I swear I wasn't lying. For some reason, my notebook doesn't always appear on our site. Kind of annoying, but what are you going to do? Anyway, here it is. Nothing too groundbreaking, but nevertheless:
FRESHMAN DEPTH GIVES KSU OPTIONS
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Section: SPORTS
Edition: main
Page: 3C
Memo: College Basketball
Column: Jeffrey Martin
New Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin took part last week in a Catbackers' annual custom in Scott City - ingesting "mountain oysters."
"It was tremendous," he said.
Martin was referring to the Midwestern culinary treat, but his first recruiting class was quite impressive, too. The late addition of Jamar Samuels and Andre Gilbert, forwards in the 6-foot-7 or taller range, provides a considerable boost to a vertically-challenged roster.
Then again, Martin isn't worried about a lack of height.
"Basketball has evolved, man," he said. "San Antonio is playing Tim Duncan and four guards, and everyone views Duncan as a power forward. You just don't see many teams with big slugs in there."
It's a formula that seemed to work this past season at Texas, where Rick Barnes at times surrounded Kevin Durant with a quartet of perimeter players. The Wildcats might not have the quality depth to do the same, but it won't be odd to see a starting five of, say, Michael Beasley, Bill Walker, David Hoskins and some combination of Samuels, Gilbert, Dominique Sutton, Clent Stewart, Blake Young or Jacob Pullen.
But, if K-State needs to go big, Martin can trot out Beasley, Luis Colon and Darren Kent, whom the first-year coach believes will be a factor.
"There's three 6-foot-10 guys right there," he said.
Major improvement isn't just expected from Colon - it's virtually guarante ed by Martin.
"Luis is going to be our battler," he said. "He's going to be better. Last year, he was six months removed from his high school prom and we were asking him to help us compete for a Big 12 championship.
"That's hard to do."
But it's also what he'll be seeking from Beasley and the rest of the freshman class. But Martin likes what he has, obviously in Beasley but especially in Samuels and Sutton:
"(Samuels) is a relentless athlete," he said. "And Sutton, at 6-foot-5, is meaner than a pack of pit bulls. If he has to guard Darrell Arthur, it won't bother him a bit."
There is a scholarship left for 2007-08, and by all accounts, it will be used. Where is the question. Martin didn't provide specifics, but a target the staff is taking a wait-and-see approach with is Chipola (Fla.) College forward Victor Dubovitsky, who committed to K-State but did not sign a letter of intent last week. It is believed that if Dubovitsky plays college basketball, he will do so only at K-State.
But the Moscow native may have professional options.
Goody, goody - Beasley is a talent, no doubt. And K-State has perhaps it's most versatile collection of talent in some time.
But according to Foxsports.com national college basketball writer Jeff Goodman, the key might be Pullen, the incoming freshman point guard from Chicago.
"The point guard spot is huge," Goodman said. "If Pullen can come in and solidify that. . . . "
Goodman has seen Pullen, a product of Proviso East, play several times. The school also produced Doc Rivers, Dee Brown and Shannon Brown.
"All he does is win," he said. "AAU, high school, wherever. He just knows how to play. He's really, really tough. He's hard-nosed. My gut feeling is that Pullen is going to be the guy. Let's face it - all he has to do is not make a lot of mistakes and push the ball up the court to all of those finisher s."
He also believes:
-- The combination of Beasley and Walker might give K-State the best set of forwards in the league, especially now that Julian Wright has left Kansas. A close second? Texas A&M's Joseph Jones and DeAndre Jordan. "Jordan is terrific ," Goodman said. "If he plays hard, he's ridiculous."
-- The Big 12 is wide open, with the exception of ku, which he deems the class of the conference.
-- The Wildcats should be ranked around 20th in the country to start the season.
-- The biggest issue K-State might face is how Martin adjusts to increased responsibilities as the head coach . . . and the added pressure of following Huggins. "But Andy Kennedy proved he could do it," Goodman said.
Looking for a sparq - Interesting comments from Brian Butler, the organizer of last week's Nike Sparq Mini-Camp at East High. With some of the nation's best and most-recognized Division I-A coaches on hand, junior-to-be Bryce Brown apparently stole the show.
"Most of the coaches I spoke to - (USC's) Pete Carroll, Ken Norton, (Florida's) Urban Meyer - all feel like Bryce is the No. 1 player in the country, regardless of class," Brown said. "They were amazed by his ability."
Naturally, Butler - a close family friend of the Browns who is also helping with the recruitment process - relayed the information to Brown. His reaction?
"He didn't say anything," Butler said. "It wasn't a big deal."
Butler said some of the other players who made the biggest impact were older brother Arthur Brown, Northwest quarterback Chris Harper, Andover Central linebacker Jaydan Bird, Rose Hill offensive lineman Blaize Foltz and Columbia (Mo.) Rockbridge quarterback Jake Morse.
The Browns, Bird and South's T.J. Shine will all be going to Colorado's Nike Camp on June 2. Foltz will be attending the University of Miami's.
Jeffrey Martin covers Kansas State sports. Reach him at 316-269-6763 or
[email protected].
