Meanwhile, a few hours away in Manhattan, new Kansas State coach Frank Martin picked up his first two recruits since he replaced his boss Bob Huggins last month.
Martin signed Jamar Samuels, a 6-foot-8 power player out of the Patterson (N.C.) School and a DC Assault teammate of heralded signee Michael Beasley, as well as Andre Gilbert, a 6-foot-7 forward from Mount San Jacinto College. The entire class is now six deep and a consensus top 10 group led by Beasley, Fred Brown, Gilbert, Jacob Pullen and Dominique Sutton.
The Wildcats, which just missed the NCAA Tournament, lose seniors Cartier Martin, Akeem Wright, Lance Harris, Jermaine Maybank and Serge Afeli. K-State will lean on rising senior David Hoskins, a rehabbed-Bill Walker (ACL), Hoskins' classmates Blake Young and Clent Stewart, rising sophomore Luis Colon and the six newcomers. Martin said he might even sign one more.
"The way we've recruited under Huggs [at Cincinnati and Kansas State] is to tag-team recruits so when the kids get to campus we're all with them," Martin said. "Once the whole job situation took place I had to go on a plane and re-recruit Michael and Jacob. It's something I had to do with them and now you can say these are the first two guys [Samuels and Gilbert] that decided to put their name on the dotted line on my watch."
Two players that won't be sticking around for Martin are sophomore forward Delivez Yearby, who is transferring in good academic standing and freshman center Jason Bennett, who is not. The school released the news on both players and was specific on how they would be released upon transferring. Yearby (0.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg) can receive a scholarship at his new school, but Bennett cannot and the school will not release him because of his academic situation. That means the 7-foot-3 Bennett (1.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg) will have to pay his way the first year if he were to transfer to a Division I school right away. That's why the likely destination for the once heralded Huggins signee will be at a junior college.
Kansas State's television schedule didn't take a hit despite Huggins' departure. The Wildcats are still going to be a featured team at the Jimmy V Classic on ESPN in New York, the ESPN-sponsored Orlando tournament, and they have Cal, Cincinnati and Oregon coming to Manhattan. Martin is estimating the Wildcats will be on national television at least 12 to 14 times next season.
