Ex-Kansas State star McGruder: Bruce Weber 'does a great job of coaching'
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- Rodney McGruder won't lie: Whenever someone in Kansas State purple spots him, it comes up. A lot.
What's the deal with Bruce Weber, anyway?
Is he a tyrant? A fool?
And McGruder usually counters with this, much to their chagrin:
Try neither.
"Fans try to come up and ask (me)," McGruder, the former Wildcat star and linchpin of K-State's 2012-13 Big 12 co-champions, told FOXSportsKansasCity.com on Tuesday night. "But I have nothing but good things to say about Coach Weber, because my experience with Coach Weber was a great experience.
"He did a great job. I've got nothing but good things to say about him."
While a puzzling 15-17 season, the Marcus Foster saga, diminishing returns and an almost complete roster demolition has led many inside EMAW Nation to pile on, McGruder, K-State's leading scorer in 2011-12 and 2012-13, says he hasn't given up the faith. Or the ghost.
"I believe in (Weber)," McGruder, who spent this past winter with the NBA Development League's Maine Red Claws and Sioux Falls Skyforce, said before a barnstorming exhibition at Leavenworth (Kan.) High School. "And I've seen what we accomplished. I just think once he gets those guys to buy into his system and stuff like that, I think you'll see (results)."
McGruder was part of a pack of former Wildcats on hand to visit Leavenworth High, a traveling party that included guard Martavious Irving, center Jordan Henriquez, forward Thomas Gipson and forward Nino Williams, who played high school ball for the Pioneers.
"Coach Weber is a good guy; he's a very genuine guy," Henriquez, currently with the German club Science City Jena, said Tuesday. "He cares about his players. The guys that buy in, those are the guys that play well."
And the trials of this past winter?
"It's just a bump in the road," Henriquez countered.
And the slew of transfers?
"I really don't put that on Coach, though," McGruder said. "Guys (have) got to go out there and play the game. Coach does a great job. He tried to do as much as he can by making play-calls and stuff like that."
And Foster, who was poised to be the next -- well, you?
"Yeah, I liked him, too," McGruder replied. "I think he has a lot of (skill). I don't know what happened there. I honestly don't.
"Because I wasn't (around), I can't even speak upon what really happened. It was just -- I don't know. It was a big question."
After taking the scoring baton from McGruder as a true freshman, Foster's bandwagon went off the rails during his sophomore season, a rut that saw the Texas native kicked off the squad -- he recently landed at Creighton -- and started a death spiral that completely reset the Wildcats' backcourt. Of the four guards who were expected to log the most minutes at point or on the wing, two (Foster and Tre Harris) were booted off the team and two more (Jevon Thomas and Nigel Johnson) elected to leave the program.
"I think Coach is doing the (best) job that he can," McGruder said. "You can't put all the blame on Coach. Players (have) got to go out there and play. I think he does a great job of coaching."
An acumen that figures to be tested -- and debated, no doubt -- in the months to come. The Wildcats return only two players who played significant minutes last winter in guard Justin Edwards and forward Wesley Iwundu. A fixture in the upper half of the Big 12 for most of the last eight years, K-State now likely dives into the pool in the fall with a giant cartoon anvil marked "preseason No. 10" wrapped around its collective ankles.
K-State hoops alums Jordan Henriquez (left) and Rodney
McGruder sign autographs for fans at Leavenworth (Kan.) High School
before a barnstorming game Tuesday night.
And McGruder is actually pretty cool with that, too.
"See, I think it's better to play that way," he said. "A couple years when we were good, like my freshman year (in 2009-10), we were really good (and) we had no expectations. People didn't think (anything) about K-State.
"We came out and we got into the Top 10 in the country and we went to the Elite Eight. I think having no expectations helps you out a lot -- it takes a bit of the pressure off. The expectations of, 'Oh, man, we're going to be really good,' it puts a lot of pressure on a team."
That kind of pressure, you feel, probably won't be much of an issue. And Henriquez floated another fair point: If the roster you have can't carry the water, why not give somebody else a crack at the bucket?
"Coach (Fred) Hoiberg at Iowa State, he brings in guys that sit out every year," Henriquez said of the Cyclones, now considered the leading challenger to threaten Kansas' streak of 11 league titles. "And then, you know, it's a new system (to learn), so it's up to those guys how good they want to be. And they buy in every year.
"So as long as those guys coming into K-State this year have confidence and want to listen, they'll have the same success as we did a couple years ago."
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.
