http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insider/news/story?id=5459115Kansas State Wildcats
29-8 (NCAA tournament -- Elite Eight)
They were responsible for some of the most riveting games in March, fighting through two overtimes against Xavier before Butler knocked them out in the Elite Eight. Now, with six of the top seven scorers returning for Frank Martin's team, expectations for the Kansas State Wildcats are about as high as they've ever been. The team, a projected top-10 squad headed into the preseason, is more than aware it's supposed to be playing for higher stakes.
"As soon as we lost to Butler, the message I sent to the team is that now is the most difficult part of becoming good," Martin says. "We've made all the improvements that hard work brings -- getting a step better and another step better -- to get to where we are this year. Now the challenge is that we have to get a little tougher, a little stronger and take that next step as a program."
The return of marquee guard Jacob Pullen, who led the Cats with 19.3 points per game last season, is a good chunk of the reason K-State will be favored to win the conference. But now that Denis Clemente, his stunningly quick backcourt mate, is gone, the biggest question for these Cats is whether they'll be able to maintain the pace (they ranked 11th in scoring offense last season with 79.7 ppg) with Pullen now setting the table full time. The continued maturation of forwards Jamar Samuels, Curtis Kelly (who turned into a 15-ppg contributor in March) and Wally Judge will dictate just how soon Pullen can take this team to the top.
Welcome to campus
Freddy Asprilla, 6-foot-10, F/C
The Sun Belt's freshman of the year at Florida International two years ago, Asprilla is a skilled big man who has a solid set of scoring moves under the rim. He's about 10-20 pounds from being in game shape, but once his conditioning comes around, he'll be a more-than-capable replacement for Luis Colon.
Will Spradling, 6 feet, PG
On the first possession Spradling played in open gym this summer, he stripped the ball from Samuels and set up his team for a layup. The smallish guard (he weighs about 170 pounds) is already looking to make defensive plays and can hit 3s regularly when he's left open. That's a good skill set for a freshman looking to break into a rotation.
Hole to fill: Point guard
Clemente was a deceptively efficient lead guard last season. His 2.13 assist-to-turnover ratio sometimes got blurred by his knack for ending possessions with an errant 3 attempt, but according to his 13.7 tempo-free turnover percentage from kenpom.com, Clemente was the most careful point guard in the Big 12 last season. That kind of steady-handed leadership and his blazing speed will be hard to replicate. But that's not all the Wildcats are missing now that Clemente is gone. "More than that, we're going to miss his will and just the fire and energy that he brought to everything he did," Martin says.
New role: Jacob Pullen
It's not as if Pullen didn't play setup man in last season's offense. Particularly against zone defenses from Colorado and Baylor, Pullen and Clemente sometimes shared the responsibility of initiating the team's O or breaking a press. That said, the most efficient use of both guards played to their strengths: streaky-shooting Clemente as table-setter for scoring machine Pullen (who shot 39.6 percent from 3 and 82.2 percent at the line).
Playing on the ball, Pullen has demonstrated a better-than-solid handle that shouldn't make full-time PG duties that tough a transition. The tougher part will be serving up scoring chances for teammates and bypassing his own. So don't expect as many 20-point scoring nights in Pullen's senior season.
"It would be impossible for me to have the same numbers as last year," he says. "I anticipate my scoring going down, but it's something I'm trying to prepare myself and the team for." When the squad splits up in open gym, Pullen has forced his defenders to double him on the screen and prepped his teammates for the looks they'll get now that opponents will be focused on him.
Summer school
Pullen spent most of July touring hoops hot spots -- putting in work at the Deron Williams point guard academy, then at LeBron James' Nike camp before being picked up for USA Elite team that trained against the national team in Las Vegas at the end of the month. Ho-hum. After Pullen's domestic run, Martin took his entire coaching staff, their families and the basketball office's secretaries to the Bahamas, as the head coach worked a three-day clinic with the Bahamas Basketball Federation. Junior forward Jamar Samuels is currently on a nine-day tour of Europe with a collegiate all-star team. Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, former high school All-America Wally Judge used most of the summer to rehab from a June neck operation that alleviated irritation caused by an injury last summer. Judge got back to the court this month, working on improving his shot form 19 feet out and his jump hook.
