I’m going to KSU” after that performance.
This team plays emotionally. At home, they feed off of the crowd and do amazing things. On the road, it is very easy for them to get frustrated. We’ll need to be much more business-like on Saturday to beat Baylor.
KSU is undefeated versus the rest of the Big XII. They are 0-3 versus themselves. I don’t know what will solve the road woes. I hope Frank can figure it out. There is nothing you can say to convince me that KSU will win any more road games. That’s a 10-6 mark at best in the Big XII. We all know where that got KSU last year.
These kids just don’t appear to be ready to step up. Too bad. A lot of effort appears to have gone to waste.
stephen davis is the best contributor to kstated, imo.
also, ksu will beat baylor easily (í’m sane, btw).
I think the difference between now and a few weeks ago when we were hot is the play of Dominique Sutton. Sure he doesn’t have an outside shot, but the athleticism he brings especially on defense brings this team up a notch and is way better than have Gilbert on the court. Hopefully Sutton isn’t done for the season.
We didn’t even win the rebound margine last night. And that is something we have been doing all year. That is the key to our wins, winning the rebounding battle. And how many times did we get striped after we did get a reboud I can count 3 off the top of my head.
we’re a snake in the tall grass on the road. We strike next at baylor.
I agree with Alan above. We do play like babies on the road. We cried about bad calls and were very lazy on defense. Our guys need to brush off the calls that don’t go our way and go on. Bad calls are gonna happen…that doesn’t mean we quit.
I am very disappointed with the coaching last night, but I don’t think the loss falls on any one person’s shoulders….it was a team effort or lack there of. I sure hope we see some hustle and sign of teamwork Saturday against Baylor.
Frank NEVER plays his team very well on the road. When we play at home he gets lots of players in the game and does well with different combinations of players and subbing them efficiently. When we are on the road…he sucks and sticks to 6-7 players when maybe he should mix it up a bit. Damn man!
I am starting to fear this team peaked with the KU game. I hope that is not the case. They really need to see something positive happen to keep this thing from imploding. A strong performance at Baylor, beating Texas, and playing with KU. I think 2 of the 3 need to happen, or it could continue to unravel. At this point you just want at the very least is to have some momentum going into tournament play.
Oh yea, I also echo the feelings on getting tired of watching this team whine so much on the road or when things aren’t going their way.
We have bounced back after all the other bad games this year I hope that is the trend not that the bounce back games have all been at home. However, I blame Huggins for the loss at Nebraska, if he would have red-shirted Martin last year we would have somebody that could bust the zone. Maybe try Fred next time somebody runs the box and 1 against us.