Monthly Archives: June 2012

Bruce Weber enjoyed trip to NBA Draft

June 29, 20121:59 p.m.

Bruce Weber has coached several players who have been selected in the NBA Draft, but he experienced the event up close for the first time on Thursday.

Former Illinois center Meyers Leonard (pictured to the left with David Stern) invited the new Kansas State coach to the draft, and sat with him and four other close friends and relatives in the “Green Room” until the Portland Trail Blazers took him with the No. 11 pick.

Sharing the joy of becoming a lottery pick with a former player was a thrill.

“I was obviously excited for our player and his family,” Weber said. “As a coach, it’s a nice moment. It’s a proud moment. His story makes it even better. He was a kid who grew very late, and came from a small town. He was not a highly touted player, now he is a lottery pick. You hope you had something to do with that in his development as a player and a person.”

It was fun to be in the middle of all the action, too.
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By Kellis Robinett | Tags: , , , , , Filed under Basketball | Comments Off

Former lineman Zach Hanson set to join K-State coaching staff as student assistant

June 28, 201212:15 p.m.

Zach Hanson’s final game in a Kansas State uniform has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean his time with the Wildcats is over.

The former offensive lineman, who played a key role in K-State’s run to the Cotton Bowl last season at left tackle, is set to join the coaching staff as a student assistant in charge of offensive quality control. His main duty will be working with offensive line coach Charlie Dickey and the unit he used to be a part of as he attends graduate school.

“I’m excited to get started,” Hanson said by phone. “We have a lot of young talent and a couple starters coming back. I’m looking forward to helping in anyway that I can as a coach.”

Hanson should be able to share plenty of knowledge with K-State’s returning blockers. If not for a back injury, Hanson would currently have a shot at the NFL. That’s where his attention turned when his college football career came to an end. At 6-foot-8 and 313 pounds he received the attention of pro scouts based on his size alone, and the Baltimore Ravens invited him to take part in their rookie camp as an undrafted free agent.

But he was unable to attend. A week before the camp began, he strained his back lifting weights.

“There was no way my body could recover in time to make it,” Hanson said. “I’ve struggled with my back for a while, and I hurt myself a week before I was supposed to leave. I felt like I had a pretty decent chance of making the team, but it didn’t happen.”

Things worked out for him, though. As he tried to figure out what to do next, K-State coaches asked if he wanted to help as a student assistant. Hanson did. Now he’s waiting until summer camp begins in August. That’s when he gets to start helping K-State again.

By Kellis Robinett | Tags: , , , Filed under Football | Comments Off

Chris Harper hoping for 1,000-yard season

June 21, 20121:31 p.m.

It’s not out of the ordinary for a receiver to say his goal for the upcoming season is to catch so many passes that he eclipses the 1,000-yard mark. Still, it was interesting to hear Chris Harper say those words Wednesday at a Catbacker event in Wichita.

The Kansas State senior expects his final season to be his finest, and he thinks he can deliver the stats to prove it.

“I’m trying to get as many yards as possible,” Harper said. “I want to go over 1,000 and break the record. That should be what every receiver wants to do.”

Harper is coming off a 547-yard season that featured five touchdowns. As a sophomore, he went for 330 yards and four touchdowns. Combined, those numbers barely approach the 1,000-yard mark. But Harper has definitely made enough big catches to prove he has the potential for a breakout year. He is the Wildcats’ top overall receiver, and shares a deep connection with quarterback Collin Klein.

But receivers have rarely piled up big yardage at K-State. Only five players in program history have totaled more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season. The single-season record Harper referred to is held by Jordy Nelson (1,606 yards in 2007), while James Terry, Quincy Morgan, Darnell McDonald and Brandon Banks have also eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark.

If Harper can reach his goal, he will be in elite company.
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Bruce Weber targets large recruiting area

June 14, 201211:02 a.m.

With Bruce Weber’s coaching staff complete, he has a pretty good idea where Kansas State will focus on the recruiting trail.

During the Big 12′s summer basketball coach’s teleconference on Thursday, he said the Wildcats will target players near and far. Among the states he mentioned by name were Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Florida and Texas. Among the regions he mentioned by name were the Midwest and the East Coast.

So you can expect K-State to be making calls everywhere but the West Coast.

“We would obviously like to hit Kansas City and Kansas, this part of the Midwest,” Weber said. “But you can branch out to Texas. Dallas, hopefully, will be big for us with daily flights there out of Manhattan. Coach Huggs (Bob Huggins) and Frank (Martin) had a lot of success there. A lot of Big 12 schools have worked prep schools in the East. We will continue doing that. My contacts and Chris Lowery’s are in the Illinois, Indiana region … We will hit that a little bit and then throw in the community colleges when you have a certain need. That’s our plan. We will see what happens.”
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By Kellis Robinett | Filed under Basketball | Comments Off

Duke tops Semi Ojeleye’s recruiting list

June 13, 20129:07 p.m.

As one of the top high school basketball players in Kansas, Semi Ojeleye still has a long way to go in his recruiting process.

Who will he pick? The 6-foot-6 small forward who will soon be a senior at Ottawa is currently considering 11 teams (Arizona, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and Wisconsin) and he wants to cut his list to five before making a final decision.

That process will take some time. But a favorite has emerged from the group — Duke.

“He sure likes Duke,” said Ojeleye’s father, Ernest. “He went on a tour there, and that is his No. 1 school choice right now. They talked to him early on and then they officially offered him when he was there. He enjoyed the visit.”

Ojeleye made an unofficial visit to Duke in early June. It was clear he was looking forward to the trip in this interview with Rivals, and meeting Mike Krzyzewski clearly made quite an impression on him.

Ojeleye was unavailable for comment Wednesday evening. He is currently in Virginia, preparing for the NBPA Top 100 High School Camp.

Much like his older brother, Victor, who just finished his final season at Kansas State, Ojeleye puts a big emphasis on academics as well as basketball. He has a 4.0 GPA and is planning on focusing on finance in college. Victor says he has endorsed K-State to his little brother, but has also urged him to choose the best fit for him.

Former K-State coach Frank Martin began recruiting Ojeleye, but he also likes new coach Bruce Weber.

“Coach Weber is a great guy,” Victor said. “Semi has gotten to know him a little bit, and since he got here they have talked a lot. The guys who are at Kansas State have adapted to Coach Weber and like him, and I think Semi does too.”

Still, the Wildcats and nine other schools on Ojeleye’s list apparently have room to make up on Duke.

By Kellis Robinett | Filed under Basketball | Comments Off

A few minutes with … Chester Frazier

June 8, 201210:18 a.m.

Chester Frazier just joined the Kansas State basketball program as an assistant coach, but he feels like he has been working with the Wildcats for several months.

That’s not surprising considering he did a big favor for Bruce Weber days before he was hired as head coach.

Weber was considering taking the job, but wanted to make sure Rodney McGruder was returning for his senior season before he did. McGruder grew up in Washington DC, and Frazier (a former point guard for Weber at Illinois) grew up in nearby Baltimore. So Weber called Frazier, who was playing professional basketball in Germany at the time, to ask if he could get McGruder on the phone and find out if he was committed to K-State after the departure of Frank Martin. All while not saying anything about Weber’s interest in becoming the next coach.

Not the easiest of tasks, considering Weber’s request came at 3 in the morning (German time) and Frazier had never met McGruder. But Frazier delivered.

“My phone rang and it was Coach Weber,” Frazier said. “He said, ‘Chester, you have to call Rodney.’ All right what’s going on? ‘Well, I might get the Kansas State job and I need you to see what’s going on. He’s their best player.’”

Frazier took a moment to wake up and then called a friend associated with DC Assault, McGruder’s former AAU basketball team. He obtained McGruder’s cell phone number and had him on the phone about 30 minutes later.

McGruder was more than happy to talk.

“It wasn’t really weird,” McGruder said. “One of my good friends is friends with Chester. He said Chester was going to give me a call. I had seen him play before when he was at Illinois. I was cool with it. I was sitting on my couch watching TV. He was just asking me about my situation. I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll stick around. I love K-State.’”

The rest, as they say, is history. Weber became K-State’s head coach a few days later, and he was so impressed by Frazier’s connections (and overall basketball knowledge) that he figured he would be a good recruiter that he offered him a position on his staff.

Frazier moved to Manhattan earlier this week and is excited to get started. He was also nice enough to share a few of his thoughts on his new gig.

What attracted you to this job?

Being an assistant at this level was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. You know, when I was in Germany playing Coach and I kind of talked about it. But as time went on we got more serious about it.
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Angel Rodriguez thinks his game will fit right in with new coach Bruce Weber

June 7, 20123:18 p.m.


When a new coach arrives, few positions face more change than point guard. With that in mind, Angel Rodriguez had a little thinking to do when Frank Martin left for South Carolina and Bruce Weber was hired at Kansas State.

The sophomore point guard had a successful first season with the Wildcats, and became a starter as the season went along. But his up-tempo style, his aggressiveness and his tendency to create his own shot aren’t for everybody.

Some coaches like their point guard to shoot first. Others like their point guard to pass all the time.

Ultimately, Rodriguez decided his game would fit in – and maybe even thrive – with Weber’s coaching style. Two months after the coaching change, he has no regrets.

“I am loving everything about this new coaching staff,” Rodriguez said following a practice earlier this week. “They are nice people. I like their system. It just seems like we are going to enjoy playing for Coach Bruce and his people.”
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