The coolest thing about this year’s edition of the Kansas State alumni team is age disparity.
On one end of the spectrum, you’ve got older players like Jacob Pullen who won games under Frank Martin. In the middle, you’ve got guys who used to make plays for Bruce Weber. And then you’ve also got young dudes like Abayomi Iyiola who helped Jerome Tang get things started in Manhattan.
Throw in assistant coach Clent Stewart and you’ve even got some Jim Wooldridge flair on the Purple Reign roster.
Watching all those different eras of K-State basketball converge on the court this week at youth camps and scrimmages as Purple Reign prepares to play in The Basketball Tournament in Wichita got me to thinking about a topic that I consider to be mighty interesting.
Here it is: Martin, Weber and Tang each took a Wildcats team to the Elite Eight. Let’s say they were somehow able to face off against each other in a battle royale. Which team would take home the gold?
I would love to see those three teams play in some type of tournament. Alas, we can only look back at statistical data and speculate.
Frank Martin’s Elite Eight Team
After doing research on all three teams, it’s clear that one team was superior to the rest.
The 2010 squad that won 28 games and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament was by far the best of the group. It ranked 6th nationally in Bart Torvik’s ratings system , with an offense that rated 14th and a defense that rated 18th in terms of efficiency.
Neither of this team’s competitors can touch those numbers, from an overall perspective. Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente gave the Wildcats a dynamite backcourt, and their bigs hit the glass with reckless abandon. That team grabbed an offensive rebound on 40.6% of their misses and got to the free-throw line like crazy.
That allowed Martin’s team to be very consistent. It would have been fun to see them in the Final Four. Too bad Butler got in the way.
Bruce Weber’s Elite Eight Team
This was the worst team of the bunch, if you’re judging them purely on analytics.
Even with Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade on the roster this group of Wildcats ranked 81st in offensive efficiency. That led to some truly ugly results, like an 89-51 loss at West Virginia. It seemed like every few weeks this team turned in an unwatchable clunker. Not even a top 15 defense could save them on certain nights.
They finished No. 30 that season, per Torvik.
But when they did figure things out on offense, my goodness, they were fun to watch. K-State won a game at Baylor 90-83 that season when the Bears were ranked in the top 5. It was one of the most impressive wins I’ve covered during my 15 years on the beat. This team also came up one point short in Allen Fieldhouse, which is like beating an average Big 12 team by 20.
Quick sidebar: Had Brown given the ball to Wade (a 44% shooter from 3-point range) when he was wide open at the top of key on the final play of that game, K-State probably would have won.
Wade missed most of the NCAA Tournament with an unlucky injury and K-State still went on an incredible run without him. But I will always think his absence caught up to the Wildcats when they lost to Loyola-Chicago in Atlanta.
This team is the wildcard of the group. In a one-game setting, it could win or lose to just about anyone.
Jerome Tang’s Elite Eight Team
Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson were a dynamic duo all season long for Tang.
But Ismael Missoud, Desi Sills and Nae’Qwan Tomlin caught lightning in a bottle when the NCAA Tournament arrived, and that is why the Wildcats were able to beat Kentucky and Michigan State in highly entertaining March Madness games.
That version of this team was elite.
Overall, though, this team had ups and downs. They finished the season rated No. 24 at Torvik, and they didn’t do anything at an extraordinary level. They ranked 39th on offense and 27th on defense, in terms of efficiency. They committed lots of turnovers on offense but guarded the 3-point line well when they were on defense.
This team scored 116 points during a win at Texas and got on a roll in March Madness until Florida Atlantic ruined the party. It also lost to a bad Butler team and completely failed to show up in road games against TCU and Oklahoma.
That makes this group hard to predict in a one-game setting, too. But Tang clearly knew how to coach in the postseason.
So which team would win?
The best team is clearly the 2010 squad that Jacob Pullen led past Xavier in the Sweet 16.
If you set up a league and asked them to play the 2018 and 2023 teams multiple times, then they would almost certainly end up on top of the standings.
But what about in a tournament?
Well, that would open up a wide array of possibilities. Nobody likes picking chalk on a March Madness bracket, so I’m going to go with an upset here. Something tells me that Bruce Weber’s team could get hot at the right time and beat the competition in a single-elimination setting. They could thrive in an underdog role ... so long as Brown could avoid two early fouls.
Now, let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them:
What are your expectations for Purple Reign at TBT? -@garrettb87 via X.
An early exit.
Had they been able to get Barry Brown, Rodney McGruder and Xavier Sneed on the roster like they originally planned then this group would have been really nasty. But none of them are expected to play this weekend, leaving the Wildcats to rely on several guys who long ago stopped playing competitive basketball.
The Colorado alumni team will provide a tough test right off the bat. Win that and they would likely play the AfterShocks next in their home arena.
Jordan Henriquez is a heck of a coach if he can lead this group to the Sweet 16 of TBT.
I am considering a road trip with the family to attend an away game for football this year. Please rank our away game destinations and help me choose which one to attend (atmosphere, affordability, fan friendliness, rivalry, etc). - Chase T. via e-mail.
Let me start by saying you have picked a good year to hit the road for a K-State football game.
The Wildcats have one of their best road schedules in quite some time.
Only one road game will be played in a “meh” location, but that particular game might be the best one on the entire schedule. So there’s really no going wrong with any of K-State’s road games.
But you asked me to rank them, so here we go:
1. Colorado: I haven’t missed road trips to Missouri, Nebraska or Texas A&M, but I was definitely bummed when Colorado was removed from the conference rotation. Boulder is a great town with lots of things to do outside of watching the football game. Good food, good drinks, good scenery. It’s also fun to watch Ralphie (the actual buffalo) run onto the field at the start of games. I’m expecting a great atmosphere when this rivalry resumes. The only potential downside to this trip is cost. Now that Deion Sanders is the coach, hotels in and around Boulder are not cheap. But it is an easy drive.
2. Tulane: If you spent a lot of time and money at the Sugar Bowl two years ago then maybe this trip isn’t for you. But I’m ready to eat more seafood and enjoy everything that New Orleans has to offer. Tulane seems like it has a good football atmosphere, and it claims to sell the cheapest beer ($3) in all of college football inside its stadium.
3. BYU: You won’t find a better game-day view than Provo. The mountains behind the BYU stadium are majestic. This will also be K-State’s first road trip here for a conference game, which adds to the occasion. The Cougars and their fans are very nice to visitors. That’s a plus. But be warned, this is the opposite of a party school. Tailgating is virtually nonexistent. If you want a drink inside the stadium, be prepared for a caffeine-free diet coke instead of a Bud Light.
4. Houston: This is already one of my favorite places to watch a game in the Big 12. You won’t find a better collection of breweries in one place than Saint Arnold, Karbach and Buffalo Bayou. Houston also has plenty of good food options. And the weather should be nice and warm, even in November. Sadly, the actual football might not be very entertaining. Houston is down at the moment and K-State should win this game big.
5. Iowa State: This isn’t the trip you want to make with your family. Odds are it is going to be bitterly cold in Ames at the end of November. K-State and Iowa State might even play in another blizzard . But if you’re just looking for a great football game then this might be for you. This rivalry has become a must-watch and this could be one of the most entertaining games on the schedule. It might even have Big 12 championship implications.
6. West Virginia: This fell to the bottom of my rankings mostly because I have been to Morgantown quite a few times by now. As much as I enjoy eating a sandwich with french fries on it at Primanti Bros, there isn’t anything else I really look forward to about this trip. The stadium is pretty cool and scenic. The game might also be good. But that doesn’t make up for the long trip out there. You have to fly into Pittsburgh and then drive two hours to Morgantown. You will have more time to do fun things on other trips.
Of course, there is always Plan B. You could save your money and go to Ireland next year!
Are you heading on vacation soon? Every time you go talks of conference realignment heat up. Is there any truth to these rumors? Is Brett Yormark playing chess while the rest of us are playing checkers? -@ChadFullington via X.
Sadly, I don’t currently have any vacation plans.
My wife and I have been looking at maybe taking the family on a short road trip in early August, just to get away for a few days before school and football get back underway. I guess our decision could have a big impact on conference realignment. If we leave the state for a weekend, Clemson and Florida State will almost certainly announce plans to leave the ACC for the Big 12. If we stay in the Little Apple then those teams will obviously stay put.
Decisions, decisions.
In all honesty, I think some folks are getting ahead of themselves when they log onto social media and project that some combination of Clemson, Florida State, Miami and Louisville will call the Big 12 home anytime soon. Yes, Florida State seems dead set on leaving the ACC. But if breaking away from a conference when you have a signed contract with that conference is so easy then why did Oklahoma and Texas wait so long to depart the Big 12 after they announced their plans to leave?
Furthermore, the Big 12 probably will have to make special concessions (like unbalanced revenue sharing) to bring in a new member like Florida State. That has never worked out well for anyone before.
The Big 12 can be a fun, parity-filled conference now that Oklahoma and Texas are in the SEC. The conference would become an 18-team Goliath with two new kingpins if they bring on Clemson and Florida State. Is that better or worse? I’m not really sure.
I do think that the Big 12 will end up being an attractive option for any school if the ACC implodes. But we aren’t there yet, so maybe I could take a vacation this summer without teams switching conferences.
What the construction situation up in MHK like? What we going to be dodging come football season? -@the_funky_andy via X.
We should all strive to be like Manhattan roads and never stop working on ourselves.
The construction situation is not good here in the Little Apple. I could list all the roads that are currently closed for you, but it would probably be faster to tell you about the roads that are open.
It’s bad right now. You can’t drive across town without taking a detour.
My hope is that they are doing all this work in July so that Kimball and other important roads will be open before the start of football season. But part of Kimball was closed during basketball season, which created headaches for anyone driving in from out of town. I’m guessing that road will be good to go in September, but I can’t make any promises.
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