Bill Walker out for the season. January 8, 2007
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Did someone just kick me in the balls? That’s sure what it felt like after I learned that K-State Freshman Bill Walker would be out for the season with a torn ACL.
To be completely honest I did not expect this serious of an injury after watching Walker’s hard landing Saturday against Texas A&M. I was relieved to see him return the bench in the second half sans crutches. I was even a bit hopeful after I heard this morning that Walker’s first MRI was inconclusive. But now it seems as though Bill Walker’s first season at K-State will end after only six games.
With Bobby Knight and Texas Tech coming to town for Big Monday, the healthy portion of the team must not let this be a distraction. K-State played tough at College Station and nearly pulled off the upset of the No. 11 ranked team in the country. All this with Walker out during most of the game. With Walker hurt, it was Akeem Wright who decided to step it up a notch and make up for the 11.3 ppg sitting on the bench. If he’d had a bit more help from points-per-game leader Cartier Martin, K-State might have knocked off their first ranked team of the season.
Just as Walker’s addition to the team seemed to inspire the other players, so too must his temporary departure. The rest of the team must use this as motivation to step up their own game. Tonight’s showdown with Texas Tech will be a good indication of how much the “original” K-State team his improved.
Some K-State sports news: January 8, 2007
Posted by kangotang in College Basketball, College Football, K-State, Sports.add a comment
Football:
Head conditioning coach Rod Cole has resigned his position after 14 years, and will join the Texas A&M football staff.
Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris is said to be planning a return to the NFL.
Tim Horton is planning to return to the Air Force Academy.
There has been word that offensive coordinator James Franklin and OL coach Tim McCarty may also be planning coaching moves.
Baylor cornerbacks coach Wesley McGriff will be joining the K-State staff. He will likely coach either cornerbacks, or runningbacks.
Basketball:
Star freshman Bill Walker will probably not play tonight (Jan 8.) against Texas Tech. An unconfirmed source said that he was awaiting the results of an MRI and it was unknown how long he would be out.
K-State must use momentum December 25, 2006
Posted by kangotang in College Basketball, K-State, Sports.add a comment
After Friday’s 68-55 win over USC, the K-State players seemed to have a little more swagger in their step. After Saturday’s 16-point victory over New Mexico, they looked downright intimidating.
Is this the same K-State team that took two OTs to beat Washburn, beat William and Mary by 10, got humiliated and embarrassed by New Mexico and Cal, and had Huggins questioning the toughness of his players? Absolutely not. In all honesty, the past two games weren’t the most well-played NCAA match-ups this year. While K-State shot well overall, their 3-point percentage could only be described as profane. J.R. Giddens and New Mexico had their own problems getting the ball in the bucket, and USC’s Loderick Stewart (identical twin of KU’s Rod Stewart) was not as impressive as he has been in the past. But in a tournament that saw an undefeated and top-10 ranked Wichita State team lose TWICE, K-State seemed to stand out as the class of the bunch. A far cry from the 24-point beat-down the cats suffered against New Mexico at The Pit earlier this season.
What was most interesting about these two wins was that Huggins had his centers in the game a combined total of four minutes. That includes a whopping one minute of playing time for the 7′ 3″ shot-blocking machine Jason Bennett. K-State’s small lineup, more than anything, was too quick on defense for either team to get open shots. Gone, as well, were the days of repeated fast-break points against the Cats that had Huggins frustrated much of the first part of the season.
K-State needs to carry their new-found momentum into the game against Xavier next week. A 7-game winning streak would be nice to take into their Big 12 opener at Texas A&M. With the Cats opening conference play with two road games and a Big Monday home match-up against Texas Tech sandwiched in between, they’ll need that confidence to get off to a good start. This team still has a lot of games to win before they can start talking about the big dance. But for the first time this season, talk of an NCAA tourney bid has been started not because of who K-State’s coach is, but how the team is playing.
