Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

As puzzling as Frank Martin’s decision to leave Kansas State for longtime SEC doormat South Carolina looked last season, and however easily the abrupt departure of an energetic and charismatic sideline presence like Martin could have sent Kansas State into a major funk, the Wildcats wasted no time avoiding any such doomsday scenario by filling the vacancy with deposed Illinois coach Bruce Weber. Whatever the hire lacked in glitz and glamour – and sure, Weber was no one’s idea of a “sexy” coaching commodity – it made up for in stylistic fit. Weber preaches good, hard, physical half-court defense. Kansas State played good, hard, half-court defense under Martin. The disciplined approach at that end of the floor was an assumed feature of the coaching transition: Weber would advance Martin’s defensive ambitions with Martin’s players. Everything would fall into place, Weber would stoke massive excitement among a rabid Little Manhattan fan base in his first year and the Wildcats would keep on going on with nary a concern for their since-defected laser-eyed head coach.

Losing Rodriguez makes another Big 12-contending season a huge ask for Weber (Getty Images).

The formula wasn’t predictively ideal – Kansas State played top-25-level offense in 2012, per KenPom’s per-possession ranks, but finished 63rd in defensive efficiency – but the Wildcats did, as envisioned, win big in Weber’s first year on the job. Rodney McGruder led a better-than-expected offense, Jordan Henriquez protected the rim and the Wildcats finished the regular season with a share of the Big 12 title. The transition was complete. Weber had smoothed over a nasty divorce with a high-win season, a favorable NCAA Tournament seed and Self-era-unprecedented Big 12 hardware to boot. It was almost perfect.

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1. There have already been plenty of transfers in a little over a month since the season ended, but few transfers will hurt their teams as much as Angel Rodriguez, who announced that he was transferring from Kansas State with two years of eligibility remaining. Rodriguez, who averaged 11.4 points, 5.2 assists, and 2.1 rebounds on his way to an All-Big 12 Second Team selection, stated that his reason for transferring was a desire to be closer to his family in Puerto Rico. We are not sure if this means he plans on going back to Puerto Rico or trying to find a program that was just a shorter trip (possibly Miami, but even that is not a quick trip to get home for Rodriguez). In any event Rodriguez will have to sit out a year (unless there is a family health reason driving his decision), but there should be no shortage of suitors for the services of Rodriguez who appeared to be developing into one of the top point guards in the country.
2. With conference realignment continuing to change the landscape of college sports at least one conference–the ACC–is trying to protect itself from outside interests. Yesterday, the ACC announced that its 15 member institutions had agreed to a Grant of Rights through the 2026-27 season that gives the ACC the television rights for those schools during that period. In theory this would still allow schools to transfer during that period, but with those schools unable to generate any money for their new conference we cannot imagine many schools being interested in poaching ACC schools. We were unaware of these policies before the ACC’s announcement yesterday, but apparently several of the major conferences already have them in place. We are not sure if this would actually hold up in court, but so far nobody has challenged it. Of course there is a first time for everything, but we hope that something can slow down the ridiculousness that is conference realignment.
3. For all of the negative publicity that the NCAA gets the one thing that constantly amazes us is how reluctant schools are to fight back against it. As Andy Staples points out there is a movement in that direction, but as you would expect schools are hesitant to do so publicly for fear of retribution from the NCAA. As several administrators have note the NCAA appears to have moved in a direction that may run contrary to what the member institutions, a charge that even Mark Emmert admits to. The question is whether the administrators are willing to actually take a stand and whether they can get enough support behind them to create the type of meaningful change that is needed. We are less than optimistic that it will happen any time soon given the nature of bureaucratic inertia, but it will happen eventually.
4. Yesterday we mentioned the possible move by the NCAA to move up the start of practice by two weeks, but they may be looking at a more significant move–changing the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Andy Katz polled 37 Division I coaches about the proposed changed and 28 of the 37 favor a shorter shot clock although there are some notable exceptions. The big question is whether or not it would increase scoring and frankly the answer is not that clear. When Ken Pomeroy took a look at the subject in a 2012 post he noted that over time offenses have become more efficient, but have fewer possessions. Still Pomeroy did not necessarily come out in favor of a shorter shot clock, which he addressed directly saying “scoring would remain unchanged and we’d just hear the shot clock buzzer go off more often”. For his part Andy Glockner is also not convinced that shortening the shot clock will lead to any meaningful improvement in the college game. While we would not be opposed to a shorter shot clock we would like to see the NCAA address issues with the flow of the game before jumping to the shot clock.
5. In terms of first Division I jobs Chris Casey appears to have landed a pretty good one as the new head coach at Niagara. Casey, who left Division II Long Island University, inherits a program that won the MAAC regular season last year with the youngest roster in the conference and returns all, but one rotation player after former coach Joe Minalich left to take over at Hofstra. While Casey has some impressive credentials including a 62-25 record in his three seasons as a head coach and various accolades as an assistant at St. John’s and Central Connecticut State. We do not expect MAAC teams to get much attention, but Niagara should be favored to win the MAAC next season so Casey does have a decent amount of pressure to produce early.

1. The coaching carousel has been as busy as ever this offseason, and ESPN‘s Jason King takes a deeper look into the resulting coaching changes. Texas Tech made headlines recently when it hired former Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith to replace interim head coach Chris Walker. I had advocated for keeping Walker on past this season, but when you have a chance to hire a coach like Smith, you have to do it. The ex-Gophers coach won a national title at Kentucky in 1998, and he instantly gives the Red Raiders one of the five best coaching staffs in the Big 12.
2. Here is another way-too-early 2013-14 preseason Top 25, this time from Seth Davis at Sports Illustrated. Not surprisingly, only Kansas makes the list right now. The Jayhawks come in at #13 on Davis’ ballot and here is a big reason for it: “I put them here because of the names on the front of the jersey, not the ones on the back.” The Jayhawks have the roster of a Top 25 team, no question, but Davis is right that his ranking has more to do with Bill Self’s reputation of taking teams with obvious issues and turning them into #1 seeds. You will also notice that there are no other Big 12 teams on the list. If (when) the Jayhawks win their 10th consecutive Big 12 championship next season, they could send thank you cards to the other nine schools in the conference. I’m not saying that next year’s Kansas team couldn’t win a more competitive Big 12, but they won’t have to wonder if they could because the conference on paper appears down.
3. Another Kansas State player has decided to transfer. Sophomore forward Adrian Diaz follows freshman guard Michael Orris on the way out of Manhattan after both players saw spot minutes last season. While neither player’s career started the way they probably imagined, there seems to be plenty of opportunities next season for Kansas State. The team’s best player, Rodney McGruder, is gone, as are Martavious Irving and Jordan Henriquez-Roberts. But as Joel Wagler points out, the losses of Diaz and Orris won’t have much of an effect on next year’s team.
4. It’s always nice to hear an NBA scout mirror what you’ve been saying about a player for the last few months, because it doesn’t happen very often (if ever). “McLemore is a better version of Ray Allen,” an anonymous NBA scout told the Lawrence Journal-World‘s Gary Bedore, obviously speaking of Kansas freshman guard Ben McLemore. “He will play shooting guard the way it is supposed to be played.” McLemore can definitely be timid at times, which isn’t a great characteristic in a league filled with assassins like Lebron and Kobe. But I would bet it’s easier to change a quiet demeanor than to give someone McLemore’s outstanding athleticism and shooting ability.
5. Because news is slow this time of year and most news in Big 12 country has already turned to spring football anyway, I leave you with this: Baylor women’s star Brittney Griner should head to the WNBA and skip any publicity stunts associated with joining an NBA team. We don’t need to waste any time discussing the obvious reasons, like how Griner couldn’t survive in the men’s college game much less an NBA practice. But getting embarrassed by someone like Bernard James on the first day of a Mavericks training camp would only hurt Griner’s and the WNBA’s overall image, not help it. And if the WNBA has any hope of surviving and becoming profitable in the long term, having its best prospect ever looking silly against fringe NBA players in a glorified scrimmage is not the best plan.

1. More news surfaced yesterday of Iowa State’s internal investigation stemming from a number of impermissible phone calls over the last couple of years. According to this Associated Press article, a former undergraduate assistant under Fred Hoiberg, Keith Moore, was caught talking to high school recruits at an AAU Tournament in 2011. Hoiberg saw Moore at the event and confirmed he was illegally contacting players. Moore was subsequently fired and the Iowa State Athletic Department began an investigation. It was then turned over to the NCAA, who audited phone calls and text messages over a three-year period and found the impermissible contacts. Are the illegal phone calls or texts much different than what happens at other schools? Probably not. But the moral of the story is to not give the NCAA a reason to start digging.
2. With less than 15 months to go, NBADraft.net released its latest 2014 mock draft here. The top five players are all incoming freshmen, led by top recruit Andrew Wiggins, who is expected to decide between the Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Florida State in the next few weeks. Incoming Kansas freshman guard Wayne Selden is projected to go #7 to the Sacramento Kings. Other Big 12 players include Oklahoma State’s Markel Brown (#22) and Le’Bryan Nash (#44), Texas’ Myck Kabongo (#23), and Baylor’s Cory Jefferson (#47).
3. Beware Kansas and Iowa State fans: The following link won’t be good for your NCAA Tournament recoveries. Matt Norlander over at CBSSports.com ranked the 10 best NCAA Tournament games, and both Big 12 schools made the cut. Kansas’ epic overtime collapse against Michigan, led by Trey Burke’s 30-footer at the end of regulation, came in at #5. As Norlander points out, playing against the eventual AP Player of Year and a team that nearly won the national title makes the Jayhawks’ collapse a bit easier to take. But with less than two minutes left, Ken Pomeroy claimed that Kansas had a 99.4% chance of winning. As for Iowa State, it was another heartbreaking loss on the season. Aaron Craft probably should have been called for a charge late in the game to give the Cyclones the likely win. He wasn’t, and they didn’t. Craft’s three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left gave the Buckeyes the 78-75 win.
4. For Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber, winning the Big 12 regular season championship and earning a #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament earned him a one-year contract extension, theoretically keeping him in Manhattan until the 2017-18 season. He will earn $1.75 million next year, a raise of $250,000. For a school that hadn’t won a regular season conference title in over three decades, the move makes sense. But for a coach that has a history of winning with another coach’s players before struggling to stock up on players himself, it’s a bit puzzling. I would have waited until more of Weber’s recruits make their way to Manhattan before extending his deal.
5. If you were wondering which team (subjectively) is the best NCAA Champion of all-time, ESPN has you covered. They ranked all 74 champions heading into this season. The 1945 Oklahoma State team (then known as Oklahoma A&M) comes in at #67, followed by the 1946 edition at #51. Clyde Lovellette and the Kansas Jayhawks’ 1952 team are #60, just behind ‘Danny and the Miracles.’ The 1988 Jayhawks won the title as an #6 seed and come in at #57. The 2008 Kansas team fails to crack the top 20, coming up just short at #22.

1. In a move that surprised absolutely no one, Kansas freshman guard Ben McLemore announced his intention to enter the NBA Draft yesterday. McLemore apparently told coaches in February that he was coming back, but Bill Self was having none of it. “If he told me he wanted to come back, I would have told him, ‘We need to look at this again,'” Self told the Associated Press. As a near-lock to be a top-three pick, there was little chance McLemore would return for his sophomore season. While it would have obviously helped next year’s team, having a four-star player turn into a top five pick in the NBA Draft will boost Kansas recruiting down the line. Ultimately, McLemore leaving early is a benefit to all parties.
2. Iowa State has been playing basketball for over 100 years but it wasn’t until this season that the Cyclones led the nation in a statistical team or individual category. They made a remarkable 9.9 three-pointers per game this season, tops in the country, thanks in large part to Tyrus McGee. The senior guard led the country in three-point field goal percentage, knocking down 46.4 percent from deep this season. The Cyclones’ small lineup made them one of the toughest match-ups in the country this season. They spread the floor and could knock down shots from anywhere on the court, making double-teams useless and forcing defenses to defend well past the three-point line.
3. The final USA Today/Coaches poll was announced yesterday and not surprisingly, Kansas led the Big 12 representatives at #8. The Jayahwks were #3 in the final pre-NCAA Tournament AP poll, but a disappointing Sweet Sixteen loss to Michigan deservedly dropped them a few spots. Kansas State, the only other Big 12 school to make the cut, also dropped from its final AP ranking. The Wildcats were #12 a few weeks ago but a Second Round loss to La Salle dropped them to #20 in this final poll.
4. Because we can’t get enough college basketball and the dullness of mid-summer baseball is staring us down more with each passing day, the CBSSports.com crew unveiled their way too early Top 25 (And One) rankings. Kentucky, Michigan State and Louisville top the list, but there isn’t much love for the Big 12. Kansas comes in at #20, and it’s hard to argue the Jayhawks should be any higher. All five starters are gone and at least five new freshman are coming to campus. As far as the Big 12 goes, though, that’s it. The conference isn’t supposed to be very good next season as schools like Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Baylor all lose key cogs from this year’s teams.
5. One surprise team next year could be the Texas Longhorns, who struggled mightily this season with one of the youngest rosters in the country and spending a large portion of the season without point guard Myck Kabongo in the lineup. With most of the rotation returning — except for Sheldon McClellan, who will transfer — next season likely hinges on the draft decision of Kabongo and whether he will stick around Austin. Most people seem to think he is NBA bound as a likely late first rounder.

1. Last night at Madison Square Garden, Baylor became what no Big 12 team has ever been before: NIT champions. Once again, Cory Jefferson had a great performance (23 points) to go along with seven rebounds. Isaiah Austin was all over the court: nailing shots (6-of-7), rebounding (nine) and altering attempts (five blocks). If Austin and Jefferson decide to come back next year, they are easily the best frontcourt duo in the conference. Pierre Jackson ended his career with, what else, a double-double (17 points, 10 assists). Though the game was a blowout, it should be noted that Iowa had its one and only lead at 2-0 with 18:39 left in the first h alf. It lasted 31 seconds.
2. Iowa State director of basketball operations Jeff Rutter has decided to leave Ames to take an assistant coaching job with Drake University. Rutter has been around the Cyclones program for the past seven seasons, coming over with Greg McDermott from Northern Iowa in 2006. He served as an assistant coach up until Fred Hoiberg’s arrival in 2010 and then became ISU’s director of basketball ops. Drake tabbed Gonzaga assistant Ray Giacoletti to be its next coach last Thursday and offered Rutter a job just seven days later. I guess you can’t blame Rutter. Coaches gotta scratch that itch.
3. Get a load of this: In a preseason conference tournament with Texas as a participant, it is Wichita State that is the headliner. The 2013 edition of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic should be an interesting one to watch with Brigham Young and DePaul joining the Shockers and Longhorns on November 25 and 26 in the City of Fountains. UT will be a different looking team by then with Sheldon McClellan transferring, and we know the Shockers won’t resemble this year without Malcolm Armstead and Carl Hall. But gee, Wichita State’s the headliner in all of this. What a crazy, beautiful world we live in.
4. Michael Orris didn’t play very much. Yes, he was a freshman on a veteran-laden team but his numbers were microscopic. He played in 15 of the team’s 35 games (about 3.3 minutes per game) and scored just four points for the entire season. On Monday, Orris announced his intention to transfer from Kansas State. He was previously committed to Illinois but after Bruce Weber’s firing, he decided to follow the coach to Manhattan. According to The Times of Northwest Indiana, Orris was originally committed to go to Creighton but said in a text message, “I don’t know where I am going at this present time.” Maybe we’ll see him making an impact somewhere, say in March 2015?
   
5. Bill Self, along with fellow national championship winning coaches Bobby Bowden, Jim Calhoun and John Calipari, will headline a star-studded cast of coaches and TV personalities at the eighth annual Dick Vitale Gala benefiting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. This year of course marks the 30th anniversary of his NC State team pulling off the major upset in the national championship against Houston and “Phi Slama Jama.” It also marks the 20-year anniversary of his inspirational speech that brought down the house at the ESPY Awards.

1. Another day, another win for the Baylor men. The Bears took care of BYU for the second time this season with a 76-70 win in the NIT semifinals. Cory Jefferson had his third consecutive 20-point effort in the NIT with 21. It also makes the Bears 7-0 in games where Jefferson scores 20 or more points. Senior Pierre Jackson had 24 points and 10 assists which happens to be his third straight game with at least 20/10. (How Jackson didn’t even get an AP All-American Honorable Mention is beyond me.) When the Bears play Iowa for the NIT championship on Thursday, it’ll be the second NIT title game in the Scott Drew era. They played another Big Ten team in 2009 — Penn State — when the Bears were at the time led by Curtis Jerrells and LaceDarius Dunn.
2. The Iowa State athletic department announced Tuesday that it has discovered an impermissible number of phone calls were made and text messages were sent between 2008 and 2011. ISU then self-imposed penalties on itself for the 2011-12 academic year which included a reduction in the number of coaches traveling to recruit potential prospects as well as a reduction of phone calls and text messages over a four-month span. The school has also asked the NCAA to place it on probation though details were not released. Another thing we don’t know yet is which sports committed these violations. The NCAA still has the power to place additional restrictions on ISU on top of those already self-imposed. There’s still a lot to be determined in this case so stay tuned for more.
3. TCU made news on the recruiting trail yesterday as the Horned Frogs picked up a commitment from 2013 forward/guard Hudson Price. Price, the son of four-time NBA All-Star guard Mark, pledged for TCU, spurning offers from schools like Saint Louis, Vanderbilt, and Miami (FL). Price is described as an excellent three-point shooter but at 6’6″ and 210 pounds, he isn’t afraid of taking it to the rim either. The addition of Price shores up an already solid class for Trent Johnson led by Karviar Shepherd (four-star) and Brandon Parrish (three-star).
4. As you might know, the mayor of #DunkCity Andy Enfield was hired (perhaps misguidedly) to be the new head coach at Southern California. Now who will replace him? Here’s a list of potential candidates with a couple of names that Big 12 folks should recognize. The first is Jeff Capel, the former Oklahoma coach and current Duke assistant. He doesn’t make any sense for FGCU seeing how he doesn’t have any known connections in Florida, and he could get a better offer than an A-Sun job. The other possibility is Texas assistant Russ Springman, which makes more sense. He worked with Billy Donovan at Florida as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach, but if he were offered the job, he’d take it in a heartbeat. These next few weeks or months may be the only time in world history where a job in Fort Myers looks more attractive than one in Austin.
5. It was a year ago yesterday when Kansas State hired Bruce Weber to be its new coach, replacing South Carolina-bound Frank Martin. Bring On The Cats did a very cool thing by archiving fans’ comments on the hire only to revisit them after a full calendar year has passed. What surprised me the most was even before Martin bolted, some fans already sensed that he was beginning to lose his team. Sure there were a fair share of fans who were angry at first but even they cooled off and came to the conclusion that reason will prevail. Wonder what they’ll say next April 2.

1. The worst kept secret in college basketball these past few days came to light Monday as Texas Tech has formally agreed to hire Tubby Smith to be its new basketball coach. Smith won’t coach a game for the Red Raiders until November but he will enter the Big 12 as arguably the most decorated coach in a league with the likes of Bill Self and Bob Huggins. While it was unfortunate that interim coach Chris Walker did not get the job, hopefully this hire will give the basketball program some much needed stability.
2. The Associated Press released its list of first, second and third team All-Americans on Monday. For the fourth consecutive season, the Big 12 has a representative on the second team with Ben McLemore of Kansas there. The league had two others on the third team in McLemore’s teammate Jeff Withey and Oklahoma State superfrosh Marcus Smart. Kansas State’s Rodney McGruder was named an Honorable Mention recipient and yet nowhere to be found was Pierre Jackson (19.7 PPG, 6.9 APG) of Baylor. It’s not clear what more he could have done to please the AP.
3. Iowa State senior Will Clyburn has been invited to participate in Sunday’s College All-Star Game. The game, sponsored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, features 20 of the top seniors in all of college basketball. Clyburn of course came over from Utah to lead the Cyclones in scoring and was second on the team in rebounding. It also doesn’t hurt that Clyburn will play for ISU head coach Fred Hoiberg in this game.
4. Class of 2013 forward Julius Randle spurned Texas to join what may become the greatest recruiting class of all time at Kentucky. Instead, Dallas area prospect Kendal Yancy-Harris committed to the Longhorns on Saturday. The 6’4″ point guard is the third member of Rick Barnes’ recruiting class, joining Demarcus Croaker from Orlando and Isaiah Taylor of Houston. Yancy-Harris is the only ESPN Top 100 prospect, which is weird for Texas’ standards but was probably the best it could do at this point. With Sheldon McClellan and Jaylen Bond announcing their plans to transfer, how happy could the UT administration be with Rick Barnes right now?
5. Some sad news to pass along from the Kansas State family. Former K-State athletic director H.B. Lee passed away at his home in North Carolina. Lee became the youngest AD in the then-Big Seven when he took over in Manhattan at age 39. Before then he was a pretty good basketball coach at Colorado, taking the school to its one and only Final Four in 1955. He also played a role in establishing land for Bill Snyder Family Stadium and Bramlage Coliseum. While we are sad at has passing, he was 96 years old after all. He lived a full life.

1. Texas Tech once hired Bob Knight. So why not Tubby Smith? Sources indicate the Red Raiders have met with Smith, a one-time national champion at Kentucky and the recently-fired head coach at Minnesota. The Red Raiders, who also netted Billy Gillispie two years ago after his promising coaching career fizzled at Kentucky, seem to have a knack for associating themselves with big names in the coaching business. Smith is clearly the best candidate on the list for Texas Tech at this point. It still remains to be seen what sort of consideration interim coach Chris Walker will get, but Smith is a respected name, regardless of how his tenures at Kentucky and Minnesota ended. And they never even ended that badly, comparatively speaking.
2. Smith might even be the perfect fit at Tech, according to one writer. He’s right about one thing– inking Smith to a deal would certainly create a “splash” in Lubbock, something this school could need. His six-year run with the Golden Gophers was not stellar, and he never finished above .500 in Big Ten play. He did make three NCAA Tournaments and slammed UCLA in the second round this year, but his team collapsed after a terrific start this year. Failing to reach the second weekend would have seemed unacceptable in December, but that’s how far the team fell within the span of a few months. Playing in a brutal Big Ten didn’t help, but point is, Smith wasn’t great at Minnesota. But he could be great in another situation, considering his success at Kentucky. Yes, yes, he won a title with Rick Pitino’s players and, sure, maybe it’s easier to win at a Kentucky, but you’re not going to find many available head coaches with Smith’s pedigree.
3. Amath M’Baye‘s decision this week to declare for the NBA Draft was a bit shocking, especially for Lon Kruger and his Oklahoma teammates. But perhaps it’s not such a bad decision after all. M’Baye has a life to live, and he has a family to help overseas and a professional career to pursue. As the article points out, he’d be almost 25 by the end of next season. He will graduate in fewer than two months. If he feels as though waiting a year to turn pro would slow his progress, then maybe it’s the best thing for him to move on. It’ll hurt, but it won’t cripple Oklahoma’s roster, and it will keep M’Baye moving forward in his own life. Win-win all around.
4. This story made waves in August, but it’s still a fun one: Kansas’ Justin Wesley will play Wilt Chamberlain in an upcoming film called “Jayhawkers.” How’s that for having big shoes to fill? Funny thing is, Wesley had never acted before starting this project. The film’s creator just needed somebody to fill the giant role and asked Bill Self for advice. They almost settled on Thomas Robinson, but Wesley’s body type was a little more conducive to the role. So Wesley it was, and the rest is history. Get your popcorn ready.
5. Marcus Foster turned down an in-state offer from SMU (plus Oklahoma and other nearby schools) to play at Kansas State next year. That has to hurt more after Foster earned Player of the Year honors in Texas’ Class 3A division. Even with Martavious Irving and Rodney McGruder graduating, he’ll still have to fight with Will Spradling, Angel Rodriguez, Shane Southwell and others for playing time as a freshman. But he’s good enough to do it. He can play a lot of different positions, and he also plays bigger and tougher than his 6’2” frame would suggest. The guy averaged 27 points per game in high school, too, hence the Player of the Year award. Bruce Weber will find a spot for him, and it’ll probably happen the second he steps in Manhattan.

As the season winds down and the Big 12 teams continue to find themselves eliminated from the postseason, we’re taking a look back at the 2012-13 campaign on a team-by-team basis. Next up: Kansas State. 

Final Record: 27-8 (14-4)

The Expectations: Frank Martin’s bizarre decision to take a job at South Carolina left the Wildcats searching for a suitable replacement. They settled on former Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who’d just been fired in Champaign. He was an intriguing coach because of his success at Southern Illinois and, of course, that Final Four run at Illinois and subsequent NCAA Tournament berths, but his tenure with the Fighting Illini ended on bad terms. In a way, though, he seemed like a perfect fit for Kansas State because of his similar intensity to Martin. He doesn’t appear as mentally insane on the sideline, but he’s a fiery defensive teacher and it was clear that the transition wouldn’t be difficult on that end. Once several Kansas State players announced they’d stay and play for Weber, it looked like he had a nice roster that could compete. Rodney McGruder was primed for a big senior year. There was a lot of size, a number of good guards and a rising star in Angel Rodriguez. If Kansas State could learn Weber’s patented motion offense and stick with the same defensive intensity it had under Martin, maybe Weber could win a lot of games. But there was no guarantee.

Bruce Weber Had a Nice First Season (photo credit: Getty Images).

The Actual Result: The best-case scenario occurred in Manhattan. During the first two months of the season, KSU stayed in the background by beating up on bad teams and failing to win neutral-site games against Michigan and Gonzaga (in Seattle). Nobody knew what to think of the Wildcats — that is, until they beat Florida in Kansas City. Game on. From there, Weber’s team took off. There were some initial growing pains offensively, but from a defensive and rebounding standpoint, there were few teams better in America. Kansas State lost only six games during the regular season, four of which (Kansas twice, Michigan and Gonzaga) came against teams who’d been ranked No. 1 at some point this season. The other two came against Oklahoma State and Iowa State, both of whom wound up in the NCAA Tournament as well. Kansas State technically shared the Big 12 title, but it lost both regular season games to the Jayhawks and then fell to them again in the Big 12 title game. Nobody can take that shared title away from the Wildcats, though, and the 14-4 record is proof they had a really, really good season. But Weber even admitted after the Big 12 Tournament that beating Kansas is the next logical step. The La Salle mishap in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament last Friday will overshadow this team’s many accomplishments, but there shouldn’t be many complaints. It’s just difficult to see the winningest senior class in Kansas State history fall flat like that.

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