Basketball is basketball, but Bryce Haase has never been at this level before, on the men's basketball staff of a Power 4 program, and 24-year-old Bryce Haase sits inside the Shamrock Zone at Bramlage Coliseum in a purple Powercat quarter-zip and looks all around the spacious room.
Before he takes his at-bat, every time, without fail, Kansas State senior second baseman Shintaro Inoue tips his helmet to the home-plate umpire — a kind gesture of respect for authority, and for a man doing his job. And hours later, inside the coaches meeting room at Tointon Family Stadium where Inoue smiles and chuckles and tells stories following his two-run home run in a series-clinching 13-9 victory over Oklahoma State, the native of Yamaguchi, Japan, jumps from his chair and hurries to pull open the large glass door for a visitor following a 20-minute interview. Inoue nods, and he smiles, and he politely waves the man out the door.
In order to understand the journey, you have to understand the introduction — a warm handshake from the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder with arms busting out from a gray tank-top with a purple Powercat in the middle. Jay Harris, the 22-year-old former Division II First Team All-America running back from Northwest Missouri State, and a senior transfer who shined for Oregon in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Peach Bowl, looks you in the eyes, carrying a glint along with a businesslike demeanor.
The "brotherhood of strength" is a closeknit fraternity of men's basketball strength coaches from across the Big 12 Conference — a crew that now includes Kansas State strength coach Lee Scott, who has been hired by first-year K-State head coach Casey Alexander to help shape the bodies and minds of the Wildcats as they arrive and dive into preparations for next season.
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