Oh please - every coach and player points for the NCAA tournament when practice starts in October. Everyone wants to up their level and play their best when it REALLY counts - and K-State is doing it.
How will Bruce screw up a final four?
- Thread starter dafarmer
- Start date
Matt Haarms was a beast last year (sarcasm). We lost because we played like complete crap for WAY too long, not because Purdue was loaded..
I've felt like I've been "hating" Weber and Purple Kansas. But I realize it's jealousy down deep. And not even that deep . . . 
I will make fun of some of his sideline antics at times, but I think he's a pretty damn good coach. In fact, I don't really see a weak link in the 10 Big 12 coaches, unlike in prior years.
Maybe I didn't articulate my point I was trying to make. Kansas State players are aggressive defensively. They slap, hack, push, swat etc. It's up to the ref to call fouls. They were calling them last night, and Weber found a way to win in spite of the tight officiating. He used his bench and deployed them in a manner where they were going to get a steal or bust every possession. They busted a lot, fouling. They also had 11 steals. That's a tactic, as you don't see teams doing that all the time. Each player has 5 fouls. Why not burn a couple if you think you have a deep enough bench and a legit shot at a steal?
Not trying to 'take away' from their Elite 8 run. Just attempting to explain it, as they certainly are not one of the 8 best teams in the country, especially w/o Wade.
I'll admit to hating on all the Big 12 teams in the tourney because of how jealous I am. It is eating me up inside. Is that wrong? I blame our recent program success for these feelings.
Prohm is probably #10, maybe #9. That's a deep conference for coaching.
I generally love KSU, they're my favorite team in the conference outside of ISU.
Then I read your posts, and all that falls by the wayside.
I totally agree, but your tone implies we're arguing. Not sure how to proceed.
I don't see them beating Michigan, who is pretty hot right now and hasn't lost since early February. Of course Loyola hasn't lost since January 31 either...
That Kansas State team from what 2010 was very talented and would beat this K-State team by 25 points.I would assume and this K-State team could be in the Final 4, WOW!!
I won't say excellent. Michigan has been able to adapt to many styles of play this year. There able to play in half court, and they are able to run up and down the court. If Michigan is hitting their 3's, I don't think there is anyone left in the tourney who can beat them.
Barry Brown guarding Jacob Pullen would have been an interesting competition, I'll give you that. But with Wade, this K-State is at least equal to that one.
I misread your post then - sorry. That is all K-State had - a "decent" regular season. They also got some breaks in the bracket, but the Kentucky win was very impressive.
March Madness has come to be all that matters - and has certainly help Weber's perception with fans.
I wonder if any Mich State fans care that they won the Big Ten regular season title?
The story of Michigan is their defense - much better this year than in the past. A new asst coach was hired - put in charge of defense - and the results are there to see. They can shut teams down.
This is an Illini fan writing about coach Weber. It's a reasonable take directed at what we call "cult of Frank" fans who remain in the Wildcat camp. From my perspective, it's a remarkably well thoughtout, historical look at what's happened with and under Weber during his K-State stay.
With all due respect to Pulitzer Dave I don't think anybody on this board has taken more crap than me over the past 5 years for defending Weber (especially if you measure it on a crap-per-post basis.) I was one of a handful of Illinois fans who came over here to follow KSU hoops because we thought Weber was a good person and a good coach and a good fit for K-State. And deserved a lot better treatment than he got from smart-aleck Illinois fans who called him "Bubbles." Suffice it to say our views were rarely welcomed here, almost from the outset but especially after the first round loss that first year.
True he is an easy target: squeaky voice, running up and down the sideline yelling and waving his arms like an idiot instead of just sitting the hell down, etc. "Bubbles." But this was a place where there wasn't the expectation to get the kind of players that Self and the cheaters get, and then to give him crap because he didn't get them. And no smart-ass Chicago media types to deal with (though plenty of know-it-all disparagement from the KU-biased reporters in Kansas City who obviously can't get past the fact that Weber resents KU cheating and doesn't do much to hide it.)
So 2 years in he has things going again and the Foster deal erupts. The way he handled that was classic Weber. Sit the kid down, give him multiple chances to redeem himself, then finally just get him out but at the same time put in a good word for him with Coach McDermott about taking a chance on him. So all we heard from most of you was that was all Weber's fault: "well, he recruited him, didn't he?" Then a couple weeks ago when the Creighton pairing is set I read where Foster says in the runup to the game that he wouldn't be seeking "revenge" against KSU. Revenge? Are you kidding me? Weber essentially saved his career and he's yapping about revenge. For me, when they beat Creighton and sent Foster home that was the fulfillment of my reasonable expectations for this post-season.
So this is all gravy now, the combination of luck and preparation that lets you win 2 straight games that can go either way. Now he's got a heck of a lot better staff than he had in the last years at Illinois (Lowery back; Chester Frazier, a Bruce kind of player and character if ever there was one; plus the new guy). And they've recruited solid "buy-in" kids who don't think it should be handed to them on a silver platter and don't yap about what they're gonna do. And he gets, or maybe lucks into getting, Wade who maybe, as I understand it from Puffdad, he gets in part because Self is too busy running around buying players to notice a gem in his back yard. And we all watch Wade's excruciatingly slow development as he's trained to be a team guy, not a me-first guy, not that he wasn't one already, then built up physically and coaxed into asserting himself.
Sorry for this rant but wanted to get it all off my chest. As for the future, you don't need to worry about Weber going someplace else. He loves it; his wife loves it. He's smart enough to realize that this is a perfect spot for him. And now maybe you're all smart enough to agree with him.
With all due respect to Pulitzer Dave I don't think anybody on this board has taken more crap than me over the past 5 years for defending Weber (especially if you measure it on a crap-per-post basis.) I was one of a handful of Illinois fans who came over here to follow KSU hoops because we thought Weber was a good person and a good coach and a good fit for K-State. And deserved a lot better treatment than he got from smart-aleck Illinois fans who called him "Bubbles." Suffice it to say our views were rarely welcomed here, almost from the outset but especially after the first round loss that first year.
True he is an easy target: squeaky voice, running up and down the sideline yelling and waving his arms like an idiot instead of just sitting the hell down, etc. "Bubbles." But this was a place where there wasn't the expectation to get the kind of players that Self and the cheaters get, and then to give him crap because he didn't get them. And no smart-ass Chicago media types to deal with (though plenty of know-it-all disparagement from the KU-biased reporters in Kansas City who obviously can't get past the fact that Weber resents KU cheating and doesn't do much to hide it.)
So 2 years in he has things going again and the Foster deal erupts. The way he handled that was classic Weber. Sit the kid down, give him multiple chances to redeem himself, then finally just get him out but at the same time put in a good word for him with Coach McDermott about taking a chance on him. So all we heard from most of you was that was all Weber's fault: "well, he recruited him, didn't he?" Then a couple weeks ago when the Creighton pairing is set I read where Foster says in the runup to the game that he wouldn't be seeking "revenge" against KSU. Revenge? Are you kidding me? Weber essentially saved his career and he's yapping about revenge. For me, when they beat Creighton and sent Foster home that was the fulfillment of my reasonable expectations for this post-season.
So this is all gravy now, the combination of luck and preparation that lets you win 2 straight games that can go either way. Now he's got a heck of a lot better staff than he had in the last years at Illinois (Lowery back; Chester Frazier, a Bruce kind of player and character if ever there was one; plus the new guy). And they've recruited solid "buy-in" kids who don't think it should be handed to them on a silver platter and don't yap about what they're gonna do. And he gets, or maybe lucks into getting, Wade who maybe, as I understand it from Puffdad, he gets in part because Self is too busy running around buying players to notice a gem in his back yard. And we all watch Wade's excruciatingly slow development as he's trained to be a team guy, not a me-first guy, not that he wasn't one already, then built up physically and coaxed into asserting himself.
Sorry for this rant but wanted to get it all off my chest. As for the future, you don't need to worry about Weber going someplace else. He loves it; his wife loves it. He's smart enough to realize that this is a perfect spot for him. And now maybe you're all smart enough to agree with him.
