K-Stated

In its first loss of the season, Kansas State made 36.7 percent of its shots from the field, 22.2 percent of its shots from three-point range and scored more than half of its points on fast break and second chance opportunities.

The Wildcats clearly struggled with Bruce Weber’s motion offense, and that’s the main reason they were unable to push No. 4 Michigan in the second half of a 71-57 defeat.

“We need to spend more time on offense, because a lot of us aren’t on the same page with knowing how to set screens and keep the offense moving,” starting forward Nino Williams said.

That showed when it took nearly 10 minutes for K-State to get its first points out of a half-court set. Seniors Rodney McGruder and Jordan Henriquez were quiet until the game got out of reach and guards Will Spradling and Angel Rodriguez were the only two players that were consistently active.

But while they held the ball or sprinted around the perimeter to get open, K-State’s interior players seemed lost. They rarely caught the ball in good position to turn and shoot, and when they tried to pass back outside Michigan made them work.

The Wolverines didn’t allow the Wildcats to make many easy passes, and that was perhaps what hurt K-State the most. When forwards have to jump or lob passes to get the ball to guards on the perimeter, everything slows down.
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I spoke with Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin for about 20 minutes earlier today. During that conversation we covered a number of topics, ranging from the similarities he sees between Dallas Mavericks guard J.J. Barea and Wildcats freshman Angel Rodriguez (read all about it in tomorrow’s paper), what he is expecting out of his newest recruits, the promotions on his coaching staff and plenty in between.

I’m planning on passing along all of those tidbits throughout the week right here. Allow me to kick things off now with a few notes.

Feeling Better

Martin is much healthier today than he was last month when he began undergoing treatment for blood clots found in his leg.

“I feel great,” Martin said. “I’m on blood thinners. There are times during the day that makes you feel weird, but I’m good. My doctors are comfortable with my blood and they’re comfortable with the clot. In the back of my mind, I’m always worried. Blood clots are nothing to mess with. So I’m not free and clear. I’m always going to have a concern in the back of my mind, but physically I’m good.”
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Kansas State was unable to defeat UNLV without its best two players in the lineup Tuesday at the Sprint Center.

The loss came in front of a raucous sellout crowd, and the shorthanded Wildcats played the Rebels tough before falling 63-59. But it was a painful night for K-State all the same.

“We’re not about losing here,” said an angry Frank Martin. “We’re not about playing hard and coming up close and moral victories. That’s not what we built our program about. We lost, so it wasn’t good enough.”

Martavious Irving and Jamar Samuels later said they also found few positives in the loss. Samuels made a good point about the Wildcats being strong enough to beat Virginia Tech earlier this season with Kelly out of the lineup and Pullen only playing 14 minutes. He thought they should have done the same here.

K-State is certainly a team that should know how to play with members of its roster unavailable. Of the Wildcats’ 16 players, only six (Rodney McGruder, Victor Ojeleye, Nick Russell, Freddy Asprilla, Jordan Henriquez-Roberts and Will Spradling) have seen action in every game this season.

The other 10 have missed anywhere from one game to nine for various reasons. Here is a rundown:
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How big is today’s CBE Classic championship game between fourth-ranked Kansas State and top-ranked Duke?

So big that there is virtually no way to over hype it.

The Wildcats are striving for a marquee victory that will prove themselves capable of handling high expectations. The Blue Devils and coach Mike Krzyzewski are, well, Duke: the defending national champion everyone loves to hate. Except Frank Martin, that is.

“I look at two things,” Martin said. “No. 1, it’s hard to be good for one year. They’ve been good for 28 years. They’ve competed for national championships and conference championships for 28 years. That’s ridiculous.

The other part of it, which shows the kind of man that leads that program, and the people that he demands to have in that program, USA Basketball had become the laughing stock of the world. All of a sudden he engages in USA basketball and now USA basketball is back to dominating the world.

“It’s going to be a privilege to tell my grand kids one day that I was able and fortunate enough to sit on the bench opposite Coach K, and try to prepare a team to compete against his.”
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When Kansas State’s 83-56 exhibition victory over Newman was complete Tuesday night, Frank Martin was asked what he’d like to see his team improve on before taking the court this Sunday against Washburn.

After using 14 players and all kinds of different lineups, the Wildcats basketball coach could have said anything. I thought he’d point to his team’s 17 turnovers.

Turns out he saw no major flaws the first night out. This week in practice he’d like to see his team get a little better at shooting free throws (K-State made 21 of 40) and making one-foot layups (K-State made 39.7 percent of its shots).

Those, indeed, are some easy problems to solve.
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