Another disappointing loss for K-State basketball last night, losing 69-63 to Oklahoma State.  We’ll start there…

“We knew it would be a hard-fought game. Guys gave us their all. They gave us a chance, but just can’t get over the hump. It’s hard. I don’t know if I have much emotion left, I’ll be honest. And the other thing is, we’re right there (losing a lot of close games), so that even makes it even more, it takes the emotion out of you.”…Bruce Weber after the game.

JM:  Sounds like Bruce Weber is becoming numb to the losing just like the fans have this season.

“I always pride myself on getting guys to play together and play hard, but I guess I haven’t done a good enough job with this group.”…Bruce Weber after the game.

JM:  It’s an honest answer, but it sounds like Bruce isn’t quite sure what the problem is.  What has worked for him in the past just isn’t working this season.

“It’s disappointing, obviously.  Just go make it, make an easy layup or a dunk. But it happened and there isn’t much you can do about it.”…Bruce Weber, commenting on Xavier Sneed’s missed windmill dunk in the game.

JM:  You’d think that the players on a team finding it very difficult to score would value possessions a little bit more and just score the ball rather than trying to make the SportsCenter top 10 plays highlight list.  Cartier Diarra missed a windmill dunk during a game recently as well.  This looks like a lack of discipline to me.

“It’s not fun. It’s disappointing. We have done some unbelievable things here, things that haven’t been done as far as K-State basketball in a long, long time. I am very proud of that. I am very disappointed in this year. That’s my fault. I’m the coach. Players get credit when you win. When you lose, it’s the coach. That’s my fault for not doing what I needed to do to get us to where we could have a more successful season.”…Bruce Weber after the game.

JM:  Bruce is taking the blame here.  Kind of. The “players get credit when you win” comment is a backhanded way of saying “we tied for the Big 12 championship last season and I get no credit for that.”  He also mentions they have done some “unbelievable things” here.  Is Bruce feeling the heat a little bit?  Probably not, but I found these comments interesting nonetheless.

“It’s very humbling. We came into this season with high expectations. Seeing things happen the way they have has been pretty unexpected. As a basketball player who loves the game, and all of my teammates love the game, we just have to learn from this. We have to learn not to take anything for granted.”..Mike McGuirl after the game last night, from the Wichita Eagle.

JM:  Has this K-State basketball team taken this season for granted?  Did they tie for the league title last season and decide to take a deep breath and not work as hard coming into the year?  There are probably many factors at play here, but this could be one.

“Following Wednesday’s loss, Weber announced that Murphy, a freshman forward, had surgery on his knee “earlier in the week” and will not return this season.”…From the Manhattan Mercury.

JM:  Murphy has shown some promise at times this season.  This is another “big man” injury for Kansas State basketball to add to the growing list of injuries to K-State bigs over the years under Weber.  This could be a big loss going forward depending on the severity of the injury. 

“Sources: Kansas State is hiring Steve Stanard for the open linebacker coach job. He comes from Syracuse, where he held the same position. He’s also worked at Wyoming and North Dakota State.”..Pete Thamel, Twitter.

JM:  Steve Stanard worked with Chris Klieman at North Dakota State.  Stanard was the linebackers coach when Klieman was the defensive coordinator.  Stanard has some recruiting ties in North Carolina and South Carolina, so time will tell if he is able to bring in some talent.

“Schoen turned heads with a 4.47 time in the 40-yard dash, a mark that would’ve tied him with Mississippi State’s Stephen Guidry, TCU’s Jalen Reagor and Virginia’s Joe Reed for the 15th-fastest time among wide receivers at the combine.”…Wichita Eagle.

JM:  Scouts from 25 NFL teams attended K-State’s NFL Pro Day on March 4th.  K-State players working out for the scouts included running back James Gilbert, wide receiver Dalton Schoen, offensive lineman Nick Kaltmayer, tackle Scott Frantz and punter Devin Anctil.  Only Frantz shows up on current NFL draft projections.  I sure hope K-State can keep the draft streak going this season.  We’ll find out when the NFL draft starts on April 23rd.