CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ A year from now, Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor might be wondering what it will take to keep Bruce Weber happy ... if he can keep him in Manhattan, Kan.
Seems far-fetched for a coach who wins games and not popularity contests, but envision this scenario:
The Wildcats, with everyone back from the 2018 NCAA Tournament team, finish second in the Big 12 and grab a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And with the game's reputation rebuilding from the FBI investigation that tainted many programs but not Kansas State, Weber's stock as a by-the-book coach is on the rise and he gets a contract extension.
Not that Weber and K-State are in a bad place now. The Wildcats prepare to meet Creighton on Friday in an NCAA Tournament game, and this is where you want to be in March. Weber's teams have reached this juncture four times in six years and are coming off a fourth-place Big 12 finish when they were projected to finish eighth.
Reasons why Weber isn't fully embraced are well known, starting with the lukewarm reception upon his hire, continuing through his lack of success in the NCAA Tournament _the Wildcats are 0-3 in the first round _ and against rival Kansas. Oh, and he's not Frank Martin, his predecessor who also didn't beat the Jayhawks much but won games in March.
"I understand expectations are high," Taylor said. "And there are some things that Bruce would love to make happen like win games in the tournament, be consistently more competitive in the Big 12. I think we can be, and he's the coach who can get us there.
"Are we the blue bloods of college basketball? But when you look at teams that get in (the NCAA Tournament) and don't get in, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, they're good programs that didn't get in."
The NIT is full of those teams and their disappointed fans. Kansas State's fans, meanwhile, will be glued to Friday's game against a Bluejays team led by one of Weber's top recruiting discoveries. Creighton's Marcus Foster, a stud freshman and sour sophomore in Manhattan, walked away unhappy after two years.
Now, Foster talks about how Weber helped him understand tough love and says he's a better father to his 5-month-old daughter because of lessons learned along the way.
"I had to grow up and mature," Foster said. "Now I'm in a spot where I'm the man I wanted to become."
That departure also represented a change in Weber's approach. Foster was among a large group of underclassmen who left the program after Weber's third season, and that stands as his K-State low point.
Weber essentially had to start over, and among those signed in the following class were Dean Wade, Barry Brown and Kamau Stokes. The next class produced Xavier Sneed and Cartier Diarra, among others.
"You got guys who care about winning," Weber said. "Talent is one thing. You need talent. But if you can find guys who care and (who) want to do things the right way and give you great leadership ..."
Weber is about to complete his sixth year in Manhattan. When next season begins, only Jack Hartman, Tex Winter and Jack Gardner will have coached the Wildcats longer since 1933. And only those three have won more Kansas State games than Weber.
Wade's foot injury casts some doubt on Kansas State's chances here. The team is calling his availability a game-time decision, with Weber putting his chances of playing at "50 to 60 percent." It seems that if Wade plays, he'll be limited. Brown, who missed all but 90 seconds of the Big 12 semifinal loss with an eye injury, is back. But this isn't a team at full strength.
"If we were totally healthy, it would be nice _ I really believe we could be a possible Sweet 16 team," Weber said. "But a lot of special things can happen, and that's part of March Madness."
Friday's outcome won't, or shouldn't, change the perception of Weber. That will happen next season, setting up as the most promising and critical of his K-State tenure.
