Kansas State announced in a statement last night that the program will undergo several roster changes that will impact the 2015-16 season. Specifically, the Wildcats dismissed sophomore Marcus Foster and freshman Tre Harris from the team. Head coach Bruce Weber was succinct when he said, “Marcus and Tre have been unable to live up to the standards that we expect of our players.” Foster had already been suspended by Weber in February for violating team rules, and even though he had expressed a strong desire to return to Manhattan next season, his head coach obviously had different plans. In addition to the dismissals of Foster and Harris, Kansas State also announced the transfer of freshman point guard Jevon Thomas. Thomas too missed the Wildcats’ regular season finale against Texas for disciplinary reasons, and even though the freshman returned for the Big 12 Tournament, he was clearly displeased with Weber after finding out about his suspension via social media.
These roster changes will have an immediate effect on the Kansas State program as it attempts to improve upon a rather disappointing 2014-15 campaign. The losses of Foster, Harris and Thomas in combination with the graduations of Thomas Gipson and Nino Williams create a massive hole on the team’s depth chart. Kansas State will lose its top four players in minutes played from this season, and Foster, Gipson and Williams were the team’s leading scorers. To put that into perspective, Kansas State, a team that averaged just 63.0 points per contest this season, stands to lose 43.5 points per game with these departures. And Foster, despite a disappointing sophomore season, proved during his freshman year that he has star power. These are substantial losses, but despite all of that lost productivity, Weber’s house-cleaning could provide Kansas State with an opportunity to grow as a program. It is clear that the head coach struggled to get through to his players this season, ultimately resulting in a frustrated plea from him after a loss to TCU. “I just want guys that care,” he said. “That is all I want, guys that care and want to play for K-State and want to play to win and will play hard.”
Weber now has a fresh opportunity to reshape his program accordingly. The Wildcats will presumably return sophomores Wesley Iwundu and Nigel Johnson, a pair of players who had major roles in two of Kansas State’s big victories this year. Iwundu made the steal and slam to lock up the Wildcats’ late-season win over Iowa State, while Johnson buried four three-pointers to carry the team past Kansas. These moves also open up space for Weber to sign a full recruiting class. The Wildcats have already signed three prospects and they also have verbal commitments from three-star players Kamau Stokes and Eric Cobb (both of whom can sign this spring). Certainly there will be a short-term jolt as the program adjusts to life without these players’ production, but if Weber can use the transfers and dismissals as an opportunity to revive the program with players that care, Kansas State might be back quicker than anyone expects.