Kansas State University Athletics
Wildcats open practice Friday
Oct 14, 2005 | Men's Basketball
2005-06 SEASON OUTLOOK
NEW OFFENSE,
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
The Wildcats look to use a more up-temp four-guard lineup in push toward postseason appearance
A year ago,
Sixth-year head coach Jim Wooldridge hopes to use the momentum gained in 2004-05 for even greater purposes in the coming season as the team aims for not only more victories, but its first postseason appearance since the 1998-99 season.
“The work ethic has been outstanding through the summer months and the spring,” said Wooldridge. “The returning players are maturing as people and as players. They are excited about what they can prove this year as a team. We see a lot of positive right now, and yet we know that we have a lot of challenges ahead of us that are going to test our character, commitment and fortitude.
The big thing is getting these returning players integrated in all phases with as many new players that are going to play important roles. We have got an injection of a lot of new faces that have yet to go through this league and go through the grind of the Big 12. We will need our returning players to help them with that, and that is part of what we are trying to accomplish right now to prepare them for what we are going to see in January, February and March.”
After finding great success with a four-guard lineup in the last few games of the season, Wooldridge will utilize a the more up-tempo offense in 2005-06 to take advantage of arguably his most athletic and versatile team of his tenure.
“We have more athletes, which gives you a chance to be better at all phases,” said Wooldridge. “I think we brought more skill in. We have additional athletes and additional versatility. The type of players that we have can play two or three different spots on the floor. Hopefully that translates into being better at a lot of phases of the game. This should be our best passing team that I have had here. We have more depth to work with, depth has been a problem because of the 8/5 rule and not being able to get the 13 scholarships. Depth should be an enhancement for our team.”
Upon switching to the four-guard offense, the Wildcats finished the year with four wins in their last six games, including a decisive 20-point win over Nebraska (who beat the Wildcats in double overtime to start conference play) and a six-point win over NIT participant Texas A&M in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. Both losses came on the road to Big 12 co-champion
Wooldridge knows that he is going give up some size to run his new offense, but emphasizes the overall strength of his team as a major factor in the change.
“The challenge is that this team has got to buy into the sum of a team,” he said. “If we are going to play a small lineup, we have got to be an energized team. We have got to be able to do things defensively that create a certain style of play from game to game. We have got to be able to get into the open floor, got to be able to make plays in the open court. It starts with our commitment and our energy level, to playing a defense that allows us to do that. We have got to be able to rebound the ball as a team, get to the four line as a team. I point to the summation of eight, nine, 10 guys that are going to play in every phase of the game. We can’t have a guard that is not a very good defender. We are going to have all really active defenders because we are not going to really overpower in the inside game.”
One of the youngest teams in the Big 12 a year ago, the Wildcats return eight lettermen and three starters. K-State trailed just Baylor in most statistical categories for the highest percentage of team production by freshmen and sophomores. Over 60 percent of the team’s minutes (67 percent), field goal attempts (60), points scored (61) and steals (69) were tallied by these underclassmen, in addition to over 70 percent of the assists (78 percent) and over 90 percent of the three-point field goal (96 percent).
Among those returning to the squad in 2005-06 are seniors Dramane Diarra and Schyler Thomas, juniors Lance Harris, Tyler Hughes and Cartier Martin as well as sophomores Curtis Allen and Clent Stewart. These returnees will be joined by a cast of six newcomers, including juniors Serge Afeli, Mario Taybron and Akeem Wright, sophomore David Hoskins and freshmen Darren Kent and Deilvez Yearby.
BACKCOURT
A year after being an uncertainty, the backcourt will be the team’s biggest strength entering the 2005-06 season. The Wildcats return five of its six guards from last season, including senior Schyler Thomas, juniors Lance Harris and Cartier Martin and sophomores Clent Stewart and Curtis Allen. In addition, three newcomers join the group in juniors Mario Taybron and Akeem Wright and sophomore David Hoskins.
“We went to a smaller lineup a year ago down the stretch and played good basketball,” said Wooldridge. “We are going to take that this year where we left off a year ago in that sense. Having more guards and more depth is needed because we are going to play more of them. Our style of play continues to evolve as we get more and better athletes in here. I think we’ll see that again this year, probably more so than in years’ past. We can do more things defensively, which means that we can do more things offensively. Just having the depth and the athletes to accomplish those things is the strength of our team right now.”
The backcourt begins and ends with the strength of a team’s point guard and the Wildcats have one of the best young quarterbacks in the Big 12 in sophomore Clent Stewart. One of just two players to start all 29 games, Stewart became the first true freshman in school history to start every game of a season en route to breaking Steve Henson’s 16-year-old freshman assist record.
“The experience that Clent got a year ago is invaluable to him and our team,” said Wooldridge. “We cast him in arguable the most important role in our team, that being the point guard, the quarterback spot, and virtually had no back-up in that spot. He was handing 32-33 minutes a game as a freshman. I thought he did a remarkable job.”
Stewart was also the top freshman in the Big 12 Conference in assists in league-only games, tying for seventh overall with just under four per game, while he was also the top first-year player in assist/turnover ratio with a 1.66 rating.
“That experience he had a year ago will lend itself to doing things he did a year ago,” said Wooldridge. “But I think his statistics will improve dramatically, his scoring ability will improve. Every phase of his game will improve. When you look at the young man himself, you can’t argue with that, because everything he does, he does with a real commitment and he has a great work ethic. So he is going to tap out whatever his abilities are from one year to the next. There is not going to be anything left. What he could have’ he is not one of those kind of guys. You’re going to get everything out of him that he has. He has worked hard in the off-season, he is a better athlete. He is more confident, more experienced, so we will expect more out of him.”
Stewart will also have help at the point guard spot with the addition of Mario Taybron and the return of veteran Schyler Thomas. A consensus Top 100 player out of high school, Taybron comes to
“He has played both the point and shooting and the two position,” said Wooldridge. “He has the ability to score the ball, to set up other people to score. He’s a terrific athlete, very skilled. He does have Division I experience, like David (Hoskins). He has been through these types of games before, which is a plus. All those things added up, he has got to be a guy that we are counting on to be a major player this season.”
A former walk-on, Thomas earned a scholarship prior to his junior season and continues to be a steady influence on the team. He has seen more action than any other member of the backcourt with 62 games under his belt. A year ago, Thomas connected on over 50 percent of his field goals.
One of the most improved players in 2004-05, junior Lance Harris demonstrated the ability to be one of the top players in the Big 12 Conference down the stretch last season. In the last 11 games of the season, he averaged 15.1 points on 48 percent shooting, including a career-best 23-point performance against
“Last season he came on as the most improved player on our team from one year to the next,” said Wooldridge. “I think his confidence rose as the season went on. We cast him into the starting role sometime in mid-conference play. I think that helped him and he saw himself as a better player. He gained a tremendous amount of confidence. He was a guy that scored the ball fairly easily down the stretch of the past season.
Like all players, I think his challenge is can he be a complete player, can he keep adding layers to his game to say that he is a complete player. We want him to take another step in that regard. We can’t be a this guys is a shooter,’ this guy is a dribbler,’ they have got to be more complete players. All of our guards have to be able to do a variety of things. I think that is one of the strengths of our team, with Lance included. He can be a versatile player be a good player both offensively and defensively, and all the skills it takes to be a complete player.’”
Juniors Akeem Wright and Mario Taybron as well as sophomore Curtis Allen will also compete for time with Harris. A two-year starter at Neosho (Kan.) Community College, Wright averaged 11.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and team-leading 6.7 assists en route to earning honorable mention All-America honors. He ranked fifth nationally in assists, while he helped the Panthers set a record for assists in a season with 750.
“Akeem brings a level of versatility and skill we needed,” said Wooldridge. “He has the ability to play several different positions, which gives our team a new dimension.”
Allen saw action in 21 games as a true freshman in 2004-05, including action in 13 Big 12 contests. He demonstrated flashes of his vast potential down the stretch, including a six-point outing in a win at
One of the team’s most talented players, junior Cartier Martin enters his junior campaign as one of the main cogs for the Wildcats. The team’s returning leader in both points (10.5) and rebounds (4.8), Martin scored in double figures 16 games in starting 28 of 29 contests. With his move to the three and four-guard spots, he has already shown the ability to play a more inside game, averaging 11.4 points in the last seven games of the season on 50 percent shooting.
“I think as long as Cartier can stay injury free, I think he, like Lance, gets better by the year,” said Wooldridge. “We can play him at two different positions. He had a good offensive year a year ago, he scored the ball well, and he shot the ball well. He is another player in this program that is a versatile player. He is not a one-dimensional player, and because of that he can impact the game in a variety of ways. We expect him to make another jump in terms of production. He is an upperclassman now, like Lance, and he has been through this before and he knows what to expect. Because of that and the experience behind that, we expect him to get better.”
Another newcomer who could make an immediate impact is sophomore David Hoskins. A transfer from Schoolcraft (
“He is an athletic, wing player,” said Wooldridge. “He is strong and has the ability to penetrate and get inside defenses. He is really skilled for his size. There is no reason he can’t be a good rebounder, a good defender, a setup guy, a scorer, all of the above.”
FRONT COURT
One of the biggest questions marks heading into the 2005-06 is the frontcourt, where the Wildcats lost arguably the best player of the Jim Wooldridge era, Jeremiah Massey, along with top reserve Justin Williams to graduation.
One of the top two-year players in school history, Massey finished his career ranking 25th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 931 points. His 16.3 career scoring
average places ninth in school history and sixth among two-year players, while his point total was the fifth-highest among two-year players and were the most since Mitch Richmond scored 1,327 points from 1987-88. As a senior, Massey averaged a team-best 17.9 points and 6.9 rebounds en route to earning second team All-Big 12 honors from both the league coaches and The Associated Press. He was one of the only three players (along with Wayne Simien and Joey Graham) in the Big 12 Conference to rank among the league’s top 10 in scoring, field goal percentage and rebounding in 2004-05.
“I think this whole season is predicated on a collective group effort, where the sum is going to have to be our best player,” said Wooldridge. “We have a lot of guys that are good players, but they are all about the same. Someone will step up and be the leading scorer; another the leading rebounder. I don’t think we’ll have somebody average 25 points and the next leading scorer average 10. I think we’ll have a lot of guys that can go get close to double figures, but in close proximity to one another. Losing Jeremiah’s scoring, every year you lose somebody that scores the basketball for your team. I think we can collectively make up for that and collectively be a better scoring team, rebounding and defensive team.”
Candidates abound to help fill the gap left by Massey, including senior Dramane Diarra, juniors Tyler Hughes and Serge Afeli and freshmen Darren Kent and Deilvez Yearby. Each brings a different element to the floor, but as Wooldridge indicated, will need to collectively be better as a group to help the transition to the new four-guard offense.
After sitting out the 2004-05 season with a nagging foot injury, Diarra returns to the floor in 100 percent healthy in the coming year for the first time in two years. A strong athletic presence, Diarra will be the lone senior in the front court as his experience will be relied upon to help the Wildcats push the ball inside and grab rebounds.
“Dramane is finally 100 percent going into the season and that should be a big plus for us,” said Wooldridge. “He had the chance, the opportunity, to go home, but wanted to stay and complete his eligibility as an individual and player. I think he’s hungry to prove that he can contribute and be a good player at this level and help this team win. He’s another player, as an inside player, that is going to get the opportunity to prove himself and play a major role on this team.”
After transferring from junior college, Diarra played in 16 games as a junior in 2003-04 with six starts. Although he averaged just 1.2 points on 38.9 percent shooting with 1.2 rebounds, Diarra’s ability was evident in starts against
An athletic presence in the paint, junior Tyler Hughes looks to continue to build on the strides he made during his sophomore campaign. He saw action in all 29 games with five starts and averaged 2.2 points and 2.9 rebounds. Hughes connected on nearly 50 percent of his field goal attempts and ranked 13th in the Big 12 in blocked shots with just under one per game. He showed flashes of his potential with a 10-point effort against Texas Tech as well as a 10-rebound performance against Baylor.
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“I think he know that this is a big year for him. The opportunity is right there for him. He’s worked hard and gained 20-30 pounds since he got here two years ago. He has the ability to do it. He has worked on his strength and endurance. He has been able to improve on those things, and because of that that gives him a chance to take a real big step forward in his junior year. That would be more production, more minutes and more consistency as a player.”
The newest member of the squad, junior Serge Afeli joined the program in late August. Considered one of the top players in his native
“We are pleased with addition of Serge to our program,” said Wooldridge. “He is a very strong and athletic basketball player that will address our need for not only added depth, but also add versatility in the interior. Serge is considered one of the top players in the
Two other newcomers who will play a role in the development of the front court are freshmen Darren Kent and Deilvez Yearby. Each came to K-State late in recruiting process, but both possess great potential.
A two-year starter at Eastview (Minn.) High School, Kent jumped on to the coaching staff’s radar screen after guiding the Lightning to the Class AAA state championship game this past spring. A member of the
“Darren is a young athletic forward who possesses a strong skill level for a player with his size,” said Wooldridge. “His ability to dribble, pass and shoot at 6-foot-10 gives him a bright future in this league.
Yearby erupted on to the national scene after a tremendous senior campaign, in which, he averaged more than 20 points and 12 rebounds for his high school team. He earned numerous postseason accolades, including third team all-state honors as well as first team all-city and all-Metro accolades. Yearby collected 20 double-doubles on the season, including 18 straight to end the season.
“Deilvez give us another athletic scorer that can play all over the court,” said Wooldridge. “He is the type of player that can come in and help us immediately in a variety of different ways.”
SCHEDULE
K-State opens its 103rd season of basketball, including the sixth under Wooldridge, when the Wildcats host
The Wildcats hit the road for the first of two non-league road games to start off December, as they travel to
Overall, the Wildcats will play 11 games in Big 12 play against squads that advanced to the postseason in 2004-05, including eight against NCAA Tournament teams.
The Wildcats begin the home portion of their conference slate against
The team begins March with a road trip to
The newly-named Big 12 Championship moves back to