The defining challenge of Bruce Weber and the future of K-State basketball

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March 25, 2019 - 10:55 AM

The question is sort of requisite in this line of work and Xavier Sneed appeared to be expecting it. The NCAA Tournament loss was just a half-hour or so old, the end of his junior season at Kansas State still fresh, but the answer is imperative to the future of the program he’s helped lift.

How sure is Sneed that he’ll be back?

The guard clapped his massive hands, moved up in his chair, and gave the only answer the moment allowed.

“I’m just worried about today,” he said. “I have no clue about tomorrow.”

Bruce Weber’s program is in a similar (and related) stretch of uncertainty. Sneed is expected to put his name into NBA draft consideration. He is not projected as a draft pick this summer, but there is no downside to participating in the process.

The decision will likely come down to this: make money somewhere other than the NBA next season or return as the alpha for a team moving on from one of the most important recruiting classes in program history.

As always in this sport, judgments will be made on the coach. Weber finds himself at a crucial spot now, a possible fork in the road of his seven-year journey to fully win over KSU fans.

His immediate future is secure. That is the deserved byproduct of a run to the Elite Eight last year and a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship this season. His contract runs four more years, with buyouts that vary between $2 million and $2.6 million the next two.

Weber is 62. This is likely to be the last head-coaching job of a career now into its fifth decade. But the story of that career is still being written, good and bad. This next stretch could tip the scales and determine how he is remembered in Manhattan.

At the moment, fans can reverse-engineer his career to whatever conclusion they’ve already made.

Believe in Bruce? Cool, because he’s won the program’s only two conference titles in the last 40 years and coached one of only two Elite Eight runs in the last 30. Four K-State coaches have made three consecutive NCAA Tournaments: Weber, Frank Martin, Lon Kruger and Jack Hartman. Make it again next year and Weber would join Kruger as the only men to make it four.

Don’t like Bruce? Cool, because the first conference title was with Martin’s players and that group lost to Kansas three times and was bounced in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by La Salle in Kansas City. Weber’s benching of Barry Brown with two fouls Friday is just the latest example of a frustrating coaching move, and he’s only made it to March Madness’ second weekend once.

You can see how this is all murky, still, even as it’s more positive than four years ago when he could’ve been fairly fired.

One mark for optimism is that the Wildcats’ future is relatively promising even with the graduation of a senior class that defined the program for years. K-State is unlikely to win another conference championship next year, but it should still be an NCAA Tournament contender.

Assuming Sneed stays, he will form an experienced and tough core with guard Cartier Diarra and power forward Makol Mawien. NCAA Tournament teams have been built on less.

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