Amidst all the celebrating, praising, and hand-wringing that goes along with Angel Rodriguez as the man leading the offense, it's easy to forget that Kansas State also has a guy who seemed like at least a serviceable point guard at the start of this season. Only the most delusional among us would ever predict All-Big 12 status or anything close to it for Will, but he didn't do a terrible job.
Will Spradling avoided egregious turnovers, could knock down open shots, and I'd like to think it would throw opposing defenses off a little when they heard the voice of a 12-year-old calling out plays. Sometimes, it makes me sad to think those days are over.
Still, much like Will's individual talent, it was always evident the K-State offense with him running it had a definite ceiling. Though he has learned to make opposing guards pay if they fall asleep, Will generally couldn't make something out of nothing off the dribble, and he's not one to make those crazy passes that can either lead to incredible alley-oops (about 40 seconds in), remarkably stupid turnovers, or anything in between.
In spite of everyone hopping aboard the Angel Rodriguez Roller Coaster, Spradling still has a vital place in the K-State lineup and a very bright future ahead of him. He fits well into the Frank system and continues to be a guy you can count on to give great effort every night.
For some thoughts on Will's new role and a short Missouri preview, click the jump.
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The two conference leaders remain locked in a collision course for the title that likely will be decided Saturday.
Oklahoma continued its freefall into near-Texas Tech territory. Texas Tech continues to reside down there.
Baylor just can't seem to put any distance between itself and Iowa State.
That could change soon, as Iowa State has some pretty difficult road games coming up.
And, of course, Kansas State and Texas experienced dramatic swings in their respective fortunes.
This is one of those rare RPI WATCHes where there actually are some developments to discuss.
For starters, more of our non-conference opponents won Saturday than lost. That alone is cause for celebration.
BracketBusters wins were notched by Charleston Southern and Loyola Chicago (wow, Bradley must really suck).
Unfortunately, BracketBusters losses were incurred by Long Beach State and Southern Illinois. The former of those was particularly painful, as the 49ers led for virtually the entire second half until blowing the lead in the last minute.
Other big wins were tallied by Alabama over Tennessee and UTEP at Memphis, which simply was huge for their RPI and our SOS. Even lowly Howard got in on the act, winning at Coppin State.
Wins also were logged at home in overtime by North Florida and Virginia Tech, but I'd hesitate to call them "big."
More like "avoidance of bad losses." Kennesaw State is winless in A-Sun play and Georgia Tech simply has been woeful this season. There was no excuse for either home team to let those games go to extra minutes.
So, in combination with the signature win at Baylor, what was the net impact on K-State's tournament resume?
Our RPI improved from 63 to 49, passing Texas, which fell from 39 to 51. SOS improved by 10 spots and will improve again after Tuesday night. Things are looking up.
Also, it's worth noting that K-State would be 5-6 against RPI top 50 opponents, which is two more wins than last season, except that Texas just barely fell out of the top 50. Now the Longhorns need to recover.
Note: This is a belated update covering the week's happenings that probably should have been published Saturday, but I was swamped with other things. Games from the weekend will be summarized Monday.
Once again, very few wins this week from our non-conference opponents.
The bright spots were Charleston Southern, which improved to 10-6 in conference play, and West Virginia, which gained a measure of vengeance for a heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh on the Panthers' home court.
Attaboy, Huggs.
You know the drill: Everyone else lost. Our RPI continued to decline.
Thus, as we will see tomorrow, the Baylor win was every bit as huge as people say.
It's easy to overlook seven, or even eight turnovers when they come with 27 points, 11 assists, and a game-winning 3-pointer. But when you miss all eight shots you take and your team loses by six, seven turnovers tend to stand out like a sort thumb.
In fact, this is probably going to seem harsh, but I think a strong argument could be made that Angel Rodriguez played the absolute single worst game of any individual Kansas State player all season Monday night against Kansas.
I found myself a tad disappointed TheBigE didn't do a game recap, because I don't think there' s any way he could have avoided giving Angel what I believe would have been the first 'F' of the season. About the only way he could have been worse would have been if he had also missed the front end of a 1-and-1, traveled, and then missed another front end in consecutive possessions with his team ahead by four in the final 63 seconds.
I took the time to go back and watch Angel's performance Friday afternoon (thanks ESPN3!) and found myself even more appalled than the first time, beginning with how he made dribbling look like something he was trying for the first time early in the game. It was also a little distressing to realize I couldn't blame Frank for continually putting Angel back in after yanking him for a terrible miscue, just because every other K-State player is so limited at the point guard position.
Some of the mistakes could have perhaps been attributed to youth had they been done only once, but that's really the most astonishing thing -- every thing he did wrong, he did wrong at least three times. I'm sure you can think of others, but check the jump for Angel's most most egregious errors, in my mind, plus a quick preview of the Baylor game.
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Other than the compelling, neck-and-neck, two-horse race at the top of the standings, the conference has settled nicely into a step-by-step pecking order.
And other than the need to swap Iowa State and Texas A&M, it's remarkably similar to the preseason predictions.
Guess those dumb ol' Big 12 coaches actually know something collectively after all, huh?
I don't have too much to add, other than that today is the first of likely two cracks we'll have at Baylor, either of which essentially is a "play-in" game to the NCAA Tournament.
Barring that, I still think getting to 9-9 will help to make this a six-bid league, but you have to wonder about this team's emotional and mental state after dropping four in a row if they don't get this one today.
There simply is no margin for error left on the Cats' schedule. There's already been way too much error this year.
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