Daily Archives: May 2, 2012

K-State basketball close to neutral-court series with Gonzaga

May 2, 20124:51 p.m.

As long as an unforeseen problem doesn’t come up at the last minute, Kansas State and Gonzaga will play a series of neutral-court games in the next two years.

Wildcats coach Bruce Weber said today the series will begin in Seattle next season with Gonzaga making a return trip to Kansas City or Wichita during the 2013-14 season.

ESPN first reported that K-State was set to play Gonzaga in Seattle this morning.

“It hasn’t been finalized, but it is something we pursued,” Weber said. “We felt we needed to add something on to our nonconference schedule, that’s why we kind of scrambled and got the opportunity with Gonzaga. They will return to Kansas City or Wichita the next year.”

So which one will it be? The Sprint Center or Intrust Bank Arena? Weber isn’t sure.

The Wildcats have been playing nuetral-court games in Kansas City for years and will play Florida there next season. They also made a trip to Wichita last season for a game with West Virginia. Big crowds have filled both stadiums. K-State wants to appeal to fans in both areas. It’s a tough decision. A tough decision that Weber might not be able to make on his own.

“That’s more up to the administration,” Weber said. “We would like to play a game in Kansas City as many years as possible; if not every year, most years. But I know at the same time that Kansas State had a real good crowd when they played West Virginia in Wichita. We have good fans in that part of the state. We would like to keep Wichita in mind, too.”

Wherever the game ends up, Weber is glad he will get to test his team next season with a quality game away from home. Other tests at George Washington, against Florida and the preseason NIT were already on the schedule, but Weber thought the Wildcats needed another challenge. So he passed on a guaranteed game against a low-major school at Bramlage Coliseum to start this series.

“When we looked at the schedule, we wanted to make sure we had enough quality opponents and maybe work toward getting a game in Kansas City or Wichita the next year,” Weber said. “I have done the Battle in Seattle before and enjoyed it. Hopefully it works out again.”

By Kellis Robinett | Filed under Basketball | Comments Off

A few minutes with … Alvin Brooks III

May 2, 201210:13 a.m.

Alvin Brooks III hasn’t been in Manhattan long. When the new Kansas State assistant coach told Bruce Weber he would be joining his staff last week, the first thing he did was hit the recruiting trail.

It wasn’t until Tuesday that he finally flew into town and unpacked his bags. He can already tell he’s going to like his surroundings, though. The former Sam Houston State assistant has been working hard for years to reach this level. He started off as a player in junior college before transferring to Idaho State. Then, six months out of school, he decided he didn’t like the career he had planned for himself as a financial adviser. So he got into coaching at the juco level and began working his way up.

He comes to K-State with eight years of college coaching experience. Though he has never coached in a conference similar to the Big 12, he knows someone who has. His father, Alvin Brooks II, is a former Houston head coach and has served as an assistant at Texas-El Paso, Texas A&M and Kentucky. He currently works as an associate head coach at Houston under James Dickey.

About one hour after viewing his K-State office for the first time, Brooks III was nice enough to talk about all that and more. Here are a few of the highlights:

How long have you known Bruce Weber, and what appealed to you about Kansas State?

I knew him because when I was at Bradley we recruited the same areas. I talked to him a lot on the road. I knew him and Coach (Chris) Lowery from when I was at Bradley. Coach Weber is a good person, but also a good coach. Coach Lowery is the same. The tradition you guys have here, and the fan base … I had no idea the fan base was like it is. It’s just a great opportunity. I think it will be a really good challenge.

One of the first things Weber said when he got here was that he wanted to bring in an assistant who could recruit Texas. I’m guessing you’re that guy. What’s your philosophy on recruiting the Lone Star State?

First off, it’s a huge state. I think it’s going to be fun recruiting the state just because it’s huge. There are a lot of players there. It’s even better now because more and more schools are recruiting Texas because of the reputation that it has lately. I think the biggest thing is just using the relationships I already have and building on more that I will gain. At Kansas State, it will be a place to talk to them about and their recent exposure. I think it will be fairly easy to get in the door. I’ll just have to do the rest from there.
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By Kellis Robinett | Filed under A few minutes with ..., Basketball | Comments Off