KSU's travel advantage in Big 12 tourney least of Bears worries

With Kansas State so close to the Big 12 host city, there has been concern that Baylor’s playing what’s essentially another road game. Considering the Bears took down the Wildcats in Manhattan, that should lessen the fears but the loss in Waco nullifies that. But for those still convinced the ‘Cats own the advantage because of their proximity, let’s take a quick look at their Big 12 tournament history.

Since Bruce Weber took control in 2012, K-State has advanced past the quarterfinals on one occasion- his first year after adopting a roster from Frank Martin. It was in the 2013 tourney KSU held the No. 2 seed after tying for first place with Kansas and eventually met the Jayhawks in the title game, losing 70-54.

Over the past three tournaments, Weber’s teams have failed to get past the quarterfinals in Kansas City. Since the tournament shifted to K.C. in 2010, K-State has only gone to the semifinals twice, both times as a top 25 ranked team unlike this year’s incarnation. As the five seed in 2012, Baylor even took down K-State in the quarterfinals. Better teams than this year’s K-State team on the bubble have lost.

At a minimum, though, teams should at least be prepared for a wave of purple invading the Sprint Center for something of a push. Scott Drew has repeatedly mentioned this concern, as a good coach should look at all potential risks, but there’s little precedent to see the fans are the difference maker for KSU. Baylor will control what it can control as long has been the motto and the true issue heading into Thursday night.

It’s not completely in the control of the Bears if Manu Lecomte plays (it’s likely but guaranteed) and the last game against the Wildcats, Baylor had a difficult time controlling KSU’s physical brand of play. After that game, K-State won just one of the next six games but are now on a two game win streak, taking down fellow bubble teams TCU and Texas Tech with this same style of play. Drew as well as Ish Wainwright and Jake Lindsey brought that up earlier in the week but it’s one thing to acknowledge it and another to execute the plan.

Against Baylor, it was Kamau Stokes’ play that made the difference with Wesley Iwundu and Dean Wade providing relief. TCU suffered its loss unable to tame Wade and Stokes as D.J. Johnson started bouncing back from a slump he completely shook with a 19-point performance against Tech. It’s the Wildcats’ overall depth that makes them most dangerous, not knowing whose time it is to shine at any time.

There are only three teams in the Big 12 with four players averaging over 10 points in conference games: Iowa State, TCU, and Kansas State. The Wildcats are the only one to have five players averaging double figures. Iwundu leads the way with 13.3 points on average followed by Stokes, Johnson, Wade, and guard Barry Brown who looks primed for a good night.

Baylor made him a non-factor in the last meeting, so if the game plan stays the same, he’ll be limited once again. But Drew has said the loss provided something to learn from, which opens up the possibility of Brown finding a hole to exploit as he did in wins over West Virginia and Oklahoma State.

He’s most effective when he’s left free around the perimeter, so with Baylor’s plan to match the physical play of KSU’s front court headed by Johnson and Iwundu, it might be Brown dropping dimes from outside thus making Lecomte’s status even more important.

If the game’s deciding factor comes down to who hits more triples in a full court brawl, the odds aren’t in Baylor’s favor as the Bears have only made over 40 percent of their three-pointers in two games since last meeting with the Wildcats. Once again, Lecomte’s return continues to increase in value- or at least find another three-point artist like King McClure to step up.

This isn’t a call to cast doubt on Baylor’s chance to advance to the semifinals but Thursday night sends the Bears packing, it won’t be because of a phantom home court advantage for Kansas State.