Rebuilding the K-State Men's Basketball Team

The Boulevard wheat is flowing, the Moose is loose, and Rex Hudler’s voice is once again filling our living rooms with insightful thinking.  That’s right Royals fans, the wait is over. It is finally baseball season once again. (This post is also a little late, but I freakin love this picture.) 

Despite a few recent blunder with the Twins, the boys in blue have yet to disappoint. It’s always helpful when you’ve got guys like Lorenzo Cain in the outfield, already robbing people of hits.

 Yes, Dick, I’ve seen his freaking highlights. I’ve watched Cain do this all the time last year! The guy is a monster. 

But here are some Lorenzo Cain highlights anyways.

As much as I would love to focus on baseball and tell you more about why I like the looks of the roster for Kansas City this year, that post will unfortunately have to wait for another day at another time. I think we need to just come right out and tackle the big pink elephant in the room.

Wow, I really put a picture of a pink elephant on this blog. What is wrong with me?

A while back Nigel Johnson announced that he would be transferring from K-State. Another one gone? I really liked how Nigel played and I’m actually sad to see him go. I’m sure he will do great wherever he ends up. But now we are faced with a problem… we’ve basically emptied a majority of the roster… and we need players.

Hmmm. I feel like another team did this.

I also feel like that team should have some of their wins vacated.

You know... for paying off refs. 

Then again, there I go... speculating.

So now Bruce Weber finally has the opportunity to prove his recruiting ability, something that has been under constant criticism. If you expect absolute perfection with next year’s team, you have got something wrong with you. Not even Mike Krzyzewski could make a team perfect, and he just won a National Championship for the 5^th time. My congratulations to Coach K.

A massive improvement from last year.

It’s not going to be easy. But all we need is improvement, and a step in the right direction. Right now I feel like we are all just sitting around trying to pretend everything will be fine.

It's just... you know, burning in flames. It's fine.

Who’s to say it won’t be? But just in case, I have taken the liberty of creating the perfect squad based on local talent from K-State’s own campus. Some names and faces you may recognize, others you may not. Either way, my team will be unbeatable.

Dream Team, step aside.

STEP ONE: Find the perfect point guard.

This is a place where I really feel like we lacked in during the season. It is the point guard’s job to set up and run an offense, to make plays happen for not only themselves but everyone on the court. They are the leader, and inevitably will be the key to winning games.

MY PICK: Bill Snyder

No one fits the leadership role better than the MAN himself. Snyder is respected by all, and is the most prominent figure on K-State’s campus. I think he even rivals Anderson Hall. There will be some conflicts early in the season with football still going on, but once the bowl season is over, I think Snyder will be ready to take over the point guard position and lead the team to victory. Plus, I’m sure we can get the NCAA to allow him to use the windbreaker for his uniform.

STEP TWO: Fill out the rest of the roster.

Yes, my plan is a simple two-step process. Get a point guard, build a roster. Easy. So here’s what I’m looking at:

SMALL FORWARD: JUSTIN EDWARDS 

Hey! He’s still around! And as one of our main returning guards, I have him in my starting five.This kid can jump, too. I can see him catching lob passes thrown to the weak-side from point guard Snyder and throwing them down into the bucket. He’s going to step up big next year, and I have him moving from shooting guard, to off-guard, and even playing a little point when Snyder needs a Taco Bell or Chocolate Chip Cookie break.

SHOOTING GUARD: That kid sitting on the globe outside of Bluemont Hall.

We’re going to need someone smart. Someone who can see the weaknesses in the defense and then capitalize on them. There is no better pick then that kid that is sitting on the globe outside of Bluemont Hall. Yes, he’s small, but I believe he can be an essential playmaker. While Justin Edwards and Snyder are in the limelight, the Kid can offer another scoring option defenses will forget about. Based on how scholarly and intelligent he looks, I have complete confidence he will always put himself in the best position to get points on the board.

FORWARD: Brandon Bolden 

He had a broken wrist for a majority of last season, but since I haven’t heard anything about him going anywhere. Did you guys forget about when he absolutely murdered that kid from Southern Utah?

 He will eventually return, and then the block party will reign supreme once again.

CENTER: That awkward sculpture in the Kedzie Courtyard.

Like, what the hell even is this thing? Imagine giving it a pair of Nikes and a uniform, this thing is going to destroy some people. No one even has the slightest idea of where this thing came from or what it is capable of. That is going to be the center of K-State’s offense. This freaking weird sculpture is going lights out.

FROM THE BENCH: Brian Rohleder will be backed by the Ficus plants from Hale Library.

Have you ever seen a bigger group of thugs?

Bruce Weber is going to have his hands full, but after a few wind sprints I’m sure those ficus plants will develop the discipline necessary to represent K-State athletics. When the buzzer sounds for substitution, you know things are about to get physical. Rohleder and the ficus plants play to win.

On that note, I think we can all put our concerns over next year’s men’s basketball season to rest.

Keep Smiling,

Liz Heath

It's baseball season, and sometimes I make sarcastic comments about Madison Bumgarner. You can keep up with them by following me on Twitter! @SaxophoneLizard

DISCLAIMER: These photos and gifs are only used to enhance your blogging experience and in no way, shape, or form are providing me with endless amounts of profit. If that was the case, I would not be living in a dorm room right now.