Kansas State gambles on new offense

Looking back, it's not difficult to pinpoint the moment Kansas State's basketball season began to change.

Two days after suffering a demoralizing home loss to Colorado in which the Wildcats scored 66 points, coach Frank Martin had seen enough. Fresh off a string of underwhelming offensive performances, he decided to take the advice of his assistants and try something new.

For weeks, they had repeatedly urged him to stop running offense through the frontcourt and to switch to a smaller, spread-out, triangle system. And after 48 hours of discussion, and drawing X's and O's on whatever paper they could find, Martin went with their suggestions.

The coaching staff walked into the team's next practice ready to teach, and based on the results the Wildcats have produced since the start of February — eight wins in 10 games and a No. 24 ranking — K-State players were quick to learn.

"When I saw us do it the first time," Martin said, "I said, 'This fits us.' "

But the accounts of that fateful day differ.

"It was pretty difficult," sophomore Jordan Henriquez-Roberts said. "When we were just walking through it the first few days, everyone was kind of lost."

The move was made for several reasons, including the departure of forwards Wally Judge and Freddy Asprilla.

But more than anything, the new system, used by former coaches Tex Winter and Jack Hartman at K-State and by several teams in the NBA, emphasized the team's unique skill set.

It uses a four-guard lineup. It moves the ball around with passing. And it opens driving lanes for senior guard Jacob Pullen. Given the size and shooting ability of Rodney McGruder, Shane Southwell, Jamar Samuels and Curtis Kelly, the switch made sense.

But how much sense?

Martin had high expectations for what it could bring out of his team, but even he was hesitant to talk about the move at first. He said K-State was merely mixing in a few new looks, which couldn't be used against all opponents. When facing Kansas or Texas, he thought, the Wildcats needed to stay big.

It was a risky decision no matter how you look at it.

"It's hard, especially when you've never done it before," Martin said. "If that doesn't work, and we flounder, some of you guys would be writing out there I don't know what I'm doing and I probably need to go back to high school basketball."

Not until K-State defeated Nebraska and Iowa State in consecutive games did the Wildcats appear to be figuring everything out.