I spoke with Ron Prince yesterday about a bunch of things, most unrelated to football. It was a pleasant conversation. But the very first thing he told me, or the very first thing I asked about, was regarding Leon Patton, who was the only returning experienced option at running back for Kansas State until he was arrested early Monday morning on outstanding warrants for theft and failure to appear.
“We’re going to remove him from all activities until this is all cleared up,” Prince said.
That, of course, is an indefinite suspension. Sports information director Kenny Lannou confirmed my delayed interpretation.
How this affects the roster, and more specifically, the running back position remains in question. Prince seems to like his backs interchangeable; quantity is almost more of a factor than quality. And that might be the case this year, especially if the offensive line – and that’s a big if – is up to the challenge of not only competing but staying healthy.
I thought Patton would have more of an impact last season, but James Johnson was clearly the better talent. Patton was the best the Wildcats had on the present roster, perhaps until (and if) junior college transfer Daniel Thomas arrives in Manhattan.
Final word on Patton: if Thomas Clayton received a one-game suspension for his traffic attendant woes two years ago, and given Rashaad Norwood’s issues last season, expect Patton to be out for at least a couple of games. I’d be shocked if he’s not back for Louisville, though. Then again, Prince might have had enough of Patton, who spent much of last summer in Prince’s doghouse for undisclosed reasons.
- ALL of your responses to my preseason poll query were enlightening. Now, I’m asking another favor – take off your purple-tinted glasses, put down the purple Kool-Aid and answer me this: Do you really see the Wildcats winning more than six games with that schedule? I understand the first four games are winnable, but you’re also making a huge assumption – too many fans now regard this as a done deal – about going into Louisville and winning. Ron Prince, K-State has won two road games in two seasons. Two games out of a possible 12. Those are the facts.
Even if the Wildcats were to start 4-0, which I admit is a distinct possibility, convince me winning a game in the next six weeks is likely. Put it this way – I doubt K-State is favored in any of those games. Home games at the end of the season against Nebraska (hmmm…) and Iowa State (gotta have that one) would be left, but if the Wildcats had dropped six in a row, there would be all sorts of new problems to consider at that point of the season. If you thought the players quit on the coaching staff at the end of last season, what do you think happens if K-State drops six in a row? Yikes.
- THAT said, I think K-State goes 6-6, which would be a tremendous accomplishment given how the Big 12 schedule stacks up. Guess dropping Fresno makes total sense now, huh? And now, I’m not identifying which games I believe the Wildcats will win.
- NOT surprised in the least by what Michael Beasley did in his Miami Heat debut yesterday in the Orlando Summer League. His agent, Joel Bell, told me a story about how Beasley, who is friends with DerMarr Johnson – another D.C. Assault alumnus - played a pickup game with the Denver Nuggets, for whom Johnson once placed, back when Beasley was in high school. Beasley was matched up against Kenyon Martin, a former No. 1 NBA draft pick. According to Bell, Beasley got the better of the matchup, causing some Denver personnel types to gush that they’d take him now (or then), insisting he could help an NBA team as a high school junior. Watching him dice up Joakim Noah, who will have a long and solid NBA career, was fascinating. But it wasn’t as if I didn’t see it coming. Mike is the goods.
17 Comments
J-Mart,
I’m not drinking the kool aid on this upcoming football season, expecting a four and eight result. The finale will be Prince being fired. If only we played Texas again this year…
too early to make predictions…
unless those predictions say we go undefeated and with the national championship. which is precisely what i’m going with, an undefeated season culminating by ronald prince and crew cutting down the ‘nets in the orange bowl and showing the ku faithful what a real win in the orange bowl looks like.
go kats!
Give us the “most unrelated to football.”
ZOMG! CLAMS STOLE MY PREDIC.! Agreed on GO KATS too!
hey go kats x2 !!
I’m giving they cat’s a 7-5 or 8-4 We can beat KU at KU I think we can beat A & M. as well, and then you have CU and ISU, and maybe NU while assuming we win the 4 preseason I think that will give us 9 wins if we win all of those. If we can go to Texas and win we can win in any of these venues. This is a new season and the past does not matter.
KU at KU? really? as much as i’d love it, that’s not going to happen. I hate ku as much as the next guy, but it’s tough to play there recently and they return the house and we lose the jordy. we’ll probably lose Louisville too. sorry. i’d love to say we’ll be 10 and 2 or better, but it’s not in the cards.
i’m saying a very pesamistic 3-9. With Bill Snyder as Interim Head Coach after we lose the cop out game to Montana State. (ha, ok the last part is a joke, but seriously… BAD)
If Rock Star Ron goes 6-6 he saves his job. If he goes 4-8, watch out…. The KState faithfull will begin to wonder whether hiring an unknown, unproven coach, from at best a mediocre football school, was a good decision….
Of course the architect of this whole fiasco will have long since gone… to greener pastures… and to a position with the Big 12….
Wildcat, they return the house? They lost their TE, All-American LT, RT, Best WR, RB, All-American CB, a backup CB, DT, backup DT, K, P. That’s 1/3 of their starters and both of the most important positions on the line. And it’s not like they were lightyears better than us last season. They beat us by 6 points and we had the lead in the 4th! We should improve while they should be worse.
We play well at home, and could surprise OU or TT. We should beat Texas A&M because they will not be very good with a new coach. We’ll beat Colorado, I don’t understand the boner everyone has for them, we embarrassed them last season. And we will most definitely beat Kansas. Their offensive line is swiss cheese.
You’re right on Jeff. The problem with this year’s conference schedule is that we start conference play with teams we’re undermatched at home and evenly matched teams on the road. The most winnable conference games are the last two games of the season (NU and ISU at home) and by that time we could realisticly be 0-6 in conf games and the fans will be grumbling. Optimistically I look for a 4-0 start, then a win at CU and wins at home against NU and ISU for a 7-5 record and a bowl game.
The saving grace may be the talent of the incoming juco players and the coaching staff. No one knows how good these guys are at D1 and no one knows if our young inexperienced coaches can coach (Brock/Tibesar). This will be a very interesting year and could determine if KSU is back on track as a contender or moving towards the bottom of the conference (e.g. ISU, BU).
If there’s no bowl game, Prince will not be fired until he’s given 4 seasons. They’ll let this JUCO class and Josh Freeman finish up before starting fresh.
Percentages of Winning:
North Texas – 100%
Montana State – 100%
at Louisville – 50%
OOO La La – 100%
Texas Tech – 60% Over hyped as always
at A&M – 50% We’re better, but atmosphere is tough
at CU – 60%
Oklahoma – 30% (but they may have to forfeit later for ineligible players/cheating)
at KU – 50% flip a coin
at MU – 10%
Nebraska – 70% they suck, literally
Iowa State – 80%
Based on probability 7.6 wins 4.4 loses round it off 8-4.
I was too optimistic last season so I have to go with reality this year:
UNT = win
MSU = win
@ UL = road game = loss, although I’m torn giving this an automatic loss prediction)
ULaLA = win
TTU = loss (no way with how the D performed last year)
@TAMU = toss up. it’s a winnable game, but it’s on the road so the odds aren’t very good.
@CU = toss up, I think CU’s a bit overrated but we haven’t won there in awhile.
OU = loss
@KU = loss, but I predict a 7-5 season for them at best though.
@MU = loss
NU = toss up, although this should be a winnable game.
ISU = win, but there are no easy wins in the big 12.
Best possible prediction: 7-5
Worst record prediction: 4-8
An 8 win season is just not in the cards for this season. Next season 2009 I expect great things with a LOT of Juco Transfer seniors and a senior (hopefully heisman hopeful) quarterback.
It might be a long season…..
*clarification – we beat CU at home in 2006, but it’s the year they went 2-10 so that really doesn’t count.*
Honestly (and I hope I’m wrong), I see a 3-9 (0-8) season for the Wildcats. I think all the teams in the North will be better than last season with the exception of KU and K-State, and the South schedule is brutal. MU may or may not be better, but they’re still clearly the class of the division. I expect Louisville to make major steps in year 2 under Kragthorpe, and frankly, they don’t need to improve to beat K-State at home.
The JUCO guys will have to contribute hugely for K-State to win much, and I don’t see any wins in the first 6 conference games. I think Nebraska and Iowa State will continue to improve as the year goes on (look at ISU last season), and a dreaded 0-8 season is a possibility — particularly given the fragile mental state an 0-6 start would produce.
Hell, the way UNT flings it around, and unless our defense is hugely improved, they scare me a bit too.
Hopefully I’m a bit too cautious/pessimistic and the team is much more competitive, but with a somewhat objective eye, that’s what I expect. It won’t take much to exceed my expectations, so I guess it’ll be hard to be disappointed. But our offense is below average and our defense is below average. It’ll be hard to win if that’s the case.
Can we just go back in time 10 years?
Jmart, you should cite my post as your source… http://www.ksufans.com/forums/index.php?topic=27323.90
That’s just good journalism, IMO.
wildcat07 is obviously a “larryville” troll…
as a huge chiefs fan myself, i like where your head is at. but about ku, they lose b-mac at RB but return sharp. they still have a lot of talent coming back at WR, everyone (including ku fans) thought their O-line last year was the biggest question mark and look out how that turned out. and of course don’t forget the frustratingly efficient Reesing. Mangina appears to know as much about putting together the pieces of a football team as he does about food. which is a scary thing for any wildcat fan.
About the game last year, yeah, i still think we should have won, but the fact remains that from that point on, KU continued to improve and KSU faltered.
Also, playing at memorial stadium, AS KSU, is not a good thing (recently, of course). i’ve been to every ksu/ku matchup since i was a freshman. (2003) and the past two games at memorial stadium have been (close to) the craziest game day atmospheres i’ve been a part of. and i’ve been to every ksu homegame for the past 5 years.
I agree that colorado is easily win-able, but TT is going to score 165 points against our defense while OU is going to shut us out.
I hope i’m wrong. but i have started every single season until this one, counting the games that we could win, usually saying that we can win 10+ and get a BCS bowl. not this year. we’ll more than likely win 5. my best guess.