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Maybe I’m still in denial. I’ve never been great with the whole ‘acceptance’ phase after experiencing a traumatic event in life. Our new writer Shane Summers tried to bring some catharsis with this article, but I still lay in bed dreaming that the Wildcats didn’t get bounced by La Salle in their first NCAA tournament game. So here’s how it should would have gone down if Angel Rodriguez’s desperately awkward, behind the backboard shot had gone in against the Explorers. We’ll call it the Jug of Snyder Final (Fantasy) Four recap:

Following its harrowing victory against La Salle, the Wildcats faced an Ole Miss team that upset Wisconsin in its first game. The Rebels (27-9) ran up against a much more hostile crowd than La Salle against K-State – Kansas City was absolutely jumping as fans salivated at the thought of earning a trip to the Sweet Sixteen by way of defeating an SEC squad.

Mississippi used a height advantage to outrebound Kansas State, but the Wildcats were on fire from behind the arc. They absolutely decimated an Ole Miss zone defense that kept Jordan Henriquez and Thomas Gipson in check, but allowed shot after shot from outside. Rodney McGruder led all scorers with 27 points, connecting on six of 11 three point shots. Final score: Mississippi 56, K-State 71.

For the purposes of continuing its ever-growing domination of the University of Texas, many fans wouldn’t mind seeing K-State play UT in the Big 12 tournament. Most of the K-State players probably wouldn’t mind it either. One player who could shy away from facing the Longhorns for a third time this season is junior guard Will Spradling, who has missed more playing time due to injuries resulting from games against Texas than all other players have missed for any injury.

The first injury occurred January 30th in Mahattan, when Spradling came up midway through the first half with a face covered in blood. As one of the team’s top shooters, it was frightening to imagine losing Spradling over the short term while being forced to wear a mask a la Rip Hamilton the rest of the season. When Spradling was taken to the locker room, the towel used to cover his face was literally dripping blood – it was so saturated that it couldn’t absorb any more. Will looked like he had suffered a major injury. Three days later, Spradling led the team in scoring in a 52-50 victory over Oklahoma while also fighting for three rebounds.

If the first match up with Texas was unkind, the rematch was just plain evil. Spradling took a hard hit to the chest during a screen and struggled the rest of the game, missing a fair portion of it. He spent the next game against Texas Tech on the bench. Against Baylor last Saturday Spradling attempted to play, but was pulled after five ineffective minutes in which he missed one shot and did not record any other stats. He was once again held out of the entire TCU contest.

K-State has a big game this Saturday against #13 Oklahoma State, and will win a share of the regular season conference title against KU if they leave Stillwater with a victory. Should KSU win and KU lose at Baylor, the Wildcats would win sole possession of the crown and the top seed in the Big 12 tournament. Should they tie with KU at 15-3 in league play (or 14-4), KU will receive the #1 seed by virtue of its sweep of K-State in the regular season. Either way, a win could help push the Wildcats all the way to a two seed in the NCAA tournament should they defeat the Jayhawks in the Big 12 Championship game. To do so, they need Spradling to be healthy. So is he?

Will suffered a bruised sternum against Texas, which is both causing him pain during movement and limiting his ability to breath. Depending upon the extent of the injury, a contusion to this plate can take 2-6 weeks to heal. Spradling’s problem is that just about anything you do can cause additional strain that exacerbates the problem. Patients often take short, shallow breaths to reduce pain, but it’s important to breath as normally as possible because shallow breathing can result in infection and hinder healing. On the flip side, heavy breathing is both painful and a source of increased strain. And every time Spradling does anything physical – run plays in practice, practice free throws, or play the the first five minutes of the Baylor game – heavy breathing is guaranteed to follow.

Will Spradling’s twitter account has been silent on his prospects of playing, which indicates Bruce Weber is doing a good job of ensuring his players aren’t giving away too much information. Spradling was in his warm ups during the TCU game and was reportedly ready to play if need be, Martavious Irving filled in admirably with 15 points and five assists over 36 minutes and K-State was able to maintain just enough of a lead to keep the game out of reach against the Horned Frogs. Regardless of Spradling’s status, the senior has played well filling in at the shooting guard spot and is likely due for more minutes anyway. Healthy or not, Spradling will have missed two weeks worth of conditioning and asking him to play the 30+ minutes he’s used to may be a stretch, chest pain or no chest pain.

The University has been completely silent on Spradling’s status, but it’s likely he will be available to play against Oklahoma State. He will also be playing through some pain. Don’t be surprised if Irving gets another start and Spradling is used off the bench to spare Irving. And if Martarvious’s shots start falling short and Will is called upon to step in for the rest of the game, we’ll get a sense of how much of a warrior he truly is.

Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

Will Spradling is a beast in a boy’s body. A week after Grantland declared only one other player in the nation looks less like he “belongs on a basketball court” than Spradling, #55 showed more heart, guts, and straight up blood than any other player on K-State’s team this year. Spradling got nailed – absolutely nailed – in the nose with an elbow in the first half and immediately went down. Everyone at the bar simultaneously agreed that that’s a broken nose as blood began pooling on the floor. When a coach is holding a towel over your nose and the towel starts dripping blood because it’s so saturated, that’s not just a ding on the snout – that’s some misaligned cartilage. Gonna miss the game against Oklahoma, plastic mask for the rest of the year, sucks to be Will Spradling. So what’s the kid do? Comes back in the second half to get a rebound and knock down a trey before coming out with about ten minutes to go and the game firmly in K-State’s pocket; not wearing any facial protection. Gotta love a player like that.

Overall, the Wildcats were able to dominate this game from almost beginning to end and the outcome was never really in question after they jumped out to a 21-9 lead, with a 38-19 margin at halftime. Steals seemed to flow all night as Shane Southwell recorded three of K-State’s nine takeaways – most of which led to fast break opportunities and ended in layups or foul shots. The free throw shooting that has dogged the team all year finally became a strength as the team hit 17 of 21 attempts (81 percent), although they could have missed every attempt and still won the game by nine.

Rodney McGruder was not called on to win the game, and spent the majority of the match on the bench (only 15 minutes of playing time). He wasn’t terribly effective during the moments he was on the court, missing his two three point attempts and shooting 40 percent on the night with one rebound, one assist, no steals, and three fouls. It was his lowest output since December 15 against Gonzaga, when he was held to four points on one-of-nine shooting.

In McGruder’s absence, Angel Rodriguez has been excellent at picking up the slack by knocking down threes and slashing his 5’11″ frame to the basket. However, tonight’s spotlight shown on bench player Thomas Gipson. Although only averaging 6.8 points on 19 minutes per game, Gipson shot a highly efficient 70 percent from the field to go along with three-of-three free throw shooting to finish with 17 points and seven rebounds on the night. Rodriguez managed 11 points on only 3-12 shooting, including 1-5 from behind the arc. However, he did finish with eight assists on the night.

Overall, the Wildcats did not completely shut down the Longhorns offense, allowing 41.3 percent field goal shooting by Texas. However, the Longhorns only managed to hit two of their nine three point attempts and finished with eleven fewer rebounds (28) than their average (39) – an average that ranked 30th overall in the nation.

Bruce Weber was incensed during much of the first half by the quick whistles of tonight’s referees, which sent McGruder and Martavious Irving to the bench early on in the game. He demonstrated said frustration by yelling at the officials. A lot. Weber engaged in multiple shouting matches with the refs and seemingly followed them from baseline to baseline during one change of possession. However, he was much relieved by the end of the game as K-State (16-4, 5-2) remained tied for second place in the Big 12 with the blowout win. Despite playing a team missing McGruder, Irving, and Spradling for much of the game, Texas (9-11, 1-6) was sorely beaten and remains ninth in the conference with only one league victory.

Frank! (si.com)

It’s time to get things started for the K-State men’s basketball team and tonight they open the season at home in the Octagon of Doom against Charleston Southern. This season begins as an enigma with there not being any real clear indications of how the team might end up. The preseason Big 12 coaches poll put the Wildcats at 6^th. Coming off an NCAA tournament appearance that seems a bit harsh but when you throw in the general turmoil that came during the offseason with plenty of players bailing out of Coach Martin’s program it’s pretty understandable. The usual suspects are known. Expect to see Martavious Irving, Rodney McGruder, Jordan Henriquez, and Will Spradling start the game. There’s no need to rehash what those guys bring to the table (and other sites have done it way better already) but continue reading to get a quick blurb about all the new players that have been added to the roster. (more…)