Head Coach Bruce Weber Discusses New Additions; Spring Workouts
Apr 28, 2021 | Men's Basketball
McGuirl Returns for Another SeasonNew Addition: Mark Smith Markquis Nowell Ismael Massoud Maximus Edwards
The Wildcats wrap up spring workouts before breaking for exams
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head men's basketball coach Bruce Weber met with members of the media via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon (April 28) to discuss the Wildcats' latest additions as well as the progress made by the returning players during spring workouts, which will end this week.
One of the nation's youngest teams, K-State (9-20, 4-14 Big 12) finished the 2020-21 season on a high note by winning 4 of its last 6 games, including battling eventual national champion Baylor, 74-68, in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Kansas City. Due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols, the Wildcats had just one player start all 29 games (senior Mike McGuirl), while it started three true freshmen (Davion Bradford, Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack) in 17 games, including 12 in Big 12 play.
The 71 combined starts by true freshmen ranked second nationally to Kentucky's 72, while the 17 games with at least three true freshman starts trailed just Duke (19) and Kentucky (18). The trio combined to average 25.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.0 steals this season.
The positive momentum continued on March 22 when McGuirl, an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection in 2020-21, announced that he was utilizing his extra season of eligibility and returning to the Wildcats. McGuirl is one of 10 players, including four with starting experience, expected to return in 2021-22.
Weber and his coaching staff built on that foundation by adding four players in the last four weeks, including three transfers (Ismael Massoud, Markquis Nowell and Mark Smith) and an incoming freshman (Maximus Edwards). The quartet joins Wisconsin high school big man Logan Landers, who inked with the team in November.
Smith was the first spring addition on March 31, as he transferred to K-State after spending the last three seasons at Missouri, where he averaged 10.3 points on 39.8 percent shooting, including 37.5 percent from 3-point range, in 69 games with 61 starts. He was followed by another set of transfers in Nowell, who averaged 14.4 points on 39.5 percent shooting, including 36.9 percent from long range, in 68 games with 51 starts at Little Rock, and Massoud, who averaged 6.2 points on 36 percent shooting, including 36.3 percent from long range, in 53 games with 8 starts at Wake Forest. A commit since January, Edwards signed on April 15 after two standout seasons at Our Saviour Lutheran School in the Bronx, N.Y., where he averaged a team-best 19.9 points per game in 2020-21.
HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
On so many players transferring...
"Well, it's a change, there's no doubt. I'll be honest, I worry about it. I know a lot of coaches that I'm friends with that I've talked to. I was on the phone with (Missouri coach) Cuonzo Martin yesterday, (Purdue coach) Matt Painter the day before, (Michigan State coach) Tom Izzo last week late in the week. We're all skeptical. I told President Myers last night at the baseball game that I worry about college basketball in the future, and I know change is hard for everybody and change is part of life. I still go back to Coke and Coke Classic. Sometimes people make bad decisions and they have to go back and say, 'What did we do? Did we did we mess this up?'
You want to stay in the game, you got to be flexible, you got to change. I think we've done a good job of finding some older guys that will help us. We've lost some, we gained some. Hopefully it's a positive on our end, but I really worry about the players, the 99 percent of the players. The one percent that had that chance to play in the NBA, they're going to have their opportunities but the 99 (percent) that are switching, we have some that have been at four schools. I give credit to some guys if they get six years of playing. Hopefully, they're getting their undergrad and they're getting a Master's and maybe something beyond that it's going to help them in the long run, but this new group that starts changing our graduation rates are going to go up. Is that going to change? To me, the thing I worry about is their future, where they have somebody to go to. If you keep leaving schools, who's going to go help you in the long run? That's why I got into the business, to watch young men growing and develop not only as basketball players, but give themselves a chance to get a degree and network and give them chances to have a good life. And that's what I worry about. I have guys that I've coached 30 years ago that are still calling me and saying, 'Coach, can you help me with this? Can you do this or that? Can you call for me? I'm looking for a job'. I'm going to be loyal to them because they were loyal to us. And right now, where's that going to go? The degree, using basketball, networking ability, and that loyalty factor I worry about. And then the game itself."
On how the incoming transfers have helped his team...
"I know we've all talked about staying old, and that's been a big thing that everybody has talked about. How can you stay old? Well now you can stay old by getting in the portal. But I think it's beyond that. Why did Baylor win? Not only were they old with average age of 22, but they also were together, and that continuity, that being together, playing together. You saw this year, and COVID obviously was different, but the teams that did not have a lot of experience, including ourselves, really struggled early, and it took a while. When you keep bringing guys in and trying to piece them together, the continuity is so important."
On what kind of team he feels he has right now…
"I feel good about our group. They want to be successful. We've had a great spring. They've really been focused. They've really worked hard. It's been all positive energy, a lot of skill development, a lot of time in the weight room. So it's been good. Obviously, we got five new guys coming in June, and it'll be different (then) but this core group that we have that finished the season that played well down the stretch, they've been great, and it's been fun to coach. We're in our last couple days here, and then they'll get home after next week. But it's been good."
On the transfers adding to the roster…
"Well, first, we wanted some experience and Mark Smith was one that he's played in the NCAA Tournament. Now you got two guys in Mike McGuirl and Mark Smith that have both played in (the NCAA Tournament). They're older. We know Mark. We recruited him actually twice and this third time we just basically said, 'Hey, we recruited you. Either you want to come here or not and you know what we're about'. We have a relationship, so hopefully that works out. With the other guys we lost, we felt that we needed some kind of another point guard in the mix and Markquis (Nowell) brings a dynamic guy that would have been in the NCAA Tournament a year ago with Little Rock if it wasn't stopped. He had COVID mess up his year but he's explosive. He's a little older. He knows about Nijel, Mike and Mark and he wants to just be part of it and be successful and experience it and so we're excited about that. Then to add Ish (Ismael Massoud) late, it had to be the right player for that last spot, and he gives us some experience. He gives us a versatile big guy that can shoot the ball. He just seems like a great young man and a hard worker. (Former K-State and current K-State AD) John Currie text me and just said you're getting a great one. So, we felt very good about that and then Max (Edwards), we finally were able to sign him, but he gives us some explosiveness, some athleticism, versatile. He could play that forward that in today's basketball, the three-four. And then obviously we've signed Logan (Landers) early. Logan had a great year. Big body, can shoot the basketball, does a lot of things, hard worker, wants to please. I think it's a nice mix with the guys we have right now. We can say we have competition. Obviously, we've had injuries the last few years and I hope maybe we're through that but hopefully now we have enough depth, even if we have some injuries that like past seasons.
On spring workouts…
I can't say enough about how our guys finished. We're xcited to have Mike McGuirl back. I think he's just playing at a whole another level this spring. We've been doing a lot of skill work, competition stuff and one on one and two on two, and he's in the weight room extra. Selton (Miguel), right now it looks like he's gonna be gone part of the summer playing on the Angolan National Team in the Olympic qualifier so hopefully that's a great experience for him. Obviously, Nijel (Pack) and Davion (Bradford), a great finish for the season for them. Now we got to get Kaosi (Ezeagu) and Carlton (Linguard) healthy and Monty (Murphy). They made some progress over the spring. Our goal is hopefully to have those guys back as we get into June, so we have enough bodies to do some open gym and play and do some things we didn't get to do a year ago to get ready for the season."
On the team's versatility…
"We have options. I think that's the best thing. Can we have a system where we can make the easy transition from either playing big or playing small? Maybe a little different look. I think one of our worst things last year was transition. Our defense got better as the year went on. We went from one of the worst in the league to maybe sixth in a lot of categories after how we played down the stretch. Now you got to finish in transition and that'll be a key. But hopefully with Mark and Markquis and then the continued development of our other guys, we can be better in transition. Ish (Ismael Massoud), we haven't coached him yet. Monty coming back, but I think we have that opportunity to go both ways, and even with bigs, if we're healthy, Carlton and Logan. You saw that a little bit with USC had great success playing two big guys that were versatile out on the court. Obviously, they had a great run in the tournament, so even though small ball has been important, USC kind of gave everybody a little different look that maybe it still can work."
On Markquis Nowell having a green light to shoot…
"If he can make them (laughter). Our biggest thing, besides transition, is the productivity and efficiency. We talked a lot about Baylor all year. They won it. I said back in December that I thought they should win it or had a chance to. How do you become that? Right now, they're the standard. Those guys took tough shots but they made them, and they shot 40-something percent from three and that's kind of our goal. We don't have to shoot more shots but be a better percentage, and I want Nijel, Mike and Selton to be able to make plays when we need baskets. I'm not sure we're gonna come down and jack it. I don't think that works in our league. Hopefully, we are a little more efficient, which will allow a little more freedom."
On relationships with other coaches helping during the transfers…
"It was funny because (Missouri coach) Cuonzo (Martin) called me on a Wednesday or Thursday and it was early in the morning. I was kind of surprised by the call and he goes, 'I just want to talk to you about DaJuan (Gordon)'. I did not want to lose him. He had his mind made up. I hope the best for him. One of the last things I told DaJuan is to make the right decision, not the school, but the coach. I'm worried about his future. I want him to make it. I don't want him to be somebody that doesn't make it and I told Zo (Cuonzo) after he committed to him. I couldn't be happier that he's going to a guy that's going to care about him and worry about him for life. And to me that's important. Cuonzo has talked about when he's had discussions with the Oversight Committee and the different committees he's part of with NABC that Coach Keady saved his life, gave him a chance in life. That's why he's successful because of his coaching. And he played as a freshman, but he wasn't like Glenn Robinson dominating right from the beginning. It took him awhile but by the end he was a really good player and if his knee would have been halfway decent, he probably would have played in the NBA. But Coach Keady stuck with him and made sure he got his degree and gave him a chance in the coaching profession, and now he's turned out well. That's what we talked about, that's what we're worried about, so I was happy for DaJuan. About four or five days later, Mark Smith popped up and I said (to Martin), 'We recruited him twice, what do you think?' He said he loved him as a young man. He had just had lunch with him. That's kind of when they said goodbye, but he was very positive. Hopefully, it will work out for both of us."
On Mark Smith possibly playing point guard…
"Well, I hope he has an opportunity to handle the ball and make plays and that's important. Obviously, he's a great shooter. He's experienced, got the big body. I recruited him. I think I might have been one of the first ones to offer him to be honest. He played baseball and didn't get much pub and I remember going there to watch him. And then obviously he blew up then but one of the things I thought he really did well was pass the basketball. We want to emulate what Baylor did, where they had three guards that all could make plays. They could all handle. They could all pass. If we're going to be the vision I want to be and what I think we can be, we'll have not only Nijel and Markquis, but we'll have Mark, Mike, Selton, everybody handling the ball, making plays, and it will make us much more effective."
On Luke Kasubke…
"I said before he has the courage to come and play. He played basketball two weeks over a six month period and I stick him in the game against Texas against three of the best guards in the country. It wasn't almost fair to him, but he did not back down. I loved his toughness. His defense was the thing that really surprised me. Now he just has to get some reps, get the gym. He's a great young man. He's got some orneriness to him, some competitive spirit that I love. I hope he can be that versatile guy that can come in for us and give us some good quality minutes and give us that stability when you got guys coming in and out. He can give us that different look."
On Montavious Murphy…
"It's a guy that played as a freshman. He hit a big basket in a road game at UNLV as a freshman and he was probably as good as anybody on the defensive end for us. He picked up things really well. Even now he just started getting back into some live action. He has some real good basic instincts on defense. He has a great feel. That part of it, experience defensively, maturity, but he hasn't played much basketball or had even much time in the gym over this last year, so just him getting confident, shooting the basketball, feeling more confident, figuring out some niche to score. I think the other thing he really does well is he passes the ball. It was one of the things that we struggled with from those big guys, for any of our big guys this year. He can bring a lot of different things."
On Murphy's health…
"He had surgery in Houston, did his classes on Zoom, started the recovery there through his physical therapists and doctors there. He got back here in March. And then we made the progression. It's basically how many shots a day to running in the pool to the other couple other different running machines that he's been able to use, and then just this week was the first time a little bit of live action. We're limiting his reps but he has been on the court and I'm sure for him, he just has to feel good about having that opportunity to get back in there and sweat a little bit and compete, but it's gonna take time. Hopefully, he will be ready to go when workouts start in June."
On the progress of the bigs…
"You got to feel good about Davion and what he did. When Kaosi went down I was really worried. But how Davion stepped up. Kaosi, it's been a slow recovery. We actually kind of went back and started over with him after the season was over. He's been as limited as anybody. Carlton is starting to get going again, kind of went back again after the season and let him rest and recover a little bit. Logan, if you watch, he's got unbelievable skill. It's shooting the three ball, passing the basketball, natural instincts that I don't think any of our guys have, but we all know freshmen, especially freshmen big guys, sometimes it takes a while. We talked about Monty, now you add Ish (Massoud) to the mix, again experience, a young man that scored 31 points in an ACC game, so he's got some skill. Every time I call him, he's in the gym, so he works hard. He loves it. Great young man. And then Max gives you that versatile guy that can go either that three or four if you played small ball. Max had a surgery recently and won't be really getting back until June but I hope we have good depth. But again, until we get them all healthy and get them all here, we'll have to wait until we get into June and July."
On having summer workouts again after last season…
"We've talked about what we went through last year. We had so many unknowns last spring, not even having guys here to when we brought the guys' back late June that quarantine for 14 days, limited three, four guys in the gym at a time. We were afraid to have them in our office. That was probably October, November, before we even started watching film with guys. No open gyms. That sense of normalcy of open gym and coming in the gym, they can come in at night. You want them in the gym. You want them playing. You want them excited. You want them doing team things. We took them to a movie the other day for the first time in a long time. We're working on getting a paintball thing going, just fun team things where they can feel like they're normal students."
On the new guys helping defensively…
"Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt that it helps with concepts. Obviously, Cuonzo (Martin) has been a pretty good defensive coach, so Mark's been in that system along with being at Illinois and having that background. They know how to guard things. I still go back to my days with USA Basketball a couple summers ago. Tyrese Haliburton, Isaac Likekele, Reggie Perry, guys that have played before. When we talked about certain concepts on a guard and stuff, we didn't have to sit there and talk them through it. The young guys, they have no clue what we are talking about. It helps, there's no doubt about it. With Selton, we developed a defensive stopper, along with Mike. I think rim protection is going to be important. If we can get better at that, we started getting steals at the end of the year which we've always been pretty good at. Now we just got to finish the transition. Markquis gives us another guy that can put pressure on the basketball. Max can guard, I promise you he can guard people even as a young guy so I think you got a good mix. We have so many new guys last year that we had to start over with the system because almost every call, you talked about our defense and the help side and seeing the ball and all those things. To our staff's credit, to the players' credit, we got pretty good at it. Now our main group knows what we want, so they can make sure that we're doing those things and the other guys just got to kind of buy in and learn."
On any plans for the summer…
"I would love to do (a summer trip). One, financially, it's difficult. We're still trying to fight our way through the financial part as an athletic department and as a university. And then just still the unknowns about going overseas. I would anticipate it would probably be next August (2022) that we'd end up going. But we talked a little bit about Canada, because you can go there. I haven't heard of any other teams, yet, making the move, saying they're going to go this year."
On next season's schedule…
"(Aside from the Hall of Fame Classic and games against Nebraska and Wichita State), you got the Big East Battle. You still have the SEC Challenge. You got a pretty good nucleus to start with, with those games, and then obviously we got to get enough home games for our season ticket package. We're going to have five or six games that are home games to mix in then we make some decisions on some other games."
One of the nation's youngest teams, K-State (9-20, 4-14 Big 12) finished the 2020-21 season on a high note by winning 4 of its last 6 games, including battling eventual national champion Baylor, 74-68, in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Kansas City. Due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols, the Wildcats had just one player start all 29 games (senior Mike McGuirl), while it started three true freshmen (Davion Bradford, Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack) in 17 games, including 12 in Big 12 play.
The 71 combined starts by true freshmen ranked second nationally to Kentucky's 72, while the 17 games with at least three true freshman starts trailed just Duke (19) and Kentucky (18). The trio combined to average 25.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.0 steals this season.
The positive momentum continued on March 22 when McGuirl, an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection in 2020-21, announced that he was utilizing his extra season of eligibility and returning to the Wildcats. McGuirl is one of 10 players, including four with starting experience, expected to return in 2021-22.
Weber and his coaching staff built on that foundation by adding four players in the last four weeks, including three transfers (Ismael Massoud, Markquis Nowell and Mark Smith) and an incoming freshman (Maximus Edwards). The quartet joins Wisconsin high school big man Logan Landers, who inked with the team in November.
Smith was the first spring addition on March 31, as he transferred to K-State after spending the last three seasons at Missouri, where he averaged 10.3 points on 39.8 percent shooting, including 37.5 percent from 3-point range, in 69 games with 61 starts. He was followed by another set of transfers in Nowell, who averaged 14.4 points on 39.5 percent shooting, including 36.9 percent from long range, in 68 games with 51 starts at Little Rock, and Massoud, who averaged 6.2 points on 36 percent shooting, including 36.3 percent from long range, in 53 games with 8 starts at Wake Forest. A commit since January, Edwards signed on April 15 after two standout seasons at Our Saviour Lutheran School in the Bronx, N.Y., where he averaged a team-best 19.9 points per game in 2020-21.
HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
On so many players transferring...
"Well, it's a change, there's no doubt. I'll be honest, I worry about it. I know a lot of coaches that I'm friends with that I've talked to. I was on the phone with (Missouri coach) Cuonzo Martin yesterday, (Purdue coach) Matt Painter the day before, (Michigan State coach) Tom Izzo last week late in the week. We're all skeptical. I told President Myers last night at the baseball game that I worry about college basketball in the future, and I know change is hard for everybody and change is part of life. I still go back to Coke and Coke Classic. Sometimes people make bad decisions and they have to go back and say, 'What did we do? Did we did we mess this up?'
You want to stay in the game, you got to be flexible, you got to change. I think we've done a good job of finding some older guys that will help us. We've lost some, we gained some. Hopefully it's a positive on our end, but I really worry about the players, the 99 percent of the players. The one percent that had that chance to play in the NBA, they're going to have their opportunities but the 99 (percent) that are switching, we have some that have been at four schools. I give credit to some guys if they get six years of playing. Hopefully, they're getting their undergrad and they're getting a Master's and maybe something beyond that it's going to help them in the long run, but this new group that starts changing our graduation rates are going to go up. Is that going to change? To me, the thing I worry about is their future, where they have somebody to go to. If you keep leaving schools, who's going to go help you in the long run? That's why I got into the business, to watch young men growing and develop not only as basketball players, but give themselves a chance to get a degree and network and give them chances to have a good life. And that's what I worry about. I have guys that I've coached 30 years ago that are still calling me and saying, 'Coach, can you help me with this? Can you do this or that? Can you call for me? I'm looking for a job'. I'm going to be loyal to them because they were loyal to us. And right now, where's that going to go? The degree, using basketball, networking ability, and that loyalty factor I worry about. And then the game itself."
On how the incoming transfers have helped his team...
"I know we've all talked about staying old, and that's been a big thing that everybody has talked about. How can you stay old? Well now you can stay old by getting in the portal. But I think it's beyond that. Why did Baylor win? Not only were they old with average age of 22, but they also were together, and that continuity, that being together, playing together. You saw this year, and COVID obviously was different, but the teams that did not have a lot of experience, including ourselves, really struggled early, and it took a while. When you keep bringing guys in and trying to piece them together, the continuity is so important."
On what kind of team he feels he has right now…
"I feel good about our group. They want to be successful. We've had a great spring. They've really been focused. They've really worked hard. It's been all positive energy, a lot of skill development, a lot of time in the weight room. So it's been good. Obviously, we got five new guys coming in June, and it'll be different (then) but this core group that we have that finished the season that played well down the stretch, they've been great, and it's been fun to coach. We're in our last couple days here, and then they'll get home after next week. But it's been good."
On the transfers adding to the roster…
"Well, first, we wanted some experience and Mark Smith was one that he's played in the NCAA Tournament. Now you got two guys in Mike McGuirl and Mark Smith that have both played in (the NCAA Tournament). They're older. We know Mark. We recruited him actually twice and this third time we just basically said, 'Hey, we recruited you. Either you want to come here or not and you know what we're about'. We have a relationship, so hopefully that works out. With the other guys we lost, we felt that we needed some kind of another point guard in the mix and Markquis (Nowell) brings a dynamic guy that would have been in the NCAA Tournament a year ago with Little Rock if it wasn't stopped. He had COVID mess up his year but he's explosive. He's a little older. He knows about Nijel, Mike and Mark and he wants to just be part of it and be successful and experience it and so we're excited about that. Then to add Ish (Ismael Massoud) late, it had to be the right player for that last spot, and he gives us some experience. He gives us a versatile big guy that can shoot the ball. He just seems like a great young man and a hard worker. (Former K-State and current K-State AD) John Currie text me and just said you're getting a great one. So, we felt very good about that and then Max (Edwards), we finally were able to sign him, but he gives us some explosiveness, some athleticism, versatile. He could play that forward that in today's basketball, the three-four. And then obviously we've signed Logan (Landers) early. Logan had a great year. Big body, can shoot the basketball, does a lot of things, hard worker, wants to please. I think it's a nice mix with the guys we have right now. We can say we have competition. Obviously, we've had injuries the last few years and I hope maybe we're through that but hopefully now we have enough depth, even if we have some injuries that like past seasons.
On spring workouts…
I can't say enough about how our guys finished. We're xcited to have Mike McGuirl back. I think he's just playing at a whole another level this spring. We've been doing a lot of skill work, competition stuff and one on one and two on two, and he's in the weight room extra. Selton (Miguel), right now it looks like he's gonna be gone part of the summer playing on the Angolan National Team in the Olympic qualifier so hopefully that's a great experience for him. Obviously, Nijel (Pack) and Davion (Bradford), a great finish for the season for them. Now we got to get Kaosi (Ezeagu) and Carlton (Linguard) healthy and Monty (Murphy). They made some progress over the spring. Our goal is hopefully to have those guys back as we get into June, so we have enough bodies to do some open gym and play and do some things we didn't get to do a year ago to get ready for the season."
On the team's versatility…
"We have options. I think that's the best thing. Can we have a system where we can make the easy transition from either playing big or playing small? Maybe a little different look. I think one of our worst things last year was transition. Our defense got better as the year went on. We went from one of the worst in the league to maybe sixth in a lot of categories after how we played down the stretch. Now you got to finish in transition and that'll be a key. But hopefully with Mark and Markquis and then the continued development of our other guys, we can be better in transition. Ish (Ismael Massoud), we haven't coached him yet. Monty coming back, but I think we have that opportunity to go both ways, and even with bigs, if we're healthy, Carlton and Logan. You saw that a little bit with USC had great success playing two big guys that were versatile out on the court. Obviously, they had a great run in the tournament, so even though small ball has been important, USC kind of gave everybody a little different look that maybe it still can work."
On Markquis Nowell having a green light to shoot…
"If he can make them (laughter). Our biggest thing, besides transition, is the productivity and efficiency. We talked a lot about Baylor all year. They won it. I said back in December that I thought they should win it or had a chance to. How do you become that? Right now, they're the standard. Those guys took tough shots but they made them, and they shot 40-something percent from three and that's kind of our goal. We don't have to shoot more shots but be a better percentage, and I want Nijel, Mike and Selton to be able to make plays when we need baskets. I'm not sure we're gonna come down and jack it. I don't think that works in our league. Hopefully, we are a little more efficient, which will allow a little more freedom."
On relationships with other coaches helping during the transfers…
"It was funny because (Missouri coach) Cuonzo (Martin) called me on a Wednesday or Thursday and it was early in the morning. I was kind of surprised by the call and he goes, 'I just want to talk to you about DaJuan (Gordon)'. I did not want to lose him. He had his mind made up. I hope the best for him. One of the last things I told DaJuan is to make the right decision, not the school, but the coach. I'm worried about his future. I want him to make it. I don't want him to be somebody that doesn't make it and I told Zo (Cuonzo) after he committed to him. I couldn't be happier that he's going to a guy that's going to care about him and worry about him for life. And to me that's important. Cuonzo has talked about when he's had discussions with the Oversight Committee and the different committees he's part of with NABC that Coach Keady saved his life, gave him a chance in life. That's why he's successful because of his coaching. And he played as a freshman, but he wasn't like Glenn Robinson dominating right from the beginning. It took him awhile but by the end he was a really good player and if his knee would have been halfway decent, he probably would have played in the NBA. But Coach Keady stuck with him and made sure he got his degree and gave him a chance in the coaching profession, and now he's turned out well. That's what we talked about, that's what we're worried about, so I was happy for DaJuan. About four or five days later, Mark Smith popped up and I said (to Martin), 'We recruited him twice, what do you think?' He said he loved him as a young man. He had just had lunch with him. That's kind of when they said goodbye, but he was very positive. Hopefully, it will work out for both of us."
On Mark Smith possibly playing point guard…
"Well, I hope he has an opportunity to handle the ball and make plays and that's important. Obviously, he's a great shooter. He's experienced, got the big body. I recruited him. I think I might have been one of the first ones to offer him to be honest. He played baseball and didn't get much pub and I remember going there to watch him. And then obviously he blew up then but one of the things I thought he really did well was pass the basketball. We want to emulate what Baylor did, where they had three guards that all could make plays. They could all handle. They could all pass. If we're going to be the vision I want to be and what I think we can be, we'll have not only Nijel and Markquis, but we'll have Mark, Mike, Selton, everybody handling the ball, making plays, and it will make us much more effective."
On Luke Kasubke…
"I said before he has the courage to come and play. He played basketball two weeks over a six month period and I stick him in the game against Texas against three of the best guards in the country. It wasn't almost fair to him, but he did not back down. I loved his toughness. His defense was the thing that really surprised me. Now he just has to get some reps, get the gym. He's a great young man. He's got some orneriness to him, some competitive spirit that I love. I hope he can be that versatile guy that can come in for us and give us some good quality minutes and give us that stability when you got guys coming in and out. He can give us that different look."
On Montavious Murphy…
"It's a guy that played as a freshman. He hit a big basket in a road game at UNLV as a freshman and he was probably as good as anybody on the defensive end for us. He picked up things really well. Even now he just started getting back into some live action. He has some real good basic instincts on defense. He has a great feel. That part of it, experience defensively, maturity, but he hasn't played much basketball or had even much time in the gym over this last year, so just him getting confident, shooting the basketball, feeling more confident, figuring out some niche to score. I think the other thing he really does well is he passes the ball. It was one of the things that we struggled with from those big guys, for any of our big guys this year. He can bring a lot of different things."
On Murphy's health…
"He had surgery in Houston, did his classes on Zoom, started the recovery there through his physical therapists and doctors there. He got back here in March. And then we made the progression. It's basically how many shots a day to running in the pool to the other couple other different running machines that he's been able to use, and then just this week was the first time a little bit of live action. We're limiting his reps but he has been on the court and I'm sure for him, he just has to feel good about having that opportunity to get back in there and sweat a little bit and compete, but it's gonna take time. Hopefully, he will be ready to go when workouts start in June."
On the progress of the bigs…
"You got to feel good about Davion and what he did. When Kaosi went down I was really worried. But how Davion stepped up. Kaosi, it's been a slow recovery. We actually kind of went back and started over with him after the season was over. He's been as limited as anybody. Carlton is starting to get going again, kind of went back again after the season and let him rest and recover a little bit. Logan, if you watch, he's got unbelievable skill. It's shooting the three ball, passing the basketball, natural instincts that I don't think any of our guys have, but we all know freshmen, especially freshmen big guys, sometimes it takes a while. We talked about Monty, now you add Ish (Massoud) to the mix, again experience, a young man that scored 31 points in an ACC game, so he's got some skill. Every time I call him, he's in the gym, so he works hard. He loves it. Great young man. And then Max gives you that versatile guy that can go either that three or four if you played small ball. Max had a surgery recently and won't be really getting back until June but I hope we have good depth. But again, until we get them all healthy and get them all here, we'll have to wait until we get into June and July."
On having summer workouts again after last season…
"We've talked about what we went through last year. We had so many unknowns last spring, not even having guys here to when we brought the guys' back late June that quarantine for 14 days, limited three, four guys in the gym at a time. We were afraid to have them in our office. That was probably October, November, before we even started watching film with guys. No open gyms. That sense of normalcy of open gym and coming in the gym, they can come in at night. You want them in the gym. You want them playing. You want them excited. You want them doing team things. We took them to a movie the other day for the first time in a long time. We're working on getting a paintball thing going, just fun team things where they can feel like they're normal students."
On the new guys helping defensively…
"Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt that it helps with concepts. Obviously, Cuonzo (Martin) has been a pretty good defensive coach, so Mark's been in that system along with being at Illinois and having that background. They know how to guard things. I still go back to my days with USA Basketball a couple summers ago. Tyrese Haliburton, Isaac Likekele, Reggie Perry, guys that have played before. When we talked about certain concepts on a guard and stuff, we didn't have to sit there and talk them through it. The young guys, they have no clue what we are talking about. It helps, there's no doubt about it. With Selton, we developed a defensive stopper, along with Mike. I think rim protection is going to be important. If we can get better at that, we started getting steals at the end of the year which we've always been pretty good at. Now we just got to finish the transition. Markquis gives us another guy that can put pressure on the basketball. Max can guard, I promise you he can guard people even as a young guy so I think you got a good mix. We have so many new guys last year that we had to start over with the system because almost every call, you talked about our defense and the help side and seeing the ball and all those things. To our staff's credit, to the players' credit, we got pretty good at it. Now our main group knows what we want, so they can make sure that we're doing those things and the other guys just got to kind of buy in and learn."
On any plans for the summer…
"I would love to do (a summer trip). One, financially, it's difficult. We're still trying to fight our way through the financial part as an athletic department and as a university. And then just still the unknowns about going overseas. I would anticipate it would probably be next August (2022) that we'd end up going. But we talked a little bit about Canada, because you can go there. I haven't heard of any other teams, yet, making the move, saying they're going to go this year."
On next season's schedule…
"(Aside from the Hall of Fame Classic and games against Nebraska and Wichita State), you got the Big East Battle. You still have the SEC Challenge. You got a pretty good nucleus to start with, with those games, and then obviously we got to get enough home games for our season ticket package. We're going to have five or six games that are home games to mix in then we make some decisions on some other games."
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballK-State Men's Basketball | Honoring Coach Jack Hartman
Wednesday, February 04
K-State Men's Basketball | Game Replay vs Iowa State - February 1st, 2026
Monday, February 02
K-State Men's Basketball | David Castillo, PJ Haggerty Postgame Press Conference (Iowa State)
Sunday, February 01
K-State Men's Basketball | Coach Tang Postgame Press Conference (Iowa State)
Sunday, February 01
