SE: Budke Earns Scholarship, Academic All-District Honors in Final Semester with K-State
Feb 15, 2017 | Men's Basketball
On January 16, the day before the spring semester began at K-State, Austin Budke walked into an academic meeting. In the room were his teammates, K-State athletics director John Currie, head coach Bruce Weber and Liane Fowler, the academic counselor for the men’s basketball team.
The scene was nothing new. The feeling a few minutes into it, however, was something to remember, especially for Budke. During the meeting, Budke, a senior who walked on to the team after two years at Hutchinson Community College, was awarded a scholarship.
“The whole team gave a round of applause. It was just a cool moment,” Budke said. “It’s one of those moments not a lot of people get to experience, being on scholarship at the Division I level. To get to experience that with all your teammates and everyone else in there, everyone giving you high-fives and saying congrats, it was one of those things you’ll remember for a long time.”
Not long after the meeting, Budke relayed the good news on to his mother, Janelle Budke, who he said had been hounding him about paying his tuition the next day.
“My tuition and everything was due on Tuesday. My mom kept texting me, ‘Austin, you better pay your tuition, you better pay your tuition. We’re going to get late fees, we’re going to get late fees,’” he recalled. “We had the academic meeting in the afternoon. I text my mom right after and said, ‘I got it taken care of. It’s all right.’”
Garnering a Division I basketball scholarship out of high school is a rare enough feat in itself — the NCAA states 1.0 percent of high school players do so. For a walk-on to be put on scholarship, it takes a unique blend of hard work, talent and good fortune.
“If you would’ve told me two years ago that I would be on scholarship, playing basketball at K-State, I would’ve said you’re nuts… honestly. It’s one of those things that not very many people get to do. Every school only gets 13 scholarships, so I’m honored to be one of those 13,” said Budke, who described former Wildcat walk-on Brian Rohleder, another engineer major who was put on scholarship after four years with the program, as a “hero.”
“He came to practice every single day. He was in the same boat as me. There was days we would get done with practice, we would both go home and study all night and we’d have a test the next morning. But he came every day and he gave more effort than anyone on the basketball court,” Budke continued. “It didn’t matter if he was tired from a test or anything, so he earned it. If anyone was deserving of a scholarship, it was him. He was just a special guy, a one-of-a-kind student-athlete who really deserved it last year.”
This year, teammates and coaches agree, Budke deserved the same honor.
“I was happy for him. He deserved it,” senior Wesley Iwundu said. “He’s come into practice every day, put in the work, gives us good, quality minutes when he comes in the game.”
Budke certainly puts in the work off the court as well, with a 3.94 GPA in chemical engineering to prove it. In the fall semester, the Beloit native posted a 4.0 GPA while balancing life on the court — a testament, he said, to his ability to manage time and prioritize. Last week, Budke was one of five players named to the College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District 7 Men’s Basketball First Team.
“Last year, there was times when it was really tough. The engineer curriculum on top of basketball and the grueling schedule that we have gets kind of tough, but I got adjusted to it in the second semester last year,” he said. “At Hutch, I had so much more free time because we wouldn’t practice nearly as long and then classes weren’t as grueling. I had a lot of free time, and now, if I get free time, that free time goes toward school or studying. It’s setting your priorities. I’ve really learned to prioritize when things are due, what things I need to get done now and if you have to set things off, you can do that then, but that’s really helped.”
On the court, Budke has seen less court time than last season, when he played in all 33 games and averaged 13.1 minutes off the bench. The 6-foot-6 forward has played in 17 games this season, averaging 5.3 minutes.
Budke said the amount of minutes he receives isn’t important to him. Being part of a successful K-State team (16-9, 5-7), in whatever role, is his top priority.
“This is my senior season, this will be the last time I ever play basketball, so I want the team to go out on a good note. You can’t get down on playing time or anything like that. If I was one of those guys who cared about playing time, I would’ve went to a different school where I could’ve played. I obviously don’t care about that,” he said, with K-State hosting Iowa State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. “I came to K-State because of the education, because it offered my curriculum, chemical engineering. If you would’ve told me last year that I was at K-State, majoring in chemical engineering, playing basketball and on scholarship — all three things — that’s just ridiculous.
“I’m honored to be doing those three things, so you can’t dwell on things like that, especially when the team’s doing so good. If coach calls me to get in there, I’m going to play my hardest, but if not then I’m going to cheer my hardest from the bench. Whatever the team needs, that’s what I’m here for.”
