SE: ‘Everything Will Fall into Place:’ Sloan Eager to Take on Power Five Basketball for K-State
Oct 24, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
David Sloan did not get the start to his college basketball career he initially envisioned. Nor did he begin his K-State career how he hoped.
The former, however, taught the 6-foot point guard how to handle the latter.
"To me, I look at it as people say, 'Creating your own path. Write your own story,'" he said. "I feel like I did that."
Sloan, a community college transfer, was a highly sought-after recruit in high school. He had offers from more than a handful of Power Five schools. The Louisville, Kentucky native never got to pick any of them, however. He ran into an NCAA qualifying wall, and not because of poor grades, either. Instead, his courses at a Florida prep school were not NCAA certified.
It set Sloan on a path to John A. Logan College in Cartersville, Illinois, where he became an NJCAA All-American en route to landing with K-State in his second recruitment.
"I learned that times can be rough," he said, "but, if you stick with it, everything will fall into place."
Sloan stuck with it at a level he knew he didn't belong. He made the most of the opportunity, trying to better his game and prepare himself for his next chance.
He led the NJCAA in assists in both his seasons there, being named the Great Rivers Athletic Conference Player of the Year last season. He left John A. Logan College with two-year averages of 14.1 points on 49.2 percent shooting, 37.9 percent from 3-point range, to go with 9.8 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
"Going to the JUCO level, it motivated me a lot more," Sloan said. "Then, finally being here, I feel like I accomplished something, but I still have more in the tank."
That's partly because Sloan did not start up his K-State career as fast as he hoped, as he suffered a wrist injury before he arrived. It required surgery and sidelined him all summer.
"It was definitely very frustrating," Sloan said. "I wanted to be out there."
Still, Sloan knew from experience how to play when dealt with an unfortunate hand.
"Working hard every day," he said, simply.
This time, Sloan said that meant conditioning as soon as he was allowed to sweat — about a month after surgery.
"During the summer, I had the cast on, but I could still run," he said. "I've been getting in shape. I feel like I'm in the best shape I've ever been in."
Still, Sloan said he's got a ways to go. The pace at this level requires more of him than he was used to consistently providing.
"I can't take plays off," Sloan said. "Coaches have been on me about playing every play. At the JUCO level, I could take a couple plays off and still not be seen. At this level, I learned that I have to play hard every possession and not take any plays off. Basically, (it's) just staying in shape, running."
When Sloan gets there, K-State head coach Bruce Weber said he's confident he'll be a major factor in the backcourt with veterans like Mike McGuirl, Cartier Diarra and Xavier Sneed.
"He's got the ability. He's started to make some strides," Weber said. "He's had to catch up, physically, conditioning-wise, (and) defensively is his biggest setback, but he's a great passer."
Weber added that while some stats, namely points, do not immediately translate from high school to college or community college to the Power Five level, assists usually do. In practice, at least, it has for Sloan, who Weber described as "cerebral" with a "high basketball IQ."
"He's probably one of our leading assist guys in this first stretch," Weber said. "He's going to play, there's no doubt. You can play him and Cartier (Diarra), X. He could come off the bench. Just a lot of different looks and, the thing that we like – and we talked about as a staff this morning – is when we move the basketball, we can score."
Sloan thrives in the first part of that equation. He led K-State in assists in last Saturday's public scrimmage, the first visible example of it.
"In practice, he's finding the open man," Diarra said, as K-State hosts Emporia State for an exhibition on Friday at 8 p.m. "He's doing a really good job of being a great point guard."
Sloan said that's his main goal, to be catalyst on offense. With the weapons already in place, he said it's the perfect role for him.
"Just being a true point guard, do what I have to do to help the team, that's the biggest thing," Sloan said. "The main key is winning. I want to win."
David Sloan did not get the start to his college basketball career he initially envisioned. Nor did he begin his K-State career how he hoped.
The former, however, taught the 6-foot point guard how to handle the latter.
"To me, I look at it as people say, 'Creating your own path. Write your own story,'" he said. "I feel like I did that."
Sloan, a community college transfer, was a highly sought-after recruit in high school. He had offers from more than a handful of Power Five schools. The Louisville, Kentucky native never got to pick any of them, however. He ran into an NCAA qualifying wall, and not because of poor grades, either. Instead, his courses at a Florida prep school were not NCAA certified.
It set Sloan on a path to John A. Logan College in Cartersville, Illinois, where he became an NJCAA All-American en route to landing with K-State in his second recruitment.
"I learned that times can be rough," he said, "but, if you stick with it, everything will fall into place."
Sloan stuck with it at a level he knew he didn't belong. He made the most of the opportunity, trying to better his game and prepare himself for his next chance.
He led the NJCAA in assists in both his seasons there, being named the Great Rivers Athletic Conference Player of the Year last season. He left John A. Logan College with two-year averages of 14.1 points on 49.2 percent shooting, 37.9 percent from 3-point range, to go with 9.8 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
"Going to the JUCO level, it motivated me a lot more," Sloan said. "Then, finally being here, I feel like I accomplished something, but I still have more in the tank."
That's partly because Sloan did not start up his K-State career as fast as he hoped, as he suffered a wrist injury before he arrived. It required surgery and sidelined him all summer.
"It was definitely very frustrating," Sloan said. "I wanted to be out there."
Still, Sloan knew from experience how to play when dealt with an unfortunate hand.
"Working hard every day," he said, simply.
This time, Sloan said that meant conditioning as soon as he was allowed to sweat — about a month after surgery.
"During the summer, I had the cast on, but I could still run," he said. "I've been getting in shape. I feel like I'm in the best shape I've ever been in."
Still, Sloan said he's got a ways to go. The pace at this level requires more of him than he was used to consistently providing.
"I can't take plays off," Sloan said. "Coaches have been on me about playing every play. At the JUCO level, I could take a couple plays off and still not be seen. At this level, I learned that I have to play hard every possession and not take any plays off. Basically, (it's) just staying in shape, running."
When Sloan gets there, K-State head coach Bruce Weber said he's confident he'll be a major factor in the backcourt with veterans like Mike McGuirl, Cartier Diarra and Xavier Sneed.
"He's got the ability. He's started to make some strides," Weber said. "He's had to catch up, physically, conditioning-wise, (and) defensively is his biggest setback, but he's a great passer."
Weber added that while some stats, namely points, do not immediately translate from high school to college or community college to the Power Five level, assists usually do. In practice, at least, it has for Sloan, who Weber described as "cerebral" with a "high basketball IQ."
"He's probably one of our leading assist guys in this first stretch," Weber said. "He's going to play, there's no doubt. You can play him and Cartier (Diarra), X. He could come off the bench. Just a lot of different looks and, the thing that we like – and we talked about as a staff this morning – is when we move the basketball, we can score."
Sloan thrives in the first part of that equation. He led K-State in assists in last Saturday's public scrimmage, the first visible example of it.
"In practice, he's finding the open man," Diarra said, as K-State hosts Emporia State for an exhibition on Friday at 8 p.m. "He's doing a really good job of being a great point guard."
Sloan said that's his main goal, to be catalyst on offense. With the weapons already in place, he said it's the perfect role for him.
"Just being a true point guard, do what I have to do to help the team, that's the biggest thing," Sloan said. "The main key is winning. I want to win."
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