SerpApi.Org
It can be difficult for a college basketball coach to get acquainted with the program’s former players when he takes over a new job.
Take Casey Alexander, for example. The new head coach at Kansas State knows little about alums like Michael Beasley, Jacob Pullen, Xavier Sneed, Kamau Stokes and many others.
He is much more educated on the basketball history of Belmont, where he spent the past seven seasons winning 166 games with the Bruins.
But he has quickly gained an appreciation for K-State basketball alums. Several have been on campus this month, practicing with Purple Reign as they prepare for this week’s best-of-three TBT series against JHX Hoops (the KU alumni team).
“It’s been great,” Alexander said. “They are a lot of very successful players, Big 12 champions, and NCAA Tournament guys. They are guys that have played professionally for a long time. So it’s been fun to welcome those guys back and get to meet them.
“They are all new to us. We are all new to them. But we’re all K-Staters. So it’s been fun. It’s been good.”
Alexander is taking over a K-State basketball program that has fallen on hard times. The Wildcats have reached the NCAA Tournament just once over the past seven years, and they are coming off a pair of losing seasons.
But he has high goals as he introduces his run-and-gun system in Manhattan. In order to reach them, he will need to duplicate the some of the memorable highs that recent K-State basketball alums delivered in the Little Apple.
Beasley guided the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament during his lone season of college basketball. Sneed and Stokes both won a Big 12 championship and reached the Elite Eight while they were wearing purple. Pullen, who will not be able to play for Purple Reign in its opening game on Tuesday, is the school’s all-time leading scorer.
Alexander wants to connect with K-State basketball’s past as he builds for the future.
“It’s very important to me, whether they’re here for TBT or not,” Alexander said. “We are just kind of the stakeholders in this thing right now.
“There’s been a lot of great years of K-State hoops, and a lot of great coaches, great players, great teams. We just happen to be the ones that are here now, so it’s really important that everybody understands that we’re part of something bigger.”
In an attempt to build a bond between the current K-State roster and its alumni, Alexander invited Purple Reign players to attend practice while they were on campus.
Some players took him up on his offer, watching attentively from start to finish.
One day, they decided to play a pick-up game against each other. Alexander said that was fun to watch from his perspective.
Current K-State basketball players will likely be in attendance as the KU and K-State alumni teams renew the Sunflower Showdown basketball rivalry at Bramlage Coliseum on Tuesday night.
One thing is for sure: Alexander will be rooting on former K-State players as he works to build a winning program in Manhattan.
