I miss the #1 type class that Wooldridge brought in.
Funny thing you should mention that.
Published on Monday, April 14, 2003
Tom Fontana
Kansas State Collegian
The way the K-State's men's basketball season ended, it sure didn't feel like they had won anything.
But maybe they did. Coach Jim Wooldridge's upcoming recruiting class was ranked No. 1 by HoopScoop, a Kentucky-based recruiting service.
When you finish 13-17 overall and 4-12 in the Big 12, it's always good to get some positive news.
When we last saw the Cats, Pervis Pasco was dancing around with two seconds left against Colorado in the Big 12 Tournament. Unfortunately, we all know how that game panned out.
Everyone in the K-State family was disappointed with the 2002-03 season. Let's be honest -- it stunk. An NIT appearance would have made us smile, but the Cats wouldn't even sniff the postseason.
Not a whole lot went K-State's way. The Cats lost 12 games by single digits. Some days they could beat anyone in the country, like when they put up more points on Oklahoma than anyone else all year. But the next day, they could look like an eighth grade girl's team.
K-State basketball fans have been saying, "next year could be our year," since the Lon Kruger era. But as the end of the season rolls around, we are left scratching our heads and muttering that awful phrase again.
But I'm going to say it again -- next year could be our year.
The class is highlighted by 6-foot-7 Cartier Martin from Houston. A fourth-team Parade All-American, Martin has been called K-State's best recruit since Mitch Richmond. If he becomes half the player Richmond was, Martin could be the best player we've seen in Bramlage in nearly a decade.
Next is point guard Dez Willingham of De Soto, Texas. Willingham is a little guy who will give opposing teams a headache. Look for him to push current point guard Frank Richards in the fall.
Shooting guard Lance Harris, forwards Jeremiah Massey and Justin Williams and center Tyler Hughes round out K-State's best recruiting class in ages.
Massey could be a dominant player. Looking at his stats, you'd think he was Shaq mixed with Magic Johnson, pulling down 15 boards in one game and dishing out 15 assists in the next.
Williams is a weird deal. He will walk on and redshirt next year due to injury. Another big man likely be added with an extra scholarship granted to Wooldridge because so many players have cried and quit in the past few years.
But with players constantly quitting and a disappointing 2002-2003 season, is Wooldridge's job safe?
It better be.
With that class, I don't know how anyone could listen to rumors of people calling for Wooldridge's head. People couldn't be more naive. That could be one of the biggest problems in athletics today. Schools don't give coaches long enough to prove themselves.
Former coach Tom Asbury, who by the way got a job as an assistant at Alabama this week, left this program in such disarray, legendary UCLA coach John Wooden couldn't have turned it around by now.
The most ridiculous rumor I heard was that Krueger had bought a house in Manhattan, and was poised to take over the K-State job as soon as Wooldridge was ousted. Give me a break. Why would we want him anyway? He has never spent more than four years coaching at one place.
I guess all that matters, to a lot of K-State fans, is that the Cats beat ku in something that involves basketball. Granted it's not on the court, but it's a building block.
The Jayhawks are so worried about politics, firing the Athletic Director, praying day and night that Roy won't desert them, who knows what's going on in Lawrence?
Kansas finished in second on HoopScoop, but in all honesty they should have been first. Two McDonald's All-Americans, and they finish behind the Cats?
Oh well, the Cats will take a victory any way they can get it these days. Next year is our year.
