Web posted
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
K-State's Martin okay with players predicting win over Kansas
By DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Any problem Frank Martin has with his Kansas State players brashly predicting victory over Kansas is staying strictly in-house.
To the outside world, Kansas State's first-year coach insists it doesn't matter what his star freshman Michael Beasley or anyone else says about Wednesday night's Sunflower State showdown between the No. 2 Jayhawks and No. 22 Wildcats.
''Do you think (Kansas forward) Darrell Arthur is going to become a better player because of what Michael says?'' Martin said Monday. ''Is Kansas going to be a better team? Do you think that's going to make them any better?''
It may not make the unbeaten Jayhawks (20-0, 5-0 Big 12) any better. But for as long as players have laced up sneakers or strapped on helmets, coaches have cringed at anyone's saying anything that might provide the competition with one ounce of extra motivation.
Nevertheless, both of Kansas State's freshmen sensations, Beasley and Bill Walker, have predicted the Wildcats (14-4, 4-0) would snap the amazing, and for the Wildcats embarrassing, 24-game win streak Kansas has on its rival's home floor.
''Mike said what he felt in his heart,'' Martin said during the Big 12's Monday coaches call. ''It's what he believes. He didn't come here to lose to Kansas.''
If they do come in for a chewing-out behind closed doors, the players would seem to have a better excuse than the dog ate their homework. Coach Bob Huggins also predicted Kansas State would beat the Jayhawks last year in what turned out to be his only season in charge of the Wildcats. Kansas proceeded to prove Huggins wrong by whipping him 67-61 in Lawrence and 71-62 in Manhattan.
''I don't want guys around me who don't believe we can't win every game on our schedule,'' Martin said.
Kansas coach Bill Self says he hasn't mentioned the streak to his players. But he agreed the crowd at Bramlage Coliseum, where Kansas is 19-0, will be the loudest his players have seen all year.
''This will certainly be the toughest test we've had to date, without question,'' Self said. ''It could be as hard a test as we have this year. Hopefully, we'll be prepared. We'll find out a lot more about ourselves from a poise standpoint.''
In the meantime, Self said he was surprised that he must continually deny speculation that wealthy Oklahoma State boosters are raising funds to entice him back home. An Oklahoma native, Self played at Oklahoma State in the mid-80s and was an assistant coach there from 1987-93.
''I am surprised because if anyone is speculating like that, it's people who are not in the know at all,'' he said. ''That's how rumors get started. But there's nothing there. Addressing it, all it does is bring attention to it. So that's a dead issue.''
If any group of athletes ever had reason to feel mentally and physically drained, it was Baylor and Texas A&M after their exhausting five-overtime marathon Wednesday night. Baylor's 77-71 loss on Saturday at home to Oklahoma in their next game seems in retrospect almost predictable.
But A&M's 59-56 win at Oklahoma State on Saturday may have been as encouraging as any victory the Aggies have had in many seasons.
Most critically, it snapped a three-game losing streak.
''I think we're going to be OK,'' said coach Mark Turgeon. ''Adversity's brought us closer together. Ten minutes into the Oklahoma State game, I didn't think we were going to have enough in our tank to win. We were so sluggish. After the five-overtime game, I thought it was asking a lot. But they got it done.''
The condition of Missouri senior guard Stefhon Hannah was upgraded from serious to good at a Columbia hospital on Monday. In an altercation at a Columbia bar, Hannah's jaw was broken several hours after the Tigers' victory over Colorado on Saturday.
''Stef's doing well,'' Anderson said. ''The surgery went well. He was sitting up. He's doing well. Right now, that's the most important thing.''
Anderson said he still did not know what happened. He also said Hannah would be out at least four to six weeks and that Keon Lawrence would probably replace Hannah at point guard.
Nebraska (11-6, 0-4) continues to be the only Big 12 team without at least one conference win. But the Huskers are also the only team to have to play Kansas twice already. They drew the powerful Jayhawks twice in two weeks and got smashed 79-58 and 84-49.
Coach Doc Sadler joked that he must have angered someone in the conference office where the schedules are put together. But on a serious note, he knows that Nebraska's being routed twice in its first four conference games won't do the young team's confidence any good.
''We just got our brains beat in twice,'' he said. ''You've got to hope in some small way your team is storing up character because if it's not, I don't care who you are, you're going to take a step back.''
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