Kansas State Basketball Not In A Good Position Right Now

By Cody Daniel | Apr 12, 2015

Mar 7, 2015; Austin, TX, USA; Kansas State Wildcats head coach Bruce Weber (center) reacts against the Texas Longhorns during the second half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Texas beat Kansas State 62-49. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports /

There’s no denying that this season served as a convincing disappointment for the Kansas State Wildcats’ basketball program. This disappointment was matched by the regression and lack of maturity, consistency and leadership from their star sophomore, Marcus Foster, who was expected to be in for a tremendous season.

Factor in the team’s first losing record in more than a decade and the departures of more than a handful of key contributors and the result is a basketball program that’s not in a good place right now.

Not a good situation right now “@GradertShmadert: what are your opinions on our KSU dumpster fire?”
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) April 8, 2015

After disciplinary reasons led to the Foster, the team’s leading scorer for the past two seasons, being dismissed, it was immediately clear that Kansas State would have some major question marks as to who would shoulder the scoring load for Bruce Weber next season.

Along with the task of trying to replace Foster’s 12.5 points per game, the Wildcats would also lose their second- and third-leading scorers with Nino Williams (11.4 ppg) and Thomas Gipson (11.3 ppg) both having concluded their final season of college basketball eligibility.

Mar 20, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kansas State Wildcats forward Thomas Gipson (left), Marcus Foster (left center), Nino Williams (right center) and Shane Southwell (right) react to the camera during their practice session prior to the 2nd round of the 2014 NCAA Men

Mar 20, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kansas State Wildcats forward Thomas Gipson (left), Marcus Foster (left center), Nino Williams (right center) and Shane Southwell (right) react to the camera during their practice session prior to the 2nd round of the 2014 NCAA Men /

Foster, Williams and Gipson were the only three players on the roster to average double figures in scoring. The next leading scorer would be Justin Edwards at only 6.3 per game.

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In addition to Foster, Williams and Gipson now being gone, Tre Harris was previously dismissed from the team alongside Foster for disciplinary reasons, while Jevon Thomas and Nigel Johnson have both decided to transfer away from Kansas State since the Wildcats’ 16-18 campaign drew to a conclusion after K-State missed the NCAA tournament.

Johnson and Thomas were the Wildcats’ sixth- and seventh-leading scorers with 4.2 points and 4.2 points per game respectively. Harris averaged 3.8 points before being dismissed. In addition to the two dismissals and two transfers, Shawn Meyer is set to graduate with Gipson and Williams.

As a unit, that makes seven faces that were seen clocking minutes for Kansas State last season who will no longer be there. Combined, they made up for 48.5 of K-State’s 63 points per game, which leaves Weber with the tall task of replacing 76 percent of his scoring production from last season.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that Kansas State will also lose 57 percent of its team rebounding from last season with these seven players now gone.

And as if it weren’t already going to be hard enough to replace the statistical void left by the absence of seven total players and six key contributors from last season, finding a quality second option to the star-caliber scoring of Foster and the veteran presence and contributions of Williams and Gipson is a task all its own.

Of course, it’s not all negativity and doom for Kansas State and their fans to dwell on.

Despite losing five of their top seven scorers and seven total players, Weber has assembled an impressive recruiting class that could potentially fill a sizeable portion of the void expected to be left next season, at the very least in terms of matching the bodies last with six newcomers expected to play in Manhattan, Kan., next season.

Of course, it’s not the most impressive incoming class, as it’s ranked 65th overall by 247 Sports, but the arrivals of a bevy of three-star recruits in power forward Dean Wade, point guard Barry Brown, center Dante Hales-Williams, point guard Kamau Stokes and power forward Eric Cobb were good enough to leave the Wildcats only one spot behind the powerhouse Kansas Jayhawks in the recruiting rankings.

With the departures of the majority of K-State’s guard contributions, the arrivals of Brown and Stokes will be key, as well incoming JUCO transfer Coribe Ervin.

Yes, it’s encouraging to see a barrage of bodies coming in to attempt to help fill the void of losing so many players, but it would be a long shot to see Kansas State surpass the losing efforts of last season’s 16-18 season.

In reality, it would be far from a surprise to see the Wildcats compile their worst record next season since the 2002-03 season, when Kansas State won only 13 of their 30 games.

To think K-State may be in for their worst season since the days when Texas A&M, Nebraska, Colorado and Missouri all still roamed the Big 12 is a frightening, but realistic possibility for Bruce Weber and the K-State fans.

Next: Can Ben Simmons Save The SEC?

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