Frank Martin spoke yesterday about it having coached Udonis Haslem at Miami Senior High and obviously Mike Beasley last season, and how now they’re both in the same frontcourt with the Miami Heat.
Well, the Kansas State connection with the Heat frontcourt actually goes further – assistant coach Matt Figger coached Shawn Marion at Vincennes.
Just something I found interesting…
- Fred Brown is bigger, especially in the arms. Darren Kent is bigger. Everyone is bigger, and that’s a credit to Scott Greenawalt. While it remains to be seen how good these guys are going to be, they’re no doubt they’re in fantastic shape.
Read More »
He’s destined to become an outstanding quote. Funny kid. I asked him who he thought would be the team’s biggest surprise. His response:
“I really think me, because… (Laughter). Nobody doesn’t know anything, what to expect from me.”
So I asked – what can we expect?
“A lot of dunks. A lot of blocks, a lot of rebounds, a few threes here and there… Everybody on the team compares me to Tim Thomas, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I like his game. I’ve been working on my inside and outside game. I’ll showcase a lot this year.”
I’ll have more over the course of the evening and tomorrow morning as I extract more nuggets.
Russell, the 6-foot-4 point guard from Arlington Grace Prep, committed to Kansas State today, becoming the fourth member of the Class of 2009.
Noting who was already in the fold – Russell, a point guard, Rodney McGruder, a shooting guard, Wally Judge, a power forward, and Jordan Henriquez, a center – I said it appeared as if K-State was trying to bring an entire unit, minus a small forward. Could that be the next or last piece?
“I don’t know,” Russell said.
Well, it was a theory anyway. But don’t be surprised if there is activity during the late signing period.
They knew they weren’t supposed to win.
I thought for a while about how to write that, because it’s different than writing Kansas State’s players knowing they weren’t going to win, and it struck me – there are games this team realizes it has no chance of winning, and then that triggered these thoughts:
How many other times has this happened? How many more times will it happen?
Read More »
Just spoke with Nick Russell, who is supposed to be visiting Kansas State this weekend for “Madness in Manhattan.” The Arlington (Texas) Grace Prep point guard had the day off from school because underclassmen are taking the PSAT.
I’d heard he was close to committing to K-State, and asked him point blank if that was case.
“I don’t know if I’m close to committing to K-State, but I know I’m close to making my decision,” Russell said.
When?
“Real soon, in the coming days,” he said.
Would it be fair, I asked, to reason that if he’s in Manhattan this weekend, a K-State pledge would be forthcoming?
Read More »
No exactly a shock, but it is what it is. Little was almost at K-State, wasn’t he?
Anyway, here’s the release from the Big 12:
Sophomore forward Blake Griffin (Oklahoma) has been named the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, it was announced. Junior guard Mario Little (Kansas) was chosen as Preseason Newcomer of the Year, while guard Willie Warren (Oklahoma) earned Preseason Freshman of the Year accolades. Players honored in preseason voting were selected by the league head coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes.
Griffin is one of two All-Big 12 First Team performers back for this season. The sophomore forward led the Sooners in scoring (14.7 ppg) rebounding (9.1) and field goal percentage (.568) a year ago. The scoring average was the highest by an OU freshman in 24 seasons. He had 10 double-doubles, including his last seven against squads that competed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
Little arrives in Lawrence after leading his junior college team to a 68-5 record over the last two seasons. He averaged 15.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists a year ago at Chipola College. Little shot 55 percent from the floor, including 40.3 percent from 3-point range. The junior guard was rated as the No. 1 JUCO player in the country by Rivals.com.
Read More »
From the Kansas State sports information department:
K-State head coach Frank Martin will be hosting walk-on tryouts on Monday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum.
All interested individuals are required to have passed a physical and be a full-time student at Kansas State. In addition, individuals must bring photo identification and a health insurance card to participate in the tryouts.
For more information, please contact the men’s basketball office at (800) 651-4667.